Shawn Johnson was beating herself up when she found out she could not deliver her and Andrew East’s first child naturally.
“22 hours of labor to end in a c section,” the Olympic gymnast, 27, captioned a Thursday, November 7, Instagram photo taken by Teale Photography of herself and the professional football player, 28, smiling down at their daughter. “I went in with such a stubborn mindset of thinking the only way I could bring our baby into the world was naturally. No meds, no intervention. At 14 hours when I chose to get an epidural, I felt guilty. At 22 hours when we were told I had to get a C-section, I felt like I had failed.”
The Winning Balance author explained this further in her YouTube birth vlog on Thursday. “I’m weak,” she told the Indiana native from the hospital bed. “I’m getting an epidural. I should be able to do it naturally.”
The Dancing With the Stars season 8 winner had a change of heart, though, once her bundle of joy arrived. “After holding our sweet girl in my arms and being told everything went well and she had made it to us safely, I could have cared less,” the Iowa native continued in her Instagram caption. “My/our world no longer has anything to do with us but everything to do with her. It’s all for her and I will forever do anything for this girl that I love more than I ever could imagine. A love no one can ever prepare you for.”
The couple, who wed in 2016, announced in April that Johnson was pregnant nearly two years after suffering a miscarriage.
The “Couple Things” podcast hosts felt both “guarded” and “excited,” she explained to Us Weekly exclusively after their Instagram reveal. “When we went to the first ultrasound and got to see the baby move, it just kind of hit home,” Johnson said. “I went into, like, protective mom, like, take care of my body. He went into protective dad, protective husband, just making sure everything’s OK.”
The new mom shared the first photos of their daughter on Monday, November 4, but she and East have yet to announce the little one’s name.
