Meghan Trainor Opens Up About Her Tough Pregnancy & NICU Experience

Meghan Trainor didn't have an easy pregnancy or delivery with her son Riley, 19 months. The singer opened up about her experience, including being shamed by neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, nurses after her son's birth because of antidepressants, in a recent interview with Romper.

Trainor, 28, said her pregnancy wasn't "an easy ride," and Riley's delivery was "even rougher." "I'd gained 15 COVID pounds before I got pregnant, so I felt massive, and my face was breaking out with a dermatitis, so it was like eczema all around my mouth. I had gestational diabetes, so I had to test my blood all day long. I was over it," she explained. Towards the end, Trainor found out her son was breech and was scheduled for a C-section. "I was like, 'I didn't prepare for this, but let's rock,'" she said. "I luckily didn't have a birth plan."

She recalled how adorable her son was when he made his grand entrance into the world but told husband Daryl Sabara before delivery to "prepare yourself." "I saw my aunt give birth to two babies, and they looked like aliens coming out. I told Daryl, 'Prepare yourself because he could be a monster for the first month,'" she said.

It wasn't long after Riley's birth that some challenges began. The baby ended up spending time in the NICU because he had trouble waking up to feed. The NICU nurses suggested it was Trainor who was to blame for his struggles. "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 recalled. "It was really f***ed up. They had no name for what was wrong. He just wouldn't wake up."

Five days after Riley was born, he was able to go home. Trainor said he didn't cry much for the first month which gave her some anxiety. "We kept being like, 'Uh oh, what's up with him? Is this what serial killers are like when they're first born? They never cry?,'" she said.

Trainor has many of the basic concerns most new moms have at one point or another. She said she's concerned that he's not babbling enough yet, and said that motherhood can be worrisome, but she loves it. "I get to be a pop star during the day and then give my kid a bath at night?," she explained. "It's like, pinch me."

The singer shares photos of her son on social media often. A few months ago, Riley got a pair of glasses to help him see better and Trainor shared the adorable moment on Instagram with a video captioned, "😭🤓 sweet baby Riley got glasses 😍#babyglasses"

Trainor said she's going to start trying for baby number two later this fall. She would like to have at least three, possibly four kids. "I would love twins," she said. "A two-for-one deal."

The couple turned their attic into a large school room for Riley and his future siblings because they would like to homeschool their kids. "I want to hire a preschool 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. "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."