Strictly’s Janette Manrara candidly reveals emotional struggle after painful C-section left her not being able to hold her baby: ‘I felt properly down’
Janette Manrara candidly discussed the emotional difficulty of not being able to hold her daughter after her painful C-section.
The Strictly Come Dancing star, 40, and her partner Alijaz Skorjanec, 33, announced in July that they had welcomed baby Lyra after two years of trying to conceive.
Janette struggled with a long postpartum recovery and admitted she was feeling ‘quite low’.
Speak with The mirror on their podcast she explained: ‘It was hard with a c-section, it’s a long recovery. I couldn’t carry Lyra as much as I wanted. That was very difficult for me emotionally.
‘It’s strange because you carried this baby in your belly for nine months, you feel so connected to it. Then she’s born, and in the hospital you have to deal with stitches, with all the medicines in your body.’
Janette Manrara, 40, candidly discussed the emotional difficulty of not being able to hold her baby daughter after her painful C-section
The Strictly Come Dancing star and her partner Alijaz Skorjanec, 33, announced in July that they had welcomed baby Lyra after two years of trying to conceive
Janette continued, “I went down quite a bit. I just thought, ‘How can I not hold my baby? “I just did this and now I can’t hold her.” That was really tough.’
Appearing on Loose Women in December, Janette discussed the journey of welcoming Lyra into the world, admitting she was ‘so happy’ she didn’t have to undergo IVF.
She said: ‘I was 39 and it’s more complicated than you think. Don’t assume this will happen once you come off birth control.
‘We are so grateful we didn’t have to undergo IVF. We have a book Sazarina and I didn’t know how I would feel so I gave medicine in the morning and we danced and it was like a real birthday and she was born with the song we wanted.’
Janette planned to undergo IVF, but ended up getting pregnant naturally just before she was due to start.
She explained: ‘We decided about two years ago now and two years later that we hadn’t gotten pregnant, so we went to the doctors and started IVF.
‘There was nothing wrong and we were supposed to get pregnant naturally, but one day my period stopped coming and I got cranky before I got the injections and we got pregnant naturally.’
Alijaz left Strictly Come Dancing in 2022 after nine years and is now a stay-at-home dad to Lyra.
He said: ‘For years I convinced Janette that I always wanted to be a father, but that it had to be good for both of us.’
Janette struggled with a long post-birth recovery and admitted she was feeling ‘quite low’
Appearing on Loose Women in December, Janette discussed the journey of welcoming Lyra into the world, admitting she was ‘so happy’ she didn’t have to undergo IVF.
The dancer added, “We can be away for months at a time and it’s perfect now because I can take a step back and be a stay-at-home dad. I have a new respect for whoever stays, it’s a full-time job.’
Janette previously hit back at mum-shaming trolls who criticized her for returning to work four months after giving birth as she hosted the latest series of It Takes Two.
Speaking on BBC Morning Live, she said: ‘I was excited and felt really empowered being a working mother for the first time.
‘But some people had different views. I have received some negative comments on social media about returning to work.”