Priyanka Chopra Jonas is shedding light on the difficult first few months with her baby girl.
The actress and husband Nick Jonas welcomed their first baby together, daughter Malti, on Jan. 15, 2022. She spent her first 100 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), making it home just in time for Mother’s Day.
Opening up about the scary first three months in the NICU with baby Malti in a new interview with British Vogue, the Quantico star, 40, admitted, “I didn’t know if she would make it or not.”
Malti was delivered a full trimester before her due date. Chopra Jonas recalled her daughter being “smaller than my hand” when she was born.
“I was in the OR [operating room] when she came out. She was so small, smaller than my hand,” she shared. “I saw what the intensive-care nurses do. They do God’s work. Nick and I were both standing there as they intubated her. I don’t know how they even found what they needed [in her tiny body] to intubate her.”
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The actress said she and her musician husband spent the next three months making daily visits to the NICU, first at Rady Children’s Hospital in La Jolla, California, and later at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
“We spent every single day with her on my chest, on my husband’s chest,” she continued. “I didn’t know if she would make it or not.”
On May 8, 2022, Jonas shared a moving tribute to his wife on Instagram for her first Mother’s Day, revealing that their daughter was “finally home” from an extended stay in the NICU.
“On this Mother’s Day we can’t help but reflect on these last few months and the rollercoaster we’ve been on, which we now know, so many people have also experienced,” he began. “After 100 plus days in the NICU, our little girl is finally home. Every family’s journey is unique and requires a certain level of faith, and while ours was a challenging few months, what becomes abundantly clear, in retrospect, is how precious and perfect every moment is.”
He thanked the staff at both hospitals, “who were there selflessly every step of the way.”
“We are overjoyed that our little girl is finally home,” he continued. “Our next chapter begins now, and our baby is truly a badass. Let’s get it M! Mommy and Daddy love you.”
The Jonas Brothers musician, 30, revealed during a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show that baby Malti celebrated her first birthday with a big party “over the weekend,” just days ahead of her official birthday on Jan. 15.
“We had to celebrate,” Jonas told host Kelly Clarkson. “She went through a pretty wild journey in the early part of her life, so we had to celebrate in style. She’s one. She’s beautiful. It’s amazing — the best.”