Jorgie Porter reveals how doctors said she could ‘cancel’ one or more of her unborn quads to try to save the others
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SHE recently opened up about tragically miscarrying her quads at 14 weeks - and now Jorgie Porter has revealed her pain at being offered a foetal reduction operation.
On the new episode of Fabulous’ hit podcast, Things I Told My Daughter, Jorgie and her mum Julie relive the heartbreaking moment when doctors explained her options.
Speaking to podcast host Peta Todd, she says: “We were told that not all might survive; if they did, there wasn’t much chance of full health. There was talk of 'you could cancel [one or more of them]'.
“[But for me], it was either four or none, because having grown up with my mum and grandma... whenever we’ve had a hard time, we get through it together.”
Best-known for her role as Theresa McQueen in Hollyoaks, Jorgie, 33, first laid bare her secret heartache in an exclusive cover interview with Fabulous Magazine in November.
The actress, who got together with her property developer partner Ollie Piotrowski, 32 in October 2020, fell pregnant in May 2021, after the pair decided to start a family together.
“We were so excited, so happy about it,” she says.
“He didn’t believe it was happening, we had to do about 100 pregnancy tests.
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“One of my friends has twins, so she reminded me that I have twins in my family and that I should have an early scan to check.”
Aftera private scan proved inconclusive, Jorgie went to hospital for an internal scan when she was six weeks gone - which revealed she had four sacks in her womb.
“My first reaction was: I’m too small to have four! I don’t think both of us could grasp what was being told to us.
“Because we were so early on, there were no yolks in the sacks [yet], so we had to be kept under observation.
“We had to keep going back quite often to be checked. Our journey up to that point was confusing and high-risk.
“Ollie got really upset and stressed and I was starving, tired, moody, because my hormones were apparently times four. I just wanted to sleep all the time.”
Meanwhile, Jorgie’s mum Julie was brimming with excitement.
She says: “I thought, ‘We can do this. We’ve got enough people around us for people to have one each and swap them over.”
For eight weeks after discovering she was carrying quadruplets, Jorgie had weekly scans to monitor her health and check how her pregnancy was progressing. Then, in August, at around 14 weeks, a scan revealed there was no sign of life in any of the embryo sacs.
The quadruplets had died in a missed miscarriage, when the body doesn’t recognise the pregnancy loss or expel pregnancy tissue. A few days later, Jorgie went under general anaesthetic to have her uterus cleared.
“We were told they didn’t survive and it was a miscarriage,” she says.
“For nature to take its course... It wasn't a relief, but it’s what was meant to happen. I could be strong enough to think: this is what's meant to happen.
“The doctors in the hospital had never seen this before - we were literally one in 700,000. No doctor had ever come across it.”
Her voice breaking with emotion, Jorgie says: “I get choked up when I say this, but there’s not one person I can relate to about going through this.”
But rather than putting strain on their relationship, their terrible loss has only strengthened Jorgie and Ollie’s bond.
Julie says: “I couldn’t have asked for anybody better to have been with her than Ollie. He was just superb, protecting her and supporting her...”
Jorgie adds: “It was pretty scary but having him by my side was the best possible situation, I couldn’t have done it without him being there.
“With all of his support and just his emotions and how much he cares. If anything, it’s brought me and him closer together.”
- Fabulous magazine’s podcast Things I Told My Daughter is back with a new series. Hosted by Fabulous contributor, influencer and mum-of-four Peta Todd, it focuses on intimate conversations between celeb mums and daughters. .
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