Kourtney Kardashian has spoken out about the “super rare” fetal surgery that “saved” her and husband Travis Barker’s son, Rocky.
During the season five premiere of The Kardashians, which aired on 23 May, the 45-year-old reality star reflected on going to the hospital for the surgery. In September 2023, Kardashian first revealed that she was rushed into an emergency procedure to save her unborn bay, days after Barker announced he was briefly leaving his tour due to “a family emergency”.
In The Kardashians episode, the Lemme founder explained that right before her husband left for his Blink-182 tour last summer, she got an at-home scan of the baby, and her doctor noticed something.
“The doctor who will come to the house to do the scan is a high-risk doctor, really detailed and thorough at looking for everything,” she said during a confessional interview. “And something caught his eye where he wanted me to see a couple of specialists and I had to go in for fetal surgery where they do surgery on the baby, which was terrifying.”
The Poosh founder acknowledged that when she had to go to the hospital, her mother, Kris Jenner, took her, since Barker was on tour. However, once he heard what was happening, he rushed home, which was only hours after he’d left Los Angeles. While she noted that Barker didn’t make it back for the fetal surgery, since it had to be done “right away”, he came “straight to the hospital” after his plane landed.
She went on to acknowledge how the “timing” of the surgery on her unborn baby was “miraculous”, noting how it “saved everything”. According to the Mayo Clinic, fetal surgery is “a procedure performed on an unborn baby in the uterus to help improve the long-term outcome of children with specific birth defects”. The medical site also notes that “early intervention” using the surgery “can treat life-threatening birth defects and improve outcomes in some cases”.
In the Hulu episode, Kardashian expressed her gratitude for her doctors and the support she had during the surgery. “I just feel so grateful for how everything played out and for the doctors that really helped make the best decisions that really saved our baby,” she said during a confessional interview.
She then shared the advice her doctor told her after the procedure, adding: “She was like: ‘That was a trauma and I want you guys to be able to take a second and know that that was really traumatic.”
The reality star confessed that while there is “some superpower” she has that keeps her “really calm” in “emergency situations,” she felt relieved when she could finally get emotional about what happened.
“And then right when we left I was like: ‘Okay, I could take a deep breath. I could cry. I could get it out,’” she continued.
During the discussion, she also acknowledged how “grateful” she was that she posted on Instagram about the fetal surgery in September, since so many women reached out to her and confessed that they don’t talk about getting the procedure themselves, since they’re worried they “did something wrong”.
However, Kardashian said that her doctor made it clear that she wasn’t at fault. “She was like: ‘There’s nothing that you did wrong, it’s not age-related. It’s like just a super rare thing that happened,’” she recalled. “But then I was like, after this happened, I was like God’s got this. We’re good. This is a miracle and I’m gonna be super positive.”
During The Kardashians episode, which was filmed last year, she gave an update on her recovery, noting that she was “mostly on bedrest”. She continued to detail how the surgery impacted her body and everyday life at the time.
“There’s a hole in the amniotic sac from where they had to go into the surgery,” she explained. “So I’m not allowed to drive, I’m not allowed to stand for more than 20 minutes. I’m really not leaving the house.”
In September, Kardashian first shared a black-and-white photo of Barker holding her hand, as she was in the hospital bed following the surgery. After detailing her gratitude for her family and doctors in the caption, she described some of the fears she had in the hospital, as she’d been pregnant before with her three children – Mason, 14, Penelope, 11, and Reign, nine – who she shares with ex Scott Disick.
“As someone who has had three really easy pregnancies in the past, I wasn’t prepared for the fear of rushing into urgent fetal surgery. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been through a similar situation can begin to understand that feeling of fear,” she wrote. “I have a whole new understanding and respect for the mamas who have had to fight for their babies while pregnant.”
