"You feel broken, as a woman, and that's not a great feeling," says
Shay Mitchell in the first episode of her YouTube pregnancy series, titled Almost Ready
Shay Mitchell is sharing more details about the heartbreaking miscarriage she experienced in 2018.
The pregnant star, who’s currently expecting a daughter with boyfriend
Matte Babel, opens up about losing her first baby at 14 weeks gestation in the premiere episode of her pregnancy series Almost Ready, titled “Keeping a Secret.”
In short, Mitchell, 32, “chose to hold on until [she] announced” her second pregnancy because of the miscarriage, explaining, “It didn’t go as I had hoped for and it was extremely difficult.”
“The first time that I was pregnant last year, Matte and I hadn’t been planning. [But] it happened and we were really excited about it,” says the Pretty Little Liars actress of herself and Babel, 38, whom she began dating under the radar about three years ago.
“I was like 14 weeks,” Mitchell shares of her first pregnancy. “At that point, I had no idea, the percentage of miscarriages. When it happened, I was just completely blindsided by it.”
“I still have those photos on my phone and I still have all the doctor visits … and it’s weird because I haven’t looked at them, obviously,” she says, tears streaming down her face. “But it’s not like I forgot about that happening.”
“So of course I’m super happy, but I still feel for the one that I lost,” the mom-to-be continues, expressing that even through her sadness, she’s thankful miscarriage has happened only once for her.
“I know other women and other friends of mine who’ve gone through a way harder journey,” Mitchell shares. “It’s just really tough because you feel broken, as a woman, and that’s not a great feeling.”
In early January, Mitchell opened up about her personal highs and lows of 2018 — and revealed for the first time that she had suffered a miscarriage.
The actress shared a series of photos from the past year on her Instagram story. Near the end of the slideshow, she wrote, “Lastly, although it was an amazing year, it didn’t come without some hardships,” going on to share a photo of an ultrasound with a broken-heart emoji.
Mitchell celebrated her pregnancy announcement on YouTube with a vlog titled “Guess Who’s Preggers,” writing in the 2-minute video‘s description, “There is something in the oven and it’s not my pizza!!! WOW … It’s kind of surreal processing the fact that another human is growing inside of you.”
“It’s exciting, nerve-racking, difficult and emotional all at the same time,” the You star added. “Everyone waits for the right time to make the announcement and for me it wasn’t until I couldn’t hide it anymore and was tired of wearing over sized sweatshirts.”
Mitchell and Babel, a Canadian journalist, learned the sex of their little one on the way during an unconventional reveal, involving the Pink and Blue Power Rangers duking it out to see which color would be victorious.
“Power Rangers. Never in the history of gender reveals have I seen Power Rangers,” Mitchell said between laughs and gasps of shocked delight during the “fight.”
The hilarious scuffle ended when the duo fell into a water fountain and only one emerged, unmasked, to greet the couple: the Pink Ranger, who made her way over and sat on their laps (still all wet!) by way of greeting.
“Is it a girl?!” both asked excitedly, still a bit confused about the outcome — but viewers weren’t left hanging, as “IT’S A GIRL” flashed across the screen, with the Pink Ranger striking a triumphant pose.