Nancy Grace: Back on the air and tough as nails

By Stone Martindale Jan 8, 2008, 2:19 GMT

Nancy Grace - © Janet Mayer / Photorazzi

The Georgia pit bull, attorney Nancy Grace may be a mom now, but that won't stop her from being a tough, outspoken legal pundit on the air.

Grace returns to the airwaves tonight after maternity leave turned into a life-threatening pregnancy.

ABC reports that her viewers have tracked her during the ups and downs of her pregnancy since she announced she was expecting twins in the summer.

"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 complications throughout her pregnancy - trips to the emergency room were frequent.

She kept to a strict protocol on her television show, with signals to let producers know what 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 her 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."

Then after giving birth to fraternal twins, Lucy Elizabeth and John David, a week later, Grace was back in danger as a blood clot in her lungs that almost killed her.

Grace is no advocate for older women over 40 having kids.

"Forget about it. Don't do that, everybody. Please listen to me. The health risks are incredible and I had no idea going into it. On the other hand, if I had to do it all again to get Lucy and John David, I would do it in a heartbeat," Grace said. "I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't want to wish that on anyone else."

Grace cited the murder of her fiance years ago as the reason for the delay starting her family life.

"It's no secret, after my fiance was murdered many, many years ago, I didn't want to put myself out there for my world blowing up again. I didn't want to marry, didn't want to have children. But I desperately wanted a family," she said.

When she married David Linch in April 2007, Grace had the opportunity to have the family she had always wanted.

Now that she is a mom, will Grace let up on the bad guys?

"I prosecuted so many child molestation and child murder cases during my career. Now that I've held John David and Lucy in my arms, I can't imagine - on a whole different level -  how anybody could hurt such an innocent little creature. And I want to lock them up and throw away the key even more than before," Grace said.