Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian's wife Loreal shares 'emergency' birth story

Jackie Longo

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Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian's wife Loreal shares 'emergency' birth story image

© Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian's wife, Loreal Sarkisian, is speaking out about her stressful path to becoming a mother. 

Loreal, 39, welcomed the couple's first child together, a baby boy named Amays, in April. Steve, 51, already had three children, Taylor, Ashley, and Brady, from a previous marriage, while it marked Loreal's first experience with motherhood.

“I turned 30, I turned 35, and still no kids,” Loreal, 39, said in a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, August 27. “One day I got to a point where I was like, ‘Hey, if by the time I turn 40 I don’t have any kids, I’ll just be the best auntie ever.’ Because at that time, being an aunt was one of my favorite jobs.”

The college football coach's wife started to accept the fact that motherhood wasn't in the cards for her. Then in the fall of 2024, everything changed when she learned that she was expecting a baby boy with Steve four years after tying the knot. 

MORE: Loreal Sarkisian shows off her wise side while embracing a touch of fashion

Her pregnancy wasn't exactly easy though. Shortly after her first trimester, Loreal learned that she was facing some complications that forced her to be put on bedrest immediately. 

“Once admitted into the hospital, it became even more real,” Loreal said in her vlog. “I was OK and, not to mention, I needed to [be] for the baby’s sake. At that point, he could feel everything I feel. I just needed him to stay in as long as possible. That was the name of the game at that point. Me being admitted was, ‘Let’s keep him in and give him the best chance at survival should he come early.’”

Then, after being admitted to the pregnancy unit of the hospital, Loreal's water broke, prompting an "emergency" due to the baby's heart rate dropping and not coming back up, she recalled.

Her first child was delivered while she was asleep, so she missed out on the natural experience of childbirth. 

“I was torn between being grateful and happy that he was alive and well and so are you, but then also again like, ‘God dog, I didn’t get another moment of this beautiful journey as a lot of women describe it,’” Loreal said. “There was a lot of that. Being grateful and thankful, and then like, ‘Oh my god, this really sucks.’ I don’t want to complain, but my reality was I was dealing with both sides of things.”

The First Lady of Texas football says she hopes sharing her story will inspire other mothers to talk more openly about the difficult parts of motherhood. 

“No one really talked about the sucky side of pregnancy and I think that was also what was not helpful for me in pregnancy,” Loreal said. “Like, ‘Oh, you’re pregnant! You’re glowing! Everything’s great! You look beautiful!’ Actually it’s like. I’m actually really miserable.”

 

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Jackie Longo

Jackie is a freelance writer and editor with The Sporting News. She has covered sports, entertainment and lifestyle for over a decade. She has written for a number of outlets including Business Insider, The Sun, Travel+Leisure and Heavy. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from West Virginia University and resides in Charlotte, NC.