Bollywood actor and filmmaker Rajesh Khattar embraced parenthood once again when he welcomed a baby boy with wife Vandana Sajnani Khattar in Aug last year. After numerous miscarriages, IUI and IVF failures, and failed surrogacies, Vandana was over the moon when she conceived at the age of 44. But nobody knew until now that Khattars have shared their set of ups and downs during those pregnancy months. While Rajesh and Vandana were overjoyed with the news that she’s carrying twins, problems didn’t seem to end as she was prescribed bed rest within 2 months of pregnancy. Vandana’s uterine lining was weak following which she kept her legs raised for 3 months.
During a recent interview, Vandana Sajnani Khattar opened up on facing challenges of prepartum and postpartum depression soon after she conceived. Speaking to Miss Malini, Vandana said, “I felt I was going down under. As if I was alone in this fight. I wanted to sit alone in darkness and talk to no one. I was in a shell. Something did not feel right, but I couldn’t particularly say what. I was bedridden and couldn’t even put my legs down to go to the bathroom. I was using a bedpan for three months. Those months were the most painful, emotionally draining, and fearful time of my life.”
However one day Vandana started bleeding which pushed her for a C-section delivery. Vandana lost one of her babies and her son Yuvaan was born prematurely. Yuvaan was kept in NICU for three months. Heartbroken with the loss of her baby and traumatic delivery, Vandana went into post-partum depression. She told the portal, “I can’t even tell you what a sight it was to see my baby so tiny and the size of an arm, with wires all over his face, surrounded by pipes and tubes. The entire experience was full of stress, pain, anxiety, fear and sadness. Later, my doctor told me that it was prepartum depression, and because I did not attend to it with the right medication or counselling, it soon aggravated to postpartum depression.”
Well, the struggle for Vandana and Rajesh didn’t end there. The couple was shocked when they were wrongly informed that he would have difficulty in seeing and hearing. She stated, “Rajesh and I were completely shocked. He asked us to do a dozen tests on my baby, including extensive audio tests, vision tests, MRI’s, nerve tests and what not! My baby had just undergone two hernia operations upon delivery. Imagine making him go through these tests again! Even though another doctor told me that my baby was fine, I still was doubtful and went ahead and regularly did those tests, which had normal results. This trauma made me insane. My family knew the depression had hit me badly before. I wasn’t ready to understand that I needed help and medical assistance to keep my equilibrium. My baby was growing beautifully, but I was deteriorating.” (ALSO READ: Shahid Kapoor's Former Stepfather Rajesh Khatter Makes Him Take Selfies With Fans)
Images Source: instagram.com/vandanasajnaniofficial