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/ Source: TODAY
By Eun Kyung Kim
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union open up about their difficult journey to parenthood in a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, revealing numerous miscarriages and fighting back against “uneducated” critics they faced over photos announcing their daughter’s birth.
The couple spoke with Oprah about nine miscarriages Union had before they ultimately turned to surrogacy. They welcomed Kaavia James Union Wade on Nov. 7, and announced her arrival through a series of Instagram photos showing the couple in a hospital bed.
But those pictures prompted numerous comments criticizing Union for wearing a hospital gown while holding the baby.
Wade told Oprah he generally tells his wife “don’t look at that stuff” when it comes to social media nastiness, but this time, the remarks got to him.
“For me, the most hurtful thing was once we had our baby and everyone started talking about, ‘Why is she in the bed holding the baby? Why she got a gown on? Why she acting like she just had a baby?’” he said.
“Once again people are uneducated on the process and we decided to go skin-to-skin as soon as our baby came out.”
Skin-to-skin contact, sometimes called kangaroo care, fosters bonding between parents and babies. It also has been show to benefit babies.
Babies who receive skin-to-skin contact act more relaxed, display lower heart and breathing rates and have more stable sugar and temperature levels, said Dr. Christine Greves, a doctor at the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology at Orlando Health. Babies also don’t cry as much, she added.
Wade and Union aren’t the only celebrities to be ridiculed for their attempt to bond with their newborn.
Earlier this year, actor Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, singled out Twitter user Allison Taylor after she commented on a photo he posted showing him holding his diaper-clad baby on his bare chest.
Taylor teased Johnson, suggesting the moment was just an opportunity for him to take off his shirt.
“Good one! Buuuuut one day when you have babies Allison you’ll understand the power of skin to skin,” Johnson wrote back.
