Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick had to deal with a very worrying medical event recently. The former Vanderpump Rules star and her fiance are expecting a baby girl. But the pregnancy they announced in November, was not without health scares.
The Valley couple recently revealed that they had to react quickly when the James Mae founder started bleeding heavily. Kristen also revealed which of her costars from The Valley she leaned on for emotional support.
Kristen Doute “started bleeding” and was advised to get immediate medical care
During the December 13 episode of their podcast Balancing Act, the couple revealed that Kristen had a “threatened miscarriage” over the weekend.
“Something not so fun that happened to us over the weekend,” she shared. “We’ll be brief about this, but I feel like it’s important to talk about because if other women experience it…other women that I honestly read about online and a few friends are what got me through this.”
Kristen continued, “I started bleeding really heavily, and it was out of nowhere. We were just on the couch, I wasn’t doing anything crazy. And I just panicked.”
The Valley star was directed to go to the hospital immediately. However, it took stops at three different emergency rooms before Kristen was tended to.
“I’m still bleeding, and that’s the scary part,” she explained. “I don’t know what this means, because I’m in full panic mode, like ‘How much have I actually lost? How much blood am I going to keep losing? Is this going to keep happening? Is it not going to stop ever?'”
Kristen recalled the stress. At times, her emotions got the best of her. She described it as, “crazy thoughts that go through your head.” Despite the understandable panic, “everything worked out” and Kristen’s pregnancy is thankfully safe. However, the couple “still don’t totally know what happened.” But doctors had a theory.
“The scary part,” according to Kristen was going home
“What we think happened is that there was a shift in my placenta. The blood was all mine; the blood was not the baby’s,” Kristen shared. “We saw her on the ultrasound, we saw… I’m gonna get emotional. We saw her heartbeat. We got to listen to her heartbeat, the tech was so fantastic at making us feel good and making us feel calm in that way.”
Kristen was concerned because her baby was “moving in there—moving and shaking—like nothing was wrong.” But she praised the medical professional who put her and Luke’s mind at ease as “enough”
“I don’t care if I’m bleeding; I don’t care what’s happening down there as long as she’s safe,” Kristen shared. “The scary part then was once we go home, obviously, we just have to deal with this. Tomorrow is Saturday, the next day is Sunday, and we can’t go to the doctor. We just gotta hope and pray that that ultrasound was like, ‘Hey, she’s fine and she’s gonna be fine.'”
The reality TV star compared the conflicting emotions she felt when she was told she had a “threatened miscarriage,” yet the baby is perfectly healthy.
Kristen said the diagnosis is “the last thing you want to read, especially after you saw an ultrasound and the baby is totally fine.”
Kristen and Luke got support from The Valley cast members
The expectant parents “never prayed” so hard as when they were waiting for answers. Luckily, they had huge support from two of their costars.
“I believe wholeheartedly that God and Luke got me through that,” she reflected. “I called Nia [Sanchez] and Danny [Booko]—or texted them from the car—I didn’t even tell you this at the time. Right when we got in the car I texted Nia, ‘Can you guys please pray for us?'”
A little bit of research after the fact also gave the betrothed couple some answers. Luke recalled reading that this type of medical event most often occurs at “the end of the first and beginning of the second trimesters.”
At this point in Kristen’s pregnancy, “is the most common time that it happens, if it were to happen,” Luke said.
“If you were going to have bleeding in a pregnancy that’s going to also be successful and healthy, at that time there can be heavy bleeding and not affect the child at all,” he added.
Hang in there, Kristen – we’re sending you our best wishes!
The Valley is currently streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO KRISTEN’S “THREATENED MISCARRIAGE?” WHAT WORDS OF SUPPORT WOULD YOU SHARE WITH LUKE AND KRISTEN AT THIS TIME?
