Christina Applegate: Holding Sadie to My Chest the ‘Best Thing’

The moments after childbirth were extraordinarily profound for Christina Applegate, who dropped her defenses and pulled daughter Sadie Grace to her chest, a part of her body that she’s kept closely guarded since her double mastectomy in 2008.

“I dropped my gown, which I don’t do,” the Hall Pass star, 39, says in an interview airing Tuesday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “This part of my body is very private to me … that’s a real private place. A place that I don’t have a good relationship with, let’s say. But at that moment of pulling her out, I just tore that off.”

It was a sign of just how open she was to her new daughter. “There’s a room full of people that I don’t know. Nurses and doctors,” says Applegate — this week’s PEOPLE cover girl, along with Sadie. “And she and I just lay there. It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

 

The actress and her fiancé, musician Martyn LeNoble, welcomed Sadie on Jan. 27 in Los Angeles, after a lengthy labor.

“It was about 18 hours,” Applegate says. “I had my plan. Plans are a big joke, you know. [Mine] was to have an epidural but I didn’t react to it well … I didn’t like the feeling of numbness. I didn’t like it. It was really creepy to me. It was too much so we turned it off and we opted to go all the way. It was profound. It was profound pain.”

– Tim Nudd

Comments

I love her..so very happy for her little family!!

- Kelly on February 22nd, 2011

I am really so very happy for her. I wish the best to her and her family with their beautiful baby girl.

- Amelia on February 22nd, 2011

Sweet story, and her feelings about epidurals are the same as mine. The thought of not being able to feel my lower body just creeps me out! Plus, I can’t even stand having a partially numb mouth after having a cavity filled at the dentist’s office. So having half my body be numb? Uh, no thanks!

I also always wonder why women seem to choose epidurals for pain relief. There are several different things you can use for pain relief during labor (such as narcotics and gas). But yet it seems like almost all women go straight for the epidural. Why is that (not critcizing, just curious! This is something I’ve been wondering for a long time!)?

- CelebBabyLover on February 23rd, 2011

This story brings tears to my eyes! I can’t even imagine how she feels about her breasts, but what an amazing moment for her. I love the name Sadie and I’ve always liked Christina since I used to watch Married With Children, I think she’s a great actress.

I felt the same about my epidural, it was weird and my blood pressure didn’t react well. An hour before I started pushing I began feeling contractions because it was time for another dose but I chose to feel everything instead. Feeling my daughter enter the world was amazing.

CBL-The thing about gas or drugs is that they make you very sleepy and high haha. My friend is a labor and delivery nurse and she said usually when women go with IV drugs they still feel the same amount of pain but they are sooo exhausted, then they end up getting the epidural anyway. I had false labor at 38 weeks and was trying to go without an epidural and asked for IV drugs, if someone had told me to push I would have laughed in their face I was so messed up!

- jessicad on February 23rd, 2011

@Jessicad, that is what I was about to write. I have tears in my eyes. Must be really hard about her breast and then this profound moment with her baby.

- merry on February 24th, 2011

I’m glad she was able to have a baby after recovering from cancer. Sadie is a pretty name.

Just a note, in the USA, gas is not commonly used in labor. There are only 2 hospitals that routinely offer it. That will change, hopefully, since gas is a milder pain relief with less side effects.

- M on February 24th, 2011

this is absolutely beautiful… i’m really glad she shared that.. so intimate but it truly gives others courage and hope.. and moved me to big, ploppy sobby snotty tears )

- pia on February 25th, 2011