There are many celebrities, who have seen their little ones struggle for their lives in the NICU as either they were premature or were born with complications. Here is to all of those fighter parents!
It is said that parenthood is one of the most beautiful journeys, a person can experience. Be it biologically or via surrogacy, all parents wait to finally meet their little ones after the pregnancy journey of nine months. However, at times, their journey to parenthood is not easy as one of the happiest days of their life comes with a big blow. Sometimes, owing to some complications, the baby has to be delivered early, risking their lives and breaking their parents’ hearts.
The babies born before the due date with little weight and small limbs are called premature babies, as before their body could develop fully, they are born. Their survival journey can be difficult, but with the technology of incubators and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), the hope of a better future for them, keeps their parents going. Many of our favourite celebrities have faced this horrific situation. Here is the list of celebs, who fought the battle of life with their premature babies.
Also Read: Dia Mirza, Neha Dhupia And 8 Other Celebs, Who Got Massively Trolled For Announcing Their Pregnancy
Karan Johar was blessed with twins on February 7, 2017, through surrogacy and they were pre-matured babies. He named his twins, Yash and Roohi, which comes from their dada and dadi, Yash and Hiroo’s name. On March 27, 2017, Karan had penned a long note and had shared it on his Twitter handle, mentioning how his kids were premature and how the beginning of his fatherhood journey was not smooth. An excerpt from his tweet could be read as
“My children were born two months premature and worryingly underweight. Like any person in this situation and on the brink of fatherhood, my heart sank. Knowing that there were complications with my babies birth owing to how soon it was, I was terrified. All I wanted to do was hold them and protect them but they needed to be in the NICU. It was painful to see how tiny they were…”
He had also decided to help premature babies so that they get the best chance possible. He had added in his note:
“As someone with a voice, I want to reach out. Millions of preemies are born every year…. bu babies are resilient. With the right kind of care, they stand just as good a chance of survival as anyone else. Having a premature baby is something that you don’t expect to happen to you. The whole experience has ignited a passion in me to help premature babies to get the best chance they can… to help those in anguish who want the best chance of survival for their early born babies. If your baby is a preemie, don’t be discouraged.”
In a conversation with the Hindustan Times, Karan had talked about the time when his babies were facing problems due to premature delivery. Karan had emotionally said:
“Fatherhood is proving to be a breathtaking rollercoaster ride. When they were conceived, I was ecstatic, but I told myself I would be a responsible father and not a paranoid mother. Then came the complexities of premature birth. And the heartache of seeing them in the incubator. But I felt a strong sense of ownership. They were my lifelines. A lifelong dream come true. And I couldn’t wait to take them in my arms. When I did that for the first time, it was incredible. I knew this was the beginning of a different kind of love story. The start of the best phase of my life.”
Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan had welcomed their third child, AbRam Khan on May 27, 2013, through surrogacy. According to the reports, AbRam was born premature and had weighed only 1.5 kg at birth. He was kept in the hospital for a month. During this period, like a concerned mother, Gauri had kept a tight vigilance over him and didn’t leave his side at the hospital. AbRam was born prematurely at 34 weeks. In a statement, Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan had said:
“Amidst all the noise that has been going around, the sweetest is the one made by our newborn baby, AbRam. He was born prematurely by several months but has finally come home. Gauri and our whole family have been dealing with his health issues for a long time now. As a family our silence on this subject has been because of the personal nature of emotional strife that we have been going through due to his health.”
According to Emirates 247, AbRam was treated in three different hospitals after his birth. He was born at Masrani Hospital in Andheri on May 27, 2013, and had developed complications that doctors at the hospital had found difficult to treat.
It is said that after consultations, Shah Rukh Khan had shifted his son to Nanavati hospital. However, doctors over there could not do much for AbRam as his condition had become critical by then. Later, Shah Rukh had taken his son to the Breach Candy Hospital as their neonatal care is more specialised. AbRam’s condition was getting critical, however, there he had made a quick recovery and after spending three weeks in an incubator, he was taken home by his parents.
Recommended Read: 14 Bollywood Celebrity Moms Who Underwent Caesarean A.K.A., C-Section To Deliver Their Little Babies
After 1.5 months of her wedding with Vaibhav Rekhi, on April 1, 2021, Dia Mirza had announced her first pregnancy. On July 14, 2021, Dia had announced the good news of welcoming her first child on her IG handle by sharing a glimpse of the little one. Revealing his name, and sharing that her baby boy arrived early and is in the NICU, Dia had written:
"To paraphrase Elizabeth Stone, "To have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." These words perfectly exemplify Vaibhav and my feelings right now. Our heartbeat, our son Avyaan Azaad Rekhi was born on May 14th. Having arrived early, our little miracle has since then been cared for by tireless nurses and doctors in the Neonatal ICU."
Speaking of why she had to undergo an emergency C-section delivery, Dia Mirza had continued:
"A sudden appendectomy during my pregnancy and a subsequent and very severe bacterial infection could have led to sepsis and proven to be life-threatening. Thankfully, the timely care and intervention by our doctor ensured the safe birth of our baby via an emergency C-section."
Mahhi Vij and Jay Bhanushali’s daughter, Tara Jay Bhanushali was a premature child and had to spend one month in the NICU, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In September 2020, taking to her IG handle, Mahhi had shared a picture of herself with the hospital staff, holding her premature baby, Tara in her arms.
Along with the picture, Mahhi Vij had narrated how the hospital staff had helped her during her one month stay at the hospital after the birth of Tara. She had written:
“Motherhood can be scary especially in my case with a premie. However I know I was in the BEST hands as the team at Breach Candy Hospital took very good care of Tara. And yes I can’t forget their support towards me as well because there would be times when I would be scared. Their warmth never made us feel like we were in the hospital for an entire month! When I look back, I realize the journey is all the more special and memorable due to this team. Thank you! #Throwback #TarasBirth @ijaybhanushali.”
On the occasion of Father’s Day 2021, Mahhi had shared a video of Jay taking care of their daughter, Tara in the NICU. As Tara was in NICU for one month, Jay Bhanushali had ensured that Tara is pampered even then. Mahhi Vij had shared a video on her IG handle, where Jay could be seen cuddling Tara and rubbing her back. She had captioned it as
“Tara s favourite song. Happy Father’s Day @ijaybhanushali… I use to always ask him who he loves the most n today I have the answer TARA.”
Mahhi Vij had then added how Jay Bhanushali had taken care of their daughter, Tara in the NICU and used to visit the hospital after shoot just to say good night to Tara. She had added:
“The days u spent in Nicu taking care of her from massaging to feeding to meeting the doctor everyday. I still remember the day you were shooting how u came back straight to the hospital just to say goodnight to your little angel. #happyfathersday Tara has a loving father stay blessed.”
On Tara's first birthday, on August 4, 2020, Mahhi Vij had shared a video on her IG handle, compiling her daughter's time in the NICU. In her long caption she had mentioned:
"Tara was a premature baby, so they just allowed our faces to touch for a slight moment and then took her to the NICU."
Also Read: Aishwarya Rai-Aaradhya To Sushmita Sen-Renee And Alisah, Beauty Pageant Winners And Their Daughters Vandana Sajnani Khattar had given her all to embrace motherhood in her 40s. After 11 years of hardship, where they had suffered three miscarriages, 3 IVFS, 3 IUIs and 3 surrogacy failures, Vandana and her husband, Rajesh Khattar were blessed with a baby boy on June 18, 2019, whom they have named Yuvaan Vanraj Khattar. After being in NICU for almost three months, Vandana and Rajesh had brought Yuvaan home on the day of Janmashtami and call him their little Krishna. In an exclusive interview with Bollywoodshaadis.com, Vandana Sajnani Khattar had recalled her premature delivery and how her son was in the NICU. She had said: “This happened on a Caesarean section situation because I was actually carrying twins and my uterus lining was weak so they had to kinda stitch me and six months I was pretty much in hospital with my legs up.”
Recalling the drastic change in the situation and how she lost her one baby and the other one, ending up in the NICU, Vandana had said: “Phir suddenly aise kuch halat hue that I lost my one baby inside on my five-and-a-half or six months and immediately we had to go for a C-section. Aur jo meri actual gynae hai, woh uss time travel kar rahi thi because she didn’t expect ki main itni jaldi delivery karungi, premature hoga toh I had to immediately get to rush to another hospital, Surya hospital, which is a very good hospital. They have the best NICU and my son was in NICU for three-four months.”
After the C-section delivery, within two days, Vandana’s stitches had opened up and thus, she had to do the dressing of the wounds on a daily basis so that she could go to the NICU, where her son was, to breastfeed him. Calling it a traumatic experience, she had added: “Uske baad kuch 4 mahine tak toh mujhe har din dressing karna padhta tha aur har din main apne baby ko apna breast milk dene NICU jati thi. So it was a daily affair. It was a completely traumatic experience post-delivery with regards to C-section.”
In another interview with the Indian Express, Vandana Sajnani Khattar, had shared that her son, Yuvaan was in the NICU for two-and-a-half months. Also Read: Celebrity Moms Who Took No Time To Get Back To Work Post Delivery Celina Jaitly and Peter Haag have been living their ‘happily ever after’ with their three musketeers, Viraaj Jaitly Haag, Winston Jaitly Haag and Arthur Jaitly Haag. Celina calls her youngest son, Arthur, her miracle baby as he had faced a lot since the very first day of his life. From losing his twin sibling to being in an incubator for two months, Arthur has survived a daunting phase of his life. On September 10, 2019, when Arthur Jaitly Haag had turned 2, Celina had shared how Arthur became a silver lining on their dark clouds. She had written: “We seek your blessings as our youngest @arthurjhaag turns 2 years old today. Amidst the loss of both my parents and Arthur’s twin brother Shamsher our family has always looked upon little ‘Artu’ as the silver lining on our dark clouds. We thank everyone for their continued love and support through last two years and offer gratitude to the universe for all that was salvaged when so much was lost.”
Revealing that Arthur Jaitly Haag was a premature baby, Celina Jaitly had continued: “Arthur spent the first two months of his life in an incubator. In the neonatal ICU as he was a premature baby. However, he overcame all those hurdles and now is a natural mountaineer by birth and accomplishes upto 3 hours of high altitude hikes on foot with us, he is like an army colonel and I promise all preemie parents that there is hope and not to give up even though the journey is full of ups and downs.”
With all these celebrities, one thing that anyone can learn is, to never give up. A parent’s love is unconditional and they can go to any extent to keep their baby healthy and fit. While their heart might have cried every day seeing their little one in the incubator, their little ones have survived all the odds and are now, leading a healthy life. We pray health and happiness to all these little ones and their fighter parents! Also Read: C-Section Pregnancy Guide: Who Needs It, Procedure, Complications And Delivery Side Effects
#5. Vandana Sajnani Khattar and Rajesh Khattar's premature baby
#6. Celina Jaitly and Peter Haag's premature baby