Nancy Grace: Motherhood Won't Soften Me

Jan. 7, 2008 — -- Outspoken and tough-talking television host Nancy Grace, who made a name for herself covering some the country's most high-profile criminal cases, returns to the airwaves tonight after maternity leave turned into a life-threatening pregnancy.

Viewers followed the 47-year-old during the ups and downs of her pregnancy since she announced she was expecting twins in the summer.

The opinionated cable host wanted to work until the day she delivered, but becoming a mother in her late 40s was no simple task.

"I had been in a wheelchair actually for a couple months, but the viewers didn't know," Grace said on "Good Morning America" today. "I've been through it. It's grueling. It's very, very difficult. It's hard to do."

Grace suffered near constant complications during her pregnancy and they sent her to the emergency room repeatedly.

She also maintained a strict protocol on her television show, with signals to let producers know how she was feeling.

"Between my two producers, Dean and Elizabeth, we had a series of hand signals [to let them know how I felt]. I would touch my necklace during break if I couldn't breathe or to throw up. All types of hands signals — to roll sound, to go to a guest, to keep the guest talking — to try to keep going until the twins came," Grace said.

A complication forced the fiery former prosecutor to deliver almost two months prematurely on Nov. 4, instead of the expected January 2008.

"I had no idea what was going to happen that day. I was getting ready to go to church. It was Nov. 4 and I couldn't breathe," she said. "I started coughing horribly. I coughed so violently I started getting sick. Then I bent over and I knew I had to go to the hospital...David took me to the hospital and doctor knew immediately that I was just full of fluid edema. My lungs were swimming. I had no idea."

After giving birth to fraternal twins, Lucy Elizabeth and John David, a week later, Grace suffered a blood clot in her lungs that almost killed her.

Despite all the difficulties, Grace said she would definitely repeat the process, but doesn't encourage older women to have children so late in life because of all the potential problems.