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Australian model Megan Gale has candidly discussed experiencing a miscarriage for the first time.
Speaking to InStyle Australia Gale, 41, said, “It took us six months with River… so we thought, let’s try around April and see what happens. I found out in May and I was so thrilled it had happened so quickly, and a little bit shocked. My body was [changing]…and I was hoping to hide it, but I felt very pregnant.”
However, Gale then fell ill. “I had a cold, flu, I got laryngitis, I had a chest infection—it just got worse and worse. I was so bummed because I’d been so looking forward to doing this job and I loved working with Foxtel and loved the show… I wanted to be firing on all cylinders, and I was probably firing on half a cylinder.”
The Australia’s Next Top Model host explains, “I’m a bit of a nerd in that I just love to be professional and do the best job that I can. But I thought, ‘It’s worth it at the end of it because I’m going to have this baby.’ ”
As most women do, Gale undertook a reassuring six-week scan, then she scheduled her next obstetric appointment just before a trip to Milan with the final four Top Model contestants to film the semi-final episode. Although, sadly, as the weeks progressed, something felt wrong.
“I can’t put my finger on it—there was no physical change or a sign or symptom…[I wondered] if I was being overprotective and paranoid, or if something was wrong.” She recalls feeling “nervous and horrible” on the morning of her next scan, but “I just wanted to go and see that bub was okay.” She remembers, “I hopped up on the table and [my obstetrician] put the ultrasound on my tummy. He just kept moving it and not saying anything and I started to feel sick.” After also completing an internal ultrasound, her specialist broke the news. “He was quiet, and then he just said, ‘I’m so sorry, it’s gone.’”
Gale emotionally confessing that”Anything surrounding your conception as a woman, as a couple, is extremely intimate, and it needs to be handled delicately… I feel absolutely passionate about it.”
The model believes her difficult experience has changed her, “Especially now with what we’ve gone through—because I’d always get asked ‘When are you going to have a baby?’ And when I’d had River, ‘When are you going to have another baby?’ I lose count how many times a week—whether it’s in an interview, whether it’s friends, family, someone at the supermarketI don’t know… it happens [to women] everywhere. It’s such a personal question, and what makes it that much harder to answer is when you’ve been through some kind of hurdle with conception.”
Gale tells the magazine that following her miscarriage she had to get an in-hospital procedure in Melbourne, before a rushed trip to Sydney, and then the long journey to Milan. “There was a risk of it getting out and spreading like wildfire, and I wasn’t prepared to deal with everyone knowing,” Gale explains.
The Australian beauty has also taken to Instagram to share video footage of her interview and reveals why she has chosen to share her story.
Despite the heartbreaking events, Gale is supported by boyfriend Shaun Hampson and is happy to have son River by her side. She also tells InStyle Australia she’s focusing on “feeling healthy and great. I feel like 2017 is going to be great!”
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