Meghan opens up about ‘juggling it all’ looking after poorly Archie and Lili
By Laura Elston, PA Court Reporter
Meghan Markle has spoken about “juggling it all” and nursing a poorly Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet at home in her latest podcast episode.
Meghan, in the second output from her Confessions Of A Female Founder series, revealed how, at the time of recording, one of her children had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) – a common cause of coughs and colds – and the other influenza A – a form of flu.
Meghan, talking about the challenge of being a working mother, said: “With that comes the woman who is juggling it all and doing it all from home, being confident enough to tell the truth about what’s going on, because you can’t give grace to someone in the same way if you just have no sense of it…
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“My kids, for example, right now, one has RSV, the other has influenza A.
“I hear a little pitter patter of feet upstairs, home from school, you know cough syrup all night and rubbing the back, and … we still find a way to show up for both.”
Meghan, speaking to Reshma Saujani, founder of the not-for-profit Girls Who Code, also touched on her experience of miscarriage and having to “let something go that you plan to love for a long time”.
Meghan had a miscarriage in July 2020, when her eldest child Archie was one, revealing her heartbreak in an article for The New York Times later that year.told Ms Saujani, who faced a series of miscarriages due to an autoimmune disease: “The miscarriages that you’ve experienced. I’ve spoken about the miscarriage that we experienced.
“And I think, in some parallel way, when you have to learn to detach from the thing that you have so much promise and hope for, and to be able to be OK at a certain point to let something go, something go that you plan to love for a long time.”
In the first episode, former actress Meghan revealed that she suffered a “huge” medical scare when she developed postpartum pre-eclampsia after the birth of one of her children, and had to cope with the “world” not knowing.
Meghan also shared how being a “mom” was her “favourite title” and how Prince Harry tries to encourage her to take a break from her children.
“Now you have the title of mom. Just like me. Favourite title. Love it. Oh my gosh. I love being a mom so much,” Meghan said.
“It’s my favourite thing.
“It is the thing where you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, I just need a break. I just need a minute’.
“And the second you step into the other room, you go, oh but let me scroll through pictures of them endlessly on my phone, and… my husband’s like, ‘My love, can you just give yourself a minute? Why don’t you go work out? Why don’t you go take a bath?’
“I’m like I know, but I just want to cuddle. It’s the parenting paradigm where it is so full-on and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“But I think what’s really key about what you said, and the pandemic may have been the thing that shifted this, when working from home and parenting from home where they are completely converged, can feel incredibly overwhelming.”
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Last episode, Meghan spoke about the benefits of working from home, saying of Lili: “If she wakes up and wants to find me, she knows where to find me, even if my door is closed to the office.
“She’ll be sitting there on my lap during one of these meetings with a grid of all the executives… I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The conversation is the latest instalment from Meghan’s new eight-part podcast with Lemonada Media, which promised “girl talk” and advice on how to create “billion-dollar businesses”.
It follows the Meghan's much-criticised Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan and her new brand As Ever, which sold out of its first batch of raspberry spread, flower sprinkles and herbal tea.