Dia Mirza recalls son going through a life threatening surgery post birth: 'They pulled the intestine out…'

Dia Mirza welcomed her son, Avyaan Azaad Rekhi, into the world at the age of 39. The journey was fraught with peril, as Dia courageously battled a severe bacterial infection during her pregnancy, a condition that nearly claimed her life. This necessitated a premature delivery. In addition, Avyaan faced his own health challenges, requiring critical surgery. Dia's heart ached as she was initially unable to hold her newborn.

Dia Mirza told Official People Of India, “I developed an acute bacterial infection, which could have been a side effect of my appendix surgery that I underwent during the fifth month of my pregnancy. By the end of my sixth month, we realised that my placenta was haemorrhaging and my body was going into sepsis. If the baby wasn’t delivered, neither of us could be saved. It was quite scary."

Facing health complications, the actress was taken to the hospital. She pleaded with her doctor to save her baby, but her doctor insisted she trust him. After birth, Avyaan was immediately taken to the ICU, as he weighed a mere 810 grams and Dia received IV antibiotics to combat her illness.

She added, “They discovered 48 hours later that the bacteria in me were life-threatening. Avyaan had to go through life-saving surgery 36 hours after he was born. My son had a hole in his intestine and underwent surgery. They put a stoma on him — they basically pulled the intestine out of the body, and it was an exposed stoma."

“I was allowed to visit him only twice a week; I could not hold him until he weighed 2.5 kg. I brought him home for exactly 20 days, and no nurse was willing to touch him because it was a really terrifying visual. So I handled the dressing. After he became 3.5 kg, he underwent another surgery that lasted 3–4 hours, and the stoma was corrected," the actress added.

Apart from a being an actress, Dia Mirza is also an environmentalist. On the personal front, she married Sahil Sangha in 2014, but they separated in 2019.

Following her separation, Dia Mirza found love anew with businessman Vaibhav Rekhi in February 2021. Their connection had begun during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. The couple then joyfully welcomed their son, Avyaan Azaad Rekhi, who arrived prematurely in May 2021.