Mandy Moore will likely undergo labor without an epidural again for the delivery of her second child.
The "This Is Us" alum, who is set to welcome another son with husband Taylor Goldsmith in October, has an autoimmune blood disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).
"My platelets are too low for an epidural," the pregnant actress told NBC's TODAY Parents in an interview earlier this month.
With ITP, which is often triggered by pregnancy, a person's body mistakenly attacks their own platelets, or blood cell fragments that help with blood clotting, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
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Having an abnormally low number of platelets, a condition called thrombocytopenia, can cause bruising and internal bleeding. If doctors consider the level of platelets to be insufficient by the time of delivery, they will likely avoid giving the pregnant patient an epidural for pain relief during labor to avoid the risk of a spinal hematoma, or pooling of blood, multiple studies show.
Moore, 38, also had low platelets while pregnant with her son Gus, now 17 months old, and was also not given the option of getting an epidural while in labor with him. "It was awful," she told TODAY Parents. "But I can do it one more time. I can climb that mountain again."
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She added, "I wish medication was an option -- just the idea of it being on the table is so nice. But we'll just push forth like we did last time."
Moore announced her pregnancy with her second baby boy in June, soon after NBC's "This Is Us" ended its six-season run. "One incredibly seminal chapter of my life just ended and the next one, as a mother of two, is about to start," she wrote on Instagram at the time, "and are we ever so deeply grateful and excited."
Later that month, Moore canceled her 2022 tour. "When we booked these shows, I wasn't pregnant and although I truly thought I could power through, the way were are traveling (long hours on the bus and not getting proper rest) has caught up, taken its toll, and made it feel too challenging to proceed," she wrote in an Instagram post. "I know that I have to put my family and my health (and the health of my baby) first and the best place for me to be right now is at home."
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