Taye Diggs: Wife Was a "Warrior" During Natural Childbirth
Credit: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.
Private Practice star Taye Diggs didn't freak out when wife Idina Menzel went into labor.
"There was something going on that morning, so we knew this is going to be a special day," he says in an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show (airing Thursday). "She said, 'Go off to work, and if I need you, I will call you.'" So I went off to work. I got that call.
"In the movies and on TV, you always hear everyone's rushing, but everyone is telling me when it actually happens, there is no need to rush. There is no need to speed," Diggs, 38, continues. "So on the way home, I was constantly telling myself, 'Relax, relax, be cool.'"
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When he got home, he took her to the hospital. That's when "the labor really starts to kick in," he says.
Initially, he says he planned to be by her side along with the mid-wife. But as he watched Menzel's face when the first pain hit, Diggs says, "I was like, "OK, I'm just going to be in this other room....'"
Menzel, 38, opted for a natural birth.
"No drugs," Diggs says. "She is a warrior."
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He adds that she was in labor for seven or eight hours - and it was emotional.
"I was holding her hands and cheering her on," he says. "I said I would look two times. I would look when the baby was crowning, and I wanted to look right when [son] Walker came out. And then when he came out, all the sudden it was like my inner gangster came out. I was like, 'Yeah baby, that's what I'm talkin' about, that's my boy!'"
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The couple - who wed in January 2003 - welcomed their son Sept. 2.
"It was crazy," Diggs says of his son's birth. "I couldn't control myself. It was like the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup, everything wrapped up into one."
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10ya knopw what for everone who say it so bad to take drugs i was 20 when i fisrt had my son hahah it news flash for all of u who think its so bad to take drugs i was 4 weeks overdue had edema i couldnt walk and i never NEVER whent into labor by myself i was on pitocin for 25 hours before my son actually started moving things along and the spinal had worn off by then and i wouldnt change a damn thing it not wrong or BAD to take the drugs if you have to you have to
I love seeing "midwife" in the same paragraph as "hospital"! Her chances for birthing that baby undrugged and enjoying it were greatly increased by her decision to use a midwife. Midwives specialize in assisting women to birth their babies normally and naturally. Ob/Gyns specialize in assisting women to surgically remove their babies and diseased parts of their reproductive systems.
I had to have drugs with my first child...I was in a bad car wreck and they didn't know if I had a broken pelvis bone or not...and I didn't wanna get an x-ray...I was 17...and her father died in that car wreck he was driving...then when me and my now husband got pregnant, I went as long as I could w.o meds, but in the end I'm glad I had the epidural bc our baby girl came out a whopping 9lbs 9oz and poor me being only 110lbs framed girl. and I'm 5'2. lol I'm glad some girls can go w.o it, but I'm greatful I had it
I'm happy for them. You know that baby is going to hear some truly beautiful lullabies from mommy
I gave birth to all SIX of my children drug free!! I am so glad that I did...I admire women who at least try to do that.
Awesome to hear! Women need to realize that they are actually strong enough to birth a child without harmful drugs and a midwife in addition to a doctor/instead of. C-sections are for emergencies!
Had three C-sections, wouldn't have changed a thing!
I had a c-section and tons of drugs. Have nice memories of birthing a child because of it.
we are all warriors in our own way! I had natural labor, had to have pitocin (awful) and made it all the way to the end with nothing! we can do it! we are much stronger than we say we are... and after that little one is here, you really do forget all the pain! Congrats again to Taye & Idina. They are wondeful couple and that baby is going to be SO loved and well cared for.
I did natural birth and my husband called me a warrior too lol. Natural birth isn't as bad as some people say it is. As long as you're allowed to move around and you forgo the pitocin...you'll be fine. It won't be pain free. It will still hurt like hell. But its bearable. And I'm the girl who cries when I get a paper cut. So if I could do it then anyone can. Women need to realize how strong they are.