Heavy/Getty A preemie in the NICU
Things are looking up for Hallmark Channel star Chelsea Hobbs and her family a year and a half after her fourth child, daughter Lucy, was born two months premature. In a tweet on May 30, 2023, the “Dream Girls” star revealed Lucy had weighed just 3.8 pounds at birth but is now thriving.
It was one of multiple social media posts Hobbs has shared in recent weeks as she’s looked back at their harrowing journey, from her many weeks on bedrest at the hospital to Lucy’s frighteningly early debut, crediting hospital staff with saving her and her daughter’s lives. On June 1, Hobbs posted a touching Instagram video that showed newborn Lucy in the NICU; the video then transitioned to footage of her joyfully taking some of her first steps.
The proud and relieved mom wrote, “You did it Lucy! 💕What a year (and almost one half)😭”
Inside Chelsea Hobbs Challenging Birth Story With Her Fourth Child
Midway through her pregnancy with baby Lucy, Hobbs had a “scary hospital visit,” she recalled on Instagram in December 2021, and was put on bedrest there for six weeks while her husband James Neate held down the fort with their three kids — son Jones, now 3, and her children with ex-husband Teren Oddo, daughter Wylie, now 17, and son Kingston, 12.
In an Instagram post on January 2, 2022, Hobbs said she’d been diagnosed with placenta previa and vasa previa after experiencing heavy bleeding. Placenta previa, per the Mayo Clinic, occurs when the placenta completely or partially covers the opening of the uterus. Meanwhile, according to the Cleveland Clinic, vasa previa happens when exposed blood vessels from the umbilical cord that connects to the fetus travel too close to the cervix, at high risk for rupturing. Both are rare conditions that put the fetus and mother at risk.
After hours of contractions, baby Lucy was born via C-section on January 21, 2022, weighing just 3.8 pounds. But after 38 days in the NICU, she was able to go home and thrived.
On August 22, Hobbs marked the milestone of Lucy being out of the womb longer than she’d been in it, writing, “7 months in, 7 months out,” and recalled how hard it had been to leave Lucy in the hospital.
“Every day going to the nicu to snuggle you against my skin, teaching you how to eat on your own so you could be strong and come home,” she wrote.
On November 17, in honor of World Prematurity Day, Hobbs wrote an emotional post about her family’s journey.
“We are so grateful our sweet baby girl is healthy and survived her story,” she wrote. “I know not all families have the same outcome, and I know that the experience of having a premature baby forces you to be a part of a club you’ve never expected. I am forever changed and united with you all, for the rest of my life ♥️”
In a tweet on May 30, Hobbs celebrated her happy toddler, posting a photo of her giggling in a restaurant highchair and writing, “Wouldn’t know this kid was born at 3.8 lbs less than a year and a half ago”
Chelsea Hobbs Shares What She’s Learned From Motherhood
As a mom to a teen, tween, preschooler and toddler, Hobbs is juggling lots of life stages as a mom. On Mother’s Day 2023, she shared an Instagram photo of her kids and wrote that, despite the chaos, being a mom is her favorite role and “greatest achievement.”
“They all need me to fill different roles in their lives, all at once,” she wrote. “There are of course days I feel stretched thin, but at the end of every single one I lay my head down knowing how incredibly blessed I am.”
But Hobbs, who also appeared in December’s “The Holiday Sitter” as Jonathan Bennett’s sister, has also learned over time that she has to take care of herself in order to be the best mom she can, as she explained to Pop Culturist on May 13 while promoting her movie “Dream Moms,” co-starring fellow mom Tamera Mowry-Housley.
“As a mom, you often put yourself last,” she said. “As cliché as it sounds, it’s true. Women often are so focused on their kids and making sure that they’re the best for their kids. The beautiful silver lining in all of this story is that you are truly a better mother if you take care of yourself.”
Hobbs continued, “I found that’s true in my own life. If I’m going to an exercise class, going on a hike, or doing anything I can do to find a bit of self-care, I’m able to show up for my kids tenfold. That is a really strong part of the story. It’s an important story for a lot of women to be reminded of.”