Allison Williams and American Horror Story: Coven actor Alexander Dreymon have been together since late 2019. They started dating around six months after Allison’s split from her first husband, Ricky Van Veen. In past interviews, they’ve said that they were a new couple during the pandemic. In 2021, they welcomed their first son, Arlo. Allison just appeared on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, where she talked about her experience giving birth to Arlo. Like so many women, Allison had a birth plan that didn’t go quite as expected. For so long, she had planned on having a natural birth. However, after spending more than a day in labor, in which Arlo’s heart rate kept dropping, Allison ended up needing a C-section. On the pod, she talked about how traumatizing the entire experience was.
Allison Williams is candidly opening up about her birthing experience.
The M3GAN actress, 37, opened up about her “very stressful” labor and delivery experience during the latest episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. Williams, who welcomed her son Arlo, 3, with actor Alexander Dreymon, told host Amanda Hirsch that she had to have an emergency C-section after being in labor for 36 hours, adding that it was a “very stressful thing.”
“From the moment I arrived, pre-epidural, every time I had a contraction… his heart rate would go down,” she recalled. When asked about how she felt in that moment, the proud mom said, “Huge trauma. Deeply stressful. I realized in that moment that I hadn’t thought about the possibility of having a C-section.”
“I hadn’t pictured it, wondered what it was like. I kind of was like, blah blah blah blah blah. I’ve never had surgery. I don’t wanna think about this. And so I didn’t,” she continued. “And then there I was being told that this had to happen. And that was just like a profoundly scary moment where I realized like, ‘Oh my god. I’m about to have surgery for the first time. And this all just feels extremely scary and not what I was picturing.’ ”
The Fellow Travelers actress admitted that she would have liked to know more before entering her C-section, saying that in the moment, there was a lot to process.
“In the moment where she told me it was happening, I was processing a lot of things at the same time,” she told Hirsch. “One of those things would have been off the table, which was like, ‘What’s about to happen to me? What’s this gonna be like? What does this mean, etcetera?’ And if I knew the answers to some of those things, I would just be processing like, ‘This isn’t going the way I pictured it,’ or ‘I’m scared’ or ‘This is vulnerable.’ ”
“All of those other things, which is still a lot to deal with, just would have been nice to have, like, some of those things off,” she added.
I’m so sorry for what Allison went through. That sounds so scary! I can completely understand how traumatic that was. I’m glad that her doctor was able to intervene and safely deliver Arlo. You can be as prepared as possible, with a birth plan and contingency plans, but nothing ever really prepares you for how it feels if something doesn’t go according to any of those plans. My bestie went through something similar, only with twins. One was “easily” delivered vaginally, but the other one ended up needing an emergency c-section. She was, and still is, very candid about just how traumatic the experience was and how extreme her emotions were during and in the *years* afterward. (They are nine now.) While on the subject, I also see so many moms on forums and Facebook groups that carry so much guilt if their birth plans don’t go as planned because society and social media makes them feel like there is something wrong with them. There is not! I really wish that there were better mental health services available for mothers and that there wasn’t a stigma around them needing them.
Photos credit: Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, Jennifer Graylock/INSTARimages, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon