The moment Sam Frost's 'mother's intuition' saved her baby's life.

Mother's intuition. It's a feeling mums know all too well. That little voice inside, telling you something isn't quite right.

For former Home and Away star and Bachelorette Sam Frost, that intuition kicked in hard when she noticed her first baby boy wasn't moving as much as usual during her first pregnancy.

And thank goodness she listened to it.

"I remember laying there all night, and this was maybe two days after his due date, and I just held onto my tummy the whole time, just waiting and waiting and waiting for him to kick and he wouldn't do his normal movements," Sam told Mamamia's Diary of a Birth.

Thankfully, little Ted arrived safe and sound — but not without some drama along the way.

Listen to Sam Frost's birth story on Mamamia's Diary of a Birth. Post continues below.

Before becoming a mum, Sam's life was a whirlwind.

"I was working crazy hours, doing 13-hour days, six days a week," she recalled. "I felt like I had a lot of love to give, and I was very much looking forward to being a mum."

Like many women, Sam worried about whether motherhood would happen for her.

"I was really nervous that I couldn't fall pregnant," she said.

"It was something I constantly thought about. I have girlfriends that have struggled with fertility and have spent years, and years, and years trying. I saw their grief, so I was very, very nervous that it wasn't going to happen for me."

So, when she "baby trapped" (her joking words, not ours) her partner Jordie Hansen within four months, she was over the moon.

But pregnancy wasn't smooth sailing for Sam. Morning sickness? More like all-day sickness.

"It was hard to enjoy it at the start," she said. "I was on the couch for months vomiting, I couldn't keep anything down, just like extreme nausea and fatigue."

Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, she also had to deal with a sprained ankle. Because crutches and pregnancy are such a winning combo…

"Towards the end, I was like a huge whale, and I was pretty keen to get this baby out of there," Sam said.

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As her due date approached, the excitement of finally meeting her little boy grew. But then came the moment every pregnant woman dreads.

Something didn't feel right.

"I think women who are pregnant will understand how you get into a rhythm with your baby ... You know what they're doing, like at any time," Sam said.

"You get really in tune with each other and each other's movements, and my son was very active inside my tummy."

When Ted's usual acrobatics suddenly stopped, her internal alarm bells went off.

"Towards my due date, I remember I was a couple of days over my due date, and I stopped feeling him move," Sam said.

It's something we've all experienced. That moment when your gut is screaming but everyone else is telling you it's fine.

The midwife initially reassured her that "he's there, he's healthy, he's fine." But Sam just knew something was off.

"I knew he was okay, because I could still feel subtle movements, but he wasn't as active as he normally was," she said.

"You just doubt yourself so much."

But here's the thing about mother's intuition: it's usually right.

Sam listened to that little voice and went back to the hospital, where staff discovered an irregular heartbeat and issues with the placenta.

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The doctors decided to induce labour immediately.

"It was a perfect example of mother's intuition," Sam reflected.

"And I cannot stress enough how much you just have to listen to your own body, because I knew that something wasn't quite right, and if I had just left it and thought, 'Maybe this is just normal', you just don't know what could have happened."

Five hours later, beautiful Ted entered the world. And holding him for the first time? "The most incredible feeling in the world."

"It felt very spiritual… like something higher than me," Sam added.

It wasn't all go, go, go. There were some laughs too.

Picture this: Sam was in the middle of full-blown labour, contractions coming thick and fast, when her partner Jordie turned to the midwife with the most male request ever.

"Jordie said to the midwife, 'Hey, I don't want to be this guy, but I have a cracking headache. Do you have any Panadol?' And I'm like, 'Wait, are you kidding me?'"

Men, hey?

Sam and Jordie with baby Ted. Image: Instagram/samfrost.

Postpartum, Sam faced new challenges with breastfeeding.

"I certainly struggled, pretty much straight away breastfeeding," she admitted.

Cracked nipples, bleeding, mastitis — she went through it all.

"I was in so much pain, and the only advice that I got was to keep trying," Sam said.

The pressure and judgement became overwhelming, and a few weeks postpartum, Sam had a key realisation.

"I don't want to hold him, I don't want to feed him. I just, I don't want him to come near me. And that was the moment I thought, 'This isn't right.'"

That's when she made the decision to switch to bottle feeding and life got "immediately better".

"I became more peaceful. I was happier, Ted was happier. He was getting fed, and it just became so much easier," Sam said.

Sam's message is crystal clear: "A fed baby and a mother's mental health are way more important than anything else."

Two years on from welcoming Ted, Sam Frost has just welcomed her second child, a son called Bobby, born on March 29, 2023.

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Speaking to Mamamia, Sam said she felt a lot more relaxed with her second pregnancy.

"I'm a lot more laid back this second pregnancy," she shared.

She decided not to have a birth plan at all, to avoid the disappointment. She had a low-lying placenta this time around, and was open to however the child would come.

"I don't care. I want my baby to be healthy, and that's all that matters to me," she said.

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There's something to be said for having a baby in your mid-30s, Sam shared. You just have that peace within yourself.

"I just think you know yourself better ... you're self-assured enough to back yourself in situations when you're being gaslit from medical professionals," she said.

And her sage advice for expectant mums?

"My advice is not to listen to any advice," she laughed.

"I think so many people have opinions and criticism and all this noise, I just say block it out. Do what you got to do and just try and survive."

Words to live by, right?

For more Diary of a Birth stories, visit here.

Feature image: Instagram/samfrost.