Jenna Bush Hager’s Ectopic Pregnancy

Jenna Bush Hager is opening up about the toll ectopic pregnancy symptoms took on her body and what it was like to reconnect her body, mind and spirit during her fertility journey. During the Today show earlier this week, she chatted with Amanda Bartomoleo, the founder of CorePlay about her own history of prenatal fitness and fertility heartbreak.

“When I first met Amanda, we started talking about finding your core, and what that means metaphorically for women and obviously, literally,” shared Jenna Bush Hager, who is mom to three young children. “We both realized we both had had ectopic pregnancies.”

An ectopic pregnancy is the occurrence of a fertilized egg implanted outside the uterus, often in the nearby fallopian tubes. If these pregnancies are left to grow and advance, nearby organs can be damaged. Ectopic pregnancies are also often life-threatening for the women who carry them.

It’s one of the reasons hCG levels are so frequently tested in early pregnancy.

Jenna, 41, continued the discussion, sharing, “I had one years ago before I got pregnant with Mila. I hadn’t really engaged my core because I’ve had six or seven stomach surgeries with C-sections, appendicitis and ectopic pregnancy.”

Bush-Hager is now Mom to Mila, 9, Poppy, 7, and Hal, 3. “And so, I had sort of lost that part of me. But also as a woman, it was a really hard thing to go through,” she said, as her voice grew a bit shaky.