Bachelor star in critical care after premature birth

Emily Ghougassian (née Simms), who appeared on the 2015 season of The Bachelor, has been rushed to a hospital’s critical care unit after delivering her first child prematurely.

In an Instagram caption, which appears to have been written by the 36-year-old makeup artist’s husband, he revealed Emily is suffering with “severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome”.

“Mum is not doing so great,” he added.

The brunette beauty and her husband, Pierre, welcomed baby daughter Laila Belle in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Laila - pronounced ‘Lay-La’ - arrived seven weeks premature when Emily was just 33 weeks pregnant, but is reportedly “doing well.”

“Laila Belle Ghougassian, born 03.07.19, at 2:24pm, weighing 2.022kg,” read the Instagram post.

“Baby is doing well and has been moved out of ICU and into the special care nursery as of today,” it continued.

Weighing just over 2kg, Laila falls into the ‘premature’ category - babies born between 32 and 36 weeks- and may have required help breathing in the intensive care unit.

The proud new dad went on to thank everyone for their messages of love and support, gushing, “Laila is simply gorgeous and we are so smitten!”

Emily’s celeb pals have shared their well-wishes.

Fashion blogger Elle Ferguson wrote, “Sending lots of love beauty x”

Fellow reality TV star Tahan Lew Fatt - of Big Brother fame - said, “wishing you a speedy recovery xx”

What is Pre-eclampsia?

Pre-eclampsia is a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication where the woman’s blood pressure is high and there’s protein in the urine, which can cause damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and blood.

According to Victoria’s Better Health channel, it affects around five to eight per cent of pregnancies in Australia - and in some rare cases it can be deadly.

Mothers-to-be with pre-eclampsia often develop HELLP syndrome which stands for haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count.

According to the Pre-eclampsia foundation, “HELLP syndrome can be difficult to diagnose, especially when high blood pressure and protein in the urine aren't present”.

Emily’s hospital dash

Emily revealed on Tuesday that she was admitted to hospital on June 28 and diagnosed with the conditions after “feeling like death.”

She took to Instagram to explain how her illness prevented her from attending her own baby shower - which her hubby went to instead of her.

“After being in hospital now with diagnosed pre-eclampsia since Friday last week, feeling like death, not being able to make it to my baby shower last Sunday, and just trying to keep her in for a bit longer, it's been emotionally and physically really difficult (to say the least),” she wrote.

Emily went on to thank real estate agent Pierre, whom she wed in August 2018, a year after they first met.

Before that, she was a contestant on Sam Wood's season of The Bachelor Australia. and made headlines for storming out of a rose ceremony to avoid missing out on a rose.

Emily later publicly slammed Channel 10 for portraying her as a villain.

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