Beyoncé Opens Up About Difficult Birth To Rumi And Sir: ‘We Spent Many Weeks in the NICU’

After much buzz, Beyoncé’s September cover of Vogue magazine is here. You know, the one where she hired 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell, the very first African-American photographer to ever shoot a cover for the glossy.

In her own words, Beyoncé opens up about her difficult childbirth with 1-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir, where they had to spend weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit.

“I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir. I was swollen from toxemia and had been on bed rest for over a month. My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU,” Bey revealed in Vogue.

Thankfully, Beyoncé said, her husband Jay Z was ” a soldier and such a strong support system for me.”

“I am proud to have been a witness to his strength and evolution as a man, a best friend, and a father,” she continued of her husband of 10 years. “I was in survival mode and did not grasp it all until months later.”

Beyoncé said after giving birth to her third child, complete with an emergency C-section, she definitely had to recover as her body had drastically changed.

“After the C-section, my core felt different. It had been major surgery. Some of your organs are shifted temporarily, and in rare cases, removed temporarily during delivery. I am not sure everyone understands that. I needed time to heal, to recover,” she revealed.

Beyoncé credits giving herself “self-love and self-care” along with embracing her curves to help her mentally during the recovery. “I accepted what my body wanted to be, ” she added.

Queen Bey also had a message for both men and women when it came to the sometimes impossible standards we place on ourselves.

“I think it’s important for women and men to see and appreciate the beauty in their natural bodies,” she said. “That’s why I stripped away the wigs and hair extensions and used little makeup for this shoot.”