Serena Williams covers Vogue with her baby daughter Alexis

Serena Williams has opened up about motherhood and life with her daughter, Alexis, as she covered Vogue magazine with the baby.

The tennis champ and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Kerry Ohanian Snr, welcomed their first child together in September 2017. And just a few months later, their daughter Alexis is already a magazine cover star. The proud mum shared a photo of Vogue's February 2018 cover, which features her and the little girl. https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/951077101679104003 She captioned the photo:

"Thrilled to cover @voguemagazine's February issue with my daughter! This is a moment I will never forget."

Alongside the photo, she shared a link to the interview with the publication - where she opened up about her pregnancy, as well as motherhood. She recalled how, following an easy pregnancy, her daughter was born by emergency C-section after the baby's heart rate dropped fearfully low during contractions. But the surgery went off without a hitch, and doting dad Alexis cut the chord, before the newborn fell asleep on her mum's chest. Serena told the publication:

“That was an amazing feeling. And then everything went bad.”

While she was recovering in the hospital the following day, the new mum began to feel short of breath. Because of her recent surgery, she was off her usual daily regimen of blood thinners - and due to her history of blood clots, she began to worry she was having another pulmonary embolism. She left the hospital room so her mum wouldn't get worried, before telling the nearest nose she needed a CT scan with contrast and an IV with heparin, a blood thinner. The nurse thought that the pain medication Serena had been given was making her confused, but the tennis champ persisted - and a doctor was soon doing an ultrasound of her legs. She recalled telling the team:

“I was like, a Doppler? I told you, I need a CT scan and a heparin drip."

The ultrasound ended up revealing nothing, so they sent her for the CT - where they found that a number of small blood clots had settled in her lungs, and she was put on the drip. The next few days were just as difficult for the new mum. https://www.instagram.com/p/BcNI1MOnEP9/?taken-by=olympiaohanian Her C-section wound opened again due to the severe coughing spells the pulmonary embolism caused and, when she returned to surgery, it was discovered that a large hepatoma had flooded her abdomen. The potentially lifesaving blood thinner ended up causing haemorrhaging at the same spot as her C-section. She had to go back to the OR again so she could have a filter put into a major vein, in an effort to keep more clots from dislodging and potentially traveling into her lungs. Serena was able to return home after a week, when she found that the night nurse had fallen through - and she spent the first few weeks of being a mum unable to get out of bed. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdv_J4IngiQ/?taken-by=olympiaohanian Since she and her husband welcomed little Alexis last year, Serena told how her tennis friends have been incredibly supportive. But the mum is keen for her little girl to have a normal life - and won't be pushing her daughter to follow in her footsteps to the tennis court. She added:

“I would hate her to have to deal with comparisons or expectations. It’s so much work, and I’ve given up so much. "I don’t regret it, but it’s like Sliding Doors: Go through a different door and lead a different life. "I’d like her to have a normal life. I didn’t have that.”