Jenna Bush Hager experienced an ectopic pregnancy before giving birth to her daughter Mila in 2013.
On April 28, Jenna described the experience as one of her “biggest heartbreaks.”
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus, most of which —approximately 90 percent — occur in a fallopian tube, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
“Because I had to have surgery it felt really hard,” the TODAY co-host shared on Hoda & Jenna.
Jenna noted that she and her husband, Henry Hager, were “young," at the time, which made the ordeal that much more difficult.
“I don’t know that Henry and I even knew the language of grief yet,” she said.
The couple are now parents of Mila, 10, Poppy, 7, and Hal, 3. Jenna said that Mila "loves to tell people that 'Mommy had a baby that died.'"
“When I look at those three kids’ faces — had that baby lived — the other other three wouldn’t necessarily be mine and I always think about those little twists that felt like the hardest heartaches,” Jenna said.
While speaking with Meredith Vieira in 2019, Jenna recalled learning that there was something wrong with the pregnancy during an early scan.
“It was my first pregnancy. I was so excited,” Jenna told Vieira. “I got to the doctor’s office and she said ‘Yeah, you’re pregnant, but we can’t find the baby."
Jenna's husband was out of town at the time, and her twin sister, Barbara Bush, was in Africa.
"So I went into emergency surgery and I had my fallopian tube removed,” Jenna added, calling the experience “isolating.”
Ectopic pregnancy symptoms include lower back pain, abnormal vaginal bleeding and cramping.
“Usually women (with ectopic pregnancies) complain of a more constant pain,” said Dr. Meera Garcia, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, previously told TODAY.com. “It seems a little more than the premenstrual, menstrual-like cramping that most people have.”