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After a 'traumatic' birth, Meghan Trainor would cry every night. Then she was diagnosed with PTSD.

Meghan Trainor is having a moment.

The 'All About That Bass' singer is blowing up on TikTok, sharing plenty of relatable parenting content — and she has a pregnancy book being released, too. The Grammy Award-winning musician has used social media to not only promote her new music (obvs) but also give fans a glimpse into her life.

In case you weren't across it, Trainor, 29, is married to Daryl Sabara, 30, the actor best known for playing the lead in the iconic Spy Kids franchise. 

They have a one-year-old son together, and according to a recent interview, want a "farm" of children.

And recently, the couple announced that they are expecting their second child. But as they await the delivery, Trainor has opened up about her first birth experience, saying it was 'traumatic' and left her with PTSD.

Watch the moment when Trainor and Sabara share their pregnancy news. Post continues below.

In an excerpt from her new book, Dear Future Mama – a "TMI [too much information] guide to pregnancy, birth and new motherhood" – Trainor has shared that she was diagnosed with PTSD following her 'traumatic' birth experience.

In the excerpt published in PEOPLE, Trainor wrote, "I couldn't go to sleep at night. I would be in tears and tell Daryl, 'I'm still on that table, dude. I'm trapped there. I can't remind myself I'm in bed and I'm safe at home'," she said.

Trainor explained that for months after the birth she would "cry every night" and go to bed and continue to "feel the pain" of the C-section.

Trainor said "therapy and time" have played a role in her emotional recovery, with her therapist telling her "it's chemical reactions in your brain".

Trainor opened up in her new book about the influencer parenting content she sees online, saying she found a lot of it quite unhelpful in the lead up to giving birth.

"Every day I saw a new YouTube video about 'what I really used in the hospital.' Let me tell you this: I learned absolutely nothing. They were all wrong. I love influencer content, but it's designed to sell you an aesthetic, and childbirth is not aesthetic," she wrote.

"Maybe I'm just jealous, but I'm not the kind of person who is going to pack multiple outfits for a surprise outfit change. But watching all this stuff made me want to be that person."

Trainor and Sabara's relationship started a little something like this:

In 2014, the singer and actor met at a house party, months before Trainor's hit single 'All About That Bass' came out.

She went up to Sabara while he was grabbing a drink.

"I was like, 'Are you Spy Kids?' And he was like, 'Yeah.' And I thought that was so cool," Trainor told People in 2019.

"I called my entire family and was like, 'I partied with Spy Kids last night.'"

Then, in July 2016, Trainor asked her friend, actor Chloë Grace Moretz, to set her up with a "nice guy". She suggested Sabara.

"I know the nicest guy in the world, Daryl, and you should meet him," the singer told the publication.

On October 7, 2020, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. 

During an appearance on the Today show, Trainor started talking about Christmas, then said, "Hit it, Daryl." 

He replied, "We're pregnant!" 

Trainor shared that during her pregnancy, she didn't feel comfortable having sex with her husband.

"Maybe this is weird, but mentally I can't have sex while our son is in between us," she told Today Parents. "All my pregnancy apps say it feels really good. But all I can think about is that there's a little boy in my belly."

They welcomed their son, Riley, in February 2021. 

Although the birth itself had gone relatively well, the couple experienced a rocky few days with their son after.

"It was one of those horror stories where he didn’t cry," Trainor said on the Today show. "He didn't make noise when he came out. I was like, 'Why isn't he crying?' Then they told me he was having breathing issues."

Riley spent five days in the neonatal intensive care unit. 

In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Trainor recalled nurses insinuating that her mental health played a role in her son's extended hospital stay.

"They kept asking me if I was on antidepressants during the pregnancy, and I was, but on the lowest dose possible, and all my doctors said it was safe and wouldn't affect him," she told the publication."It was definitely a rough start. But we're so lucky we got to bring him home after five days."

As busy new parents, Trainor found a way to catch up with her husband in the most unconventional way possible — by installing side-by-side toilets in their bathroom.

"We just got a new house, and we did construction," the singer said while appearing on the Why Won't You Date Me? with Nicole Byer podcast. 

"Nobody knows this, but in our bathroom there was one toilet. And a lot of times in the middle of the night when we're with the baby, we gotta pee at the same time. So I was like, 'can we please have two toilets next to each other?'"

Since having Riley, Trainor has joined a celebrity mothers' group, with fellow mums Hilary Duff and Ashley Tisdale.

"I got lucky. All the mums in our group are so cool," the 28-year-old told Romper.

"The other day I texted them like, 'My butt is acting up,' and someone sent me their butt doctor – literally saved my a**. I was just with Hailey Bieber and was like, 'The best thing you can do when you have a baby is find a group of moms and join them.'

"It's our lifelines," she added.

The singer recently admitted she wants to keep her son in a "bubble" and have a pre-school teacher educate him at home.

"I want to hire a pre-school teacher that will be able to teach emotions. How to handle it when you want to freak out and scream, because they don’t usually do that," she said when appearing on the Smallzy's Surgery podcast.

"And, not to get dark here, but [in regular schools, you have to worry about] guns and all that stuff. I don’t really want to send my kids somewhere where I’m just like, ‘Hope to see you later!’ It's horrible. Horrible. Everyone tells me, 'You can't keep your kid in a bubble,' and I'm like, 'Oh, but I can.'"

As for getting ready for the arrival of their second child, Trainor said she and Sabara have no plans to slow down.

"I want four. I'm banking on twins this round. I want a farm."

If you find yourself needing to talk to someone after reading this story, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

For help and support, contact PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia) on 1300 726 306.

This article was originally published in November 2022, and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Instagram/@darylsabara@meghantrainor.

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Top Comments

In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Trainor recalled nurses insinuating that her mental health played a role in her son's extended hospital stay.
 By the sounds of what was written, they were taking a history of the medications she was on that could have been implicated in her son's difficulties. It's a bit of a jump to suggest they were implicating her mental health. Healthcare professionals have to take an objective history when assessing their patients - it's part-and-parcel of their job. People really shouldn't assume they are doing it for malevolent or judgmental reasons. 

comadrona 2 years ago
There is actually evidence that SSRIs can affect babies' breathing at birth - sonething to be aware of.