Mandy Moore says she wishes pain medication was an option for her during birth. Photo / Getty Images
Mandy Moore says she wishes pain medication was an option for her during birth. Photo / Getty Images
Mandy Moore admits having an unmedicated birth is a tough "mountain to climb" - but she can do it "one more time".
The This Is Us star - who has 17-month-old Gus with Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith - is expecting her second with the musician and she will once again go through the birth without an epidural due to her autoimmune disorder, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, which causes abnormally low levels of platelets (blood cells that control bleeding) due to excessive bleeding.
She told TODAY Parents: "My platelets are too low for an epidural.
"It was awful. But I can do it one more time. I can climb that mountain again."
She continued: "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."
In an update to fans on Instagram, the 38-year-old actress revealed she is doing just "fine", but her platelets are "low".
She said: "I am fine. I just have to continue to get my blood checked — my platelet levels checked — throughout pregnancy. They're low, but they've always been low.
Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith are expecting their second child together. Photo / Getty Images
Mandy recently cancelled the rest of her tour after becoming "physically exhausted".
She said: "It was just really physically exhausting to the point where I was like, 'I have to draw the line' and really trust my gut and give myself some grace and recognise that I can't do everything. We did half the tour and it was so much fun. It was just so magical in the sense that you're in a new city every day and [Gus] got to meet new people every day, and it was an incredible life experience that he'll never remember, but we will. I think it was a very pivotal, and will be a very pivotal, part of his young life."
The Candy hitmaker explained that she needed a "different kind of stamina" to tour and ultimately decided to take a break to focus on the "hardest job of all".
She said: "It's really different being on a film set than being on a tour bus.
"It's a different kind of stamina. So I was like, 'You know what? We'll definitely check back in and do this again when I don't have a baby in my belly. I also was like, 'You know what? It's OK to take a little bit of a break.'
"I just worked really hard for six years and I felt like that train was just constantly going because even though we'd have little breaks in between seasons you're still like, 'Okay, well then, what comes next?' Or, 'What can I do during the downtime?' and just constantly keeping ourselves busy, which is fantastic.
"I feel like this is the first time in quite a few years that I've really like, 'Whoo, power down a little bit' and just being a mum - which is the hardest job of all!'"
