Gabrielle Union’s baby daughter Kaavia listened to recordings of her family and Beyonce in the womb.
The 46-year-old actress and her basketball star husband Dwyane Wade, 36, welcomed their first child together via a surrogate in November, and Gabrielle has revealed they used the sounds of their voices and their favourite music to make their new arrival’s “transition” into their lives “a lot smoother”.
During a recent Instagram Live, she said: “The surrogate would play it with headphones on her belly so Kaavia could get used to our voices.
“Kaav heard everything from ‘Astroworld’ (Travis Scott) to Beyoncé to Earth Wind and Fire to The Whispers.
“It made that transition from surrogacy into our home a lot smoother.”
Gabrielle, who was joined by Nanny to the stars Connie Simpson during the Instagram Live, also revealed that the newborn arrived early.
She said: “We thought we had at least two more weeks.”
Meanwhile, Dwayne recently revealed he convinced his wife to give up on IVF.
Speaking about undergoing the fertility treatment, Gabrielle – who had eight miscarriages – said: “I could not let go of this idea of creating this life within me, and felt the need to be pregnant for everybody, including myself.”
However, after seeing the toll the IVF and miscarriages were taking on his wife, Dwayne stepped in and urged her to consider other options.
He said: “I’m watching her do things to her body and to herself that it’s getting to the point where it’s not healthy.’
“And as I always told her: ‘I want this baby just as much as you do, but I married you, and you are the most important thing to me.’
“So it came to a point where, you know, I started to feel a certain way about that because I didn’t want something to happen to her.
“When doctors floated the possibility of a operation, I had to step in and say: ‘Baby, it’s me and you, you know? I wanna grow old with you. And, you know, I want this – I want our miracle baby, but I want you.'”
Dwayne – who has 16-year-old Zaire, five-year-old Xavier and 11-year-old Zion from previous relationships – took paternity leave after Kaavia was born as it was important to him that he bonded with his baby daughter straight away.
He explained: “For me and for my wife and our family, our journey was just totally different. Having a surrogate carry our baby, I wasn’t there to be able to be like [leaning down to the belly]: ‘Hey, baby, daddy’s here.’ You know, to have these conversations, so she can hear me, right, so we can sing to her, so we can read to her. So this connection that we both needed, it had to happen right away.
“They expect my wife to take off, right? Why not expect me to take off as well? We’re parents and we’re doing this together.”
