My husband watched colour drain from me… but worst was to come – Olivia Bowen relives moment she nearly died
LYING in hospital, her new baby girl lying on her chest, Olivia Bowen thought her pregnancy hell was finally over. She had already been traumatised by losing one twin in the early stages and her dream of a home birth was completely dashed as she was blue-lighted to the maternity ward. But things were set to get a lot worse.
The atmosphere in the room immediately changed and as she slipped in and out of consciousness, her helpless husband Alex looked on in horror. Now, in her first newspaper interview about the birth, the new mum has relived in detail the moment everything shifted forever, telling us: “I thought I was going to lose my life”.
An emotional Oliva Bowen, with husband Alex, relives the traumatic moment she nearly diedCredit: The Sun
As Olivia fought for her life thoughts of her newborn baby, her son Abel and husband Alex were running through her mindCredit: oliviadbowen/Instagram
The TV personality, 31, – who met and fell for husband Alex on Love Island in 2016 – gave birth to baby Siena in August.
She was hoping to have an easier birth after a traumatic experience when she had son Abel in 2022 but it was far from smooth sailing.
Opening up about her ordeal, Olivia and Alex exclusively told The Sun that it was the “scariest” experience of their life as they revealed exactly what happened.
I saw the colour drain from Olivia’s face, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever had to witness.
Alex on the birth
The ordeal started when problems occurred during the home birth – and resulted in Olivia being rushed to hospital in an ambulance following a severe bladder prolapse after spending an excruciating 15 hours in labour.
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Olivia explained: “We wanted to look at a home birth, we had quite a traumatic birth with Abel, and I think I just wanted to do something differently.
“It all went swimmingly at first, I thought.”
Alex added: “It was all plain sailing at first and then it went downhill a little bit and you had to get rushed to hospital.”
The couple then detailed the shocking moment that they were forced to call an ambulance after Olivia insisted “something wasn’t right”.
Despite being prepared for a home birth, her plan was quickly turned on its head when things became very “painful” and “stressful”.
Olivia shared: “Obviously you have no pain relief at home, you have the pool there and I was having contractions and the doulas came.
“It just ended up getting very painful. We had to be blue-lighted to hospital, we had to get into an ambulance which was really stressful.”
Reaching the hospital, Olivia insisted that something was wrong, which led the doctors to discover that she had a severe bladder prolapse, which occurs when the bladder slips down from its normal position and can bulge out of the vagina.
Olivia continued: “When we got into the labour ward, I spoke to the doctor and I said ‘please can you check because I don’t feel right and I feel something wrong’. I literally remembered her face when she checked, her eyes widened, she was like ‘I’m glad you’re here’.”
She had no option but to underdog an emergency c-section to safely deliver their daughter.
Olivia was blue-lighted to the maternity ward after trying to deliver their baby girl through a home birthCredit: The Sun
Olivia was left questioning everything fulling her traumatic experienceCredit: oliviadbowen/Instagram
Alex Bowen was left terrified after seeing the colour drain out of his wife’s faceCredit: Instagram
Finally, they had baby daughter Siena, but things took a dramatic turn when Olivia began to slip in and out of consciousness.
Petrified Alex was left “helpless” as he watched the “colour drain” from his wife’s face within minutes, as doctors battled to save her.
Alex said: “It was really, really scary.
I just felt totally helpless throughout the whole situation.
Alex Bowen
“There is nothing you can really do without being positive for your wife I guess.”
She suffered a haemorrhage, losing nearly three litres of blood as doctors rushed to give her two blood transfusions.
Recalling what she can, Olivia said: “We went in and Siena came out crying, I can’t forget that moment. With Abel he wasn’t breathing when he came out, but with her she was fully breathing, Alex cut the cord, which was beautiful, you didn’t get to do that with Abel. They passed her to me and I remember her laying on my chest and then the room just changed. I don’t know what happened,.
Alex said: “The atmosphere in the room just changed, the doctors and the surgeons, more started coming in the room and there was a siren going saying we need to get blood to the surgery.
“It was a lot, I saw the colour drain from Olivia’s face, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever had to witness.
“I remember you saying ‘my eyes feel like they’re going to close’, and I’m just like ‘try and keep your eyes open’.
“The doctors were absolutely amazing. They did a really great job.”
The TV personality was left terrified as she heard doctors yelling things around her while she was left fearing for her life.
Olivia revealed that she had torn her uterus in two places, which resulted in her losing so much blood so quickly.
She said: “I think the main thing I remember is having Siena and I could hear it, it was a lady and she kept going up 1.2 litres, 1.4 litres. I was like ‘I know what that is’.
“My probably biggest fear from birth was a hemorrhage, I had this irrational fear about it and then for it to happen – it was that moment when I had to pass Siena to you and I felt so faint. It was the scariest thing.”
Olivia described her physical recovery as tough as she managed the pain, her medication and being a full-time mumCredit: Splash
Olivia and Alex met and fell in love on Love Island in 2016Credit: Rex
OLIVIA’S FEARS
Olivia faced her biggest fear that day, as she fought for her life while thoughts of her newborn baby, her son Abel and husband Alex were running through her mind.
“For me to be lying on the table with no idea what was going on behind that curtain. Like Alex said, the doctors can’t answer you, I kept saying to Alex ‘am I alright? What’s happening? Am I going to be okay?’ because I genuinely thought in that moment I might lose my life,” Olivia said.
“I guess you do start to think about everyone at home. I don’t know how long it was, I have no idea the timescale, it’s such a blur.
“But I do remember thinking ‘what have I done? I’ve left Abel at home and now I’m going to lose my life, it was honestly the scariest thing.”
ROAD TO RECOVERY
But the journey wasn’t over there and Olivia and Alex spent the next few months on the road to recovery – mentally and physically.
Olivia, who experienced PTSD after giving birth to son Abel in 2022, opened up about the health anxiety that she experienced when she returned home.
She said: “I remember getting home after that and having health anxiety and thinking that I wasn’t going to heal. I ended up having an infection and two blood transfusions . I was scared that something else was going to happen.
“After that I was full of anxiety and scared of something else happening.”
The TV favourite described her physical recovery as tough as she managed the pain, her medication and being a full-time mum.
I realised how fragile life is, in that moment something can happen like that and it just changes the course of things.
Olivia Bowen
Olivia said: “The first week is hard, c-section recovery is difficult because they’re going through so many layers, so you have no strength whatsoever and where I lost so much blood, I was then anemic and was on a lot of tablets and had an infection. It was quite difficult those first two weeks.
Alex said: “At the start having a toddler running around, it was very difficult to keep him calm and not have him jumping all over you.”
Olivia echoed: “You can’t pick him up, you can’t pick anything but a baby up when you’ve had a c-section, so that was so hard as well.
“We spoke about the birth a little bit and every time we spoke about it, it was so fresh I did get upset, I was still in that anxious state, it was difficult but I don’t often think about it at all.
“You’re just happy that your baby is healthy and you’re alive, that’s the main thing. I feel like I survived it and she’s here and that’s all that matters.”
With two healthy happy children, Alex and Olivia confirmed that they have no plans to have anymore kids.
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LOSS AND GRIEF
In March, Olivia found out she was expecting twins, but then learned she had sadly lost one of the babies at eight weeks.
She revealed how she had miscarried after suffering from vanishing twin syndrome.
It occurs in the early stages, when one of the babies stops developing and is absorbed by the mother’s body, or the surviving twin.
The pair said losing one of their babies and going through two traumatic births has changed their perspective on life.
The family are now looking forward to the future after landing their own ITV2 reality show, Olivia and Alex: Parenthood.
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The pair have welcomed the cameras into their home for a warts-and-all series, which will show the highs and lows of family life.
Olivia concluded: “Going through what we did with the twins and losing her twin, that already showed us the fragility of life and how important life is and to go through that again, something else quite traumatic, it does just change how you view things and how you think about things massively.”
What is vanishing twin syndrome?
VANISHING twin syndrome is a type of miscarriage that affects twin, triplet and multiple pregnancies.
It occurs in the early stages, when one of the foetuses stops developing and is absorbed by the mother’s body, or the surviving twin(s).
Because it happens so early on – typically within the first 12 weeks of gestation – many women don’t realise they are carrying more than one baby.
Symptoms can be very subtle, or non-existent, but can include: cramping, bleeding and pelvic pain.
It is usually detected through routine ultrasound examinations.
The exact cause is unknown. But vanishing twin syndrome is thought to affect around 30 per cent of twin or multiple pregnancies.
Women over the age of 30 are more likely to experience it, and experts say IVF has led to an increase in multiple pregnancies, and consequently, instances of vanishing twin syndrome.
If a twin is lost, the surviving foetus or foetuses typically continue to develop normally.
Source: London Pregnancy Clinic
