Herron has been open about her difficult emotional and physical journey after losing her son, Oliver, after giving birth at 24 weeks.
Former Bachelor Nation contestant Sarah Herron shared another health update this week following the death of her infant son in January.
Herron has been open about her difficult emotional and physical journey after giving birth to her son, Oliver, at 24 weeks and then losing him a day later.
"It's been 2 months since Oliver was born and until today, my uterus has been retaining parts of his placenta," Herron wrote on Instagram. "It has resulted in nearly 9 weeks of persistent bleeding, anemia, and my body not being sure if it's pregnant or not. On the outside, the signs of my pregnancy have almost all but disappeared. But on the inside, my body has not been able to let go."
Herron and her fiancé, Dylan Brown, got engaged in May 2021 after four years of dating. They had been trying to get pregnant for two years.
"For as long as this placenta has remained stuck in me, it has felt as though I was stuck in the trauma of my labor and postpartum," Herron continued. "At times I have felt comforted knowing an actual piece of Oliver was still with me, and at other times I have felt guilty for wanting it gone. For wanting to 'move on.'"
Herron also reflected on how her physical symptoms continue to affect her emotional state.
My due date will arrive soon – on May 17th – yet my body will have only just completed this agonizing process of letting go," she wrote. "I have spoken about how postpartum after pregnancy loss is still postpartum, and that biology makes no exceptions. But in addition to the intense hormone drop and body changes experienced with a full-term pregnancy, when you lose your pregnancy, you also have to navigate the insurmountable grief of not bringing your baby home. You're hormonal and heartbroken. Double whammy."
Herron also updated fans that she had undergone surgery to remove her remaining placenta.
"It went very smoothly, and I am recovering well," she wrote. "I will spend the next 4 weeks on hormones to rebuild my uterine lining and minimize potential for scarring. Here's where my heart has landed; My grief will remain with me forever – it's scaffolding. Oliver will remain with me forever, too. His DNA is apart of mine now. But I am relieved to close this very painful chapter of my loss story. I am feeling hopeful again. I am ready to move forward with the best parts of my pregnancy and let go of the parts that have kept me stuck. #onward and #upward ❤️ You’ll A L W A Y S be my baby, Oliver."
Herron first announced her heartbreaking news on Feb. 1. "Oliver, our IVF miracle defied so many odds and fought through so many hard milestones to be here," she wrote at the time. "But the higher powers still had other plans for the three of us."
Several days later, she shared an update on her journey thus far.
"I didn't know my milk was going to come in. Or that I would need my bathroom stocked with adult diapers, witch hazel and ice packs at 24 weeks pregnant," she wrote. She called all of these adjustments a "haunting reminder of what was supposed to be."
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