Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi claims she was "literally dying" in labour.
The former ‘Jersey Shore’ star and fiance Jionni LaValle welcomed second child Giovanna into the world last week and was relieved to arrive at hospital in time for a pain-numbing epidural.
She said: "Thank God I got to the doctors at that time because it was the perfect time for me to get the epidural so I won’t feel her come out. Everything worked out, but the fact that I felt the contractions up to almost seven centimetres — holy c**p!"
Referring to women who give birth without pain relief, she added: "You are my heroes. You are amazing. You are freakin’ awesome.
"I cannot take that pain. I was literally dying. I was trying to breathe and be calm, but it just feels like there’s a million knives stabbing you in the uterus and you can’t do it."
The 26-year-old star – who also has a two-year-old son, Lorenzo, with Jionni – is breastfeeding Giovanna but is finding the process incredibly painful.
She said on her Podcast One show: "My boobs are killing me. I feel like my nipples are going to fall off.
"With Lorenzo, I didn’t actually latch on. I just did the pump, so it didn’t hurt that bad. But with Giovanna, I tired to latch on at the hospital and she latched on right away. So I said, ‘You know what? Let me just do this until I get my milk in and then I’ll just go straight to pumping, but Giovanna has been on my boob every single hour for the past four days, and my nipple is going to fall off. I can’t feel it! It’s so painful, but I gotta do what I gotta do because I feel like my breast milk is the best milk for my baby.
"No matter how much pain I’m in, I’ve just gotta bite my tongue and give her my milk."
Snooki: Labour was agony
