Rachel is focused on raising Max and getting back into shape for dancing. Photo / Line & Roots Photography
Welcoming their first baby during a global pandemic was a daunting prospect for Dancing With The Stars judge Rachel White and her Kiwi hubby Stuart, but it turned out Covid was the least of their concerns when it came to the birth of their sweet son Maxim Ilya, with a difficult pregnancy that saw the brunette beauty nearly die on the delivery table.
"It's so much easier to talk about what happened now because I finally have my baby – he's beautiful and literally my dream come true – but there was a lot that came with it," says Rachel, 34, speaking exclusively to Woman's Day from their home in Los Angeles.
Going back to the beginning, the champion dancer reveals her heartache at struggling to fall pregnant. "At the time, it was hard to admit that having a baby just wasn't happening for us," she confesses.
"I felt like whenever I found out someone else was expecting, even though was happy for them, it was really hard for me. I'd wanted it for so long and I'm such a goal-oriented person, so it was difficult."
She and Northland hunk Stu, 38, saw a doctor in Aotearoa and underwent a heartbreaking failed attempt at intrauterine insemination before trying a "pretty intense IVF treatment" back in the US.
Thanks to top Californian doctors, the couple were able to test Rachel's embryos for haemophilia C, a condition the Russian-Californian star lives with that prevents her blood from clotting properly.
She enthuses, "Luckily we were able to bring Max into this world without it because any time I bleed, I'm at serious risk. It's amazing not having to worry about it because looking at crazy Kiwi Stu, who has had upwards of 10 operations, I was concerned if we had a boy, he'd be jumping off roofs! We're stoked and feel like everything happened for a reason."
Although Rachel was over the moon to find out they were expecting last year, her pregnancy didn't go quite as expected.
"I was really nauseous in the first trimester and the second trimester was good, but that's when Covid hit and I was trapped indoors," she explains.
"By the end, my swelling was through the roof because I had pre-eclampsia and it
got pretty serious fast."
As well as having dangerously high blood pressure, the soon-to-be-mum was told her unborn bub was in a breech position. "I did acupuncture to try to flip him around so I could have a natural birth because that's really what I wanted, but it didn't work out," recalls Rachel, who ended up having a C-section three weeks before her due date.
"It was the scariest experience of my life being in labour because my blood pressure wouldn't go down, so my legs and arms were shaking uncontrollably."
Due to her condition, Rachel required multiple blood transfusions during the Caesarean, which was her first-ever time in surgery. "I thought I was going to die and lose my baby's life," she admits. "It took me a while to get my head around it afterwards because it was so traumatic. I thought my body had failed and had some postpartum blues. It's tough for women."
Now, though, Rachel is simply overwhelmed with happiness. "I totally love motherhood. It's hard in the sense there's not a lot of sleep and it consumes basically your whole life, but it's so fulfilling and our hearts are full," she says. "I'm used to my fulfilment coming from dance or work-oriented goals and it's a completely different feeling."
For such a natural, it's surprising there was a stage when Rachel accepted her career might take over ever becoming a mum. "As a kid, I loved playing with dolls and picturing the perfect husband," she laughs.
"But there was a period I was so occupied with dancing and wanting to become a world champion that I thought it meant I might not have the chance. But as soon as I met Stu, it changed things. I started to envision life in a different way."
Rachel plans to teach Max her native Russian tongue, but she insists he'll be a little Kiwi kid, splitting his childhood between California and Northland settlement Maungakaramea, where Stu's parents live on the farm he was raised on.
"His New Zealand passport is on the way!" says Rachel. "And in the nursery, I have
a little Kiwi inspiration wall, with a map of the country and a kiwi bird."
The couple – who met at a salsa class in LA in 2011 – agree that for now, more babies are on hold. "We were discussing that today and said we'll address it in a few years," tells Rachel, who will be replaced on the next season of DWTS by former contestant Laura Daniel.
"If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have said yes, but I almost died, so it's kind of a little different! I want to focus on Max and breastfeeding him for a year, and getting my body back into tip-top dancing condition."
Gym owner Stu says having a baby changes life for the better. "This face you didn't know before is suddenly sitting in front of you and it belongs to you," he grins. "It's a pretty hard thing to put into words."
During Rachel's pregnancy, Stu kept his wife fuelled with healthy food and New Zealand-sourced supplements made from grass-fed beef organs.
"That's something we would've eaten 10,000 years ago in an ancestral diet, but no one eats bloody organs any more – it's kind of gross," he laughs. "There are a lot of key nutrients in there that help with development of the brain."
Meanwhile, Rachel says Max is already her favourite dance partner. "We dance around all the time and he loves it. He likes doing the tango and we dance every single day," she beams. "Motherhood is definitely the most wonderful thing in the world and it has all been worth it."
This story was originally published in Woman's Day.