Married at First Sight star Jamie Otis admits her unmediated home birth was "rough," calling her experience delivering her second child "barbaric."
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Jamie gave birth to son Hendrix Douglas Hehner on May 13 in the comfort of her home, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.
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Jamie decided to deliver her second child at home due to the ongoing spread of coronavirus with no epidural or anesthetic in an inflated bath tub she and husband Doug Hehner set up in their bedroom.
"It was rough," Jamie told Us Weekly of the experience.
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Jamie's contractions, which lasted for several hours, and her son's eventual birth were shown on Wednesday night's episode of Married at First Sight: Couples Cam on Lifetime.
Very intimate footage aired of Jamie moaning and crying in bed before moving to the bath tub, where a helpless Doug could only hold his wife as she yelled in agony and attempted to push out their baby, who was born weighing nine pounds and four ounces!
"Barbaric is a great word, having no control over yourself," Jamie said of the natural delivery. "Like, I don't even know what I was saying. I'm, like, if there's some kind of bleeps, I'm sorry."
Jamie and Doug, who married as complete strangers on the debut season of Married at First Sight in 2014, said they never planned on having a home birth for their second child.
But Jamie was worried about contracting coronavirus in a hospital and her newborn son being at risk as well.
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Jamie therefore sought the help of a midwife in April and, once she agreed to a home birth, hoped there would be no serious complications in giving birth.
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It took more time for Doug to come around to the idea of his wife having their baby at home given he feared for his wife and child's safety and health, but Jamie ultimately convinced him it was the right decision to make in these unprecedented times.
Jamie told Us that she and Doug did everything they could to prepare for their son's arrival.
While she said a natural birth "almost seems foreign to us" these days in light of how many hospital births there are on a daily basis, she insisted, "It's really natural to have a baby."
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Looking back on her first moments with her son, Jamie said she's thankful she could "feel everything," as she put it in a separate interview with Entertainment Tonight, because she immediately bonded with her baby.
"I had him and I looked at him and I was instantly in love and I didn't have that type of bond or experience with Henley," Jamie said of her daughter, who was born in August 2017 in a hospital.
"So I mean it's worth it. It's worth all the pain and, like, you know, all of that, just to be able to have that overwhelming sense of love for your baby."
Jamie added, "I wish I could have had that with my daughter. And obviously I love her. I mean, sorry, Henley for watching this later on in life. I love you. I loved it from the moment I saw."
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The latest episode of Married at First Sight: Couples Cam ended on a disturbing note after Jamie gave birth in her bath tub.
Her son wasn't crying and apparently had water in his lungs, and the color of his skin appeared to be blue.
Jamie screamed out of desperation for her son to be nursed back to good health.
However, evidence on Instagram shows Jamie and Hendrix are doing just fine now.
After suffering through multiple miscarriages, Jamie and Doug were thrilled to announce in September 2019 they had Baby No. 2 on the way. Two months later, Jamie and Doug revealed they were expecting a baby boy.
The couple initially announced Hayes as their son's name in April, but they changed his name to Hendrix once they were able to meet him, hold him and see his face.
Following their stint on Married at First Sight's first season, Jamie and Doug co-starred on Married at First Sight: The First Year, a spinoff which continued to follow the two MAFS Season 1 couples who opted to remain together during their first year of marriage.
Jamie and Doug also later starred on Married at First Sight: Jamie and Doug Plus One, their own spinoff which premiered in December 2017.
Jamie now serves as the host of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered, the show's post-episode discussion show that also airs on Lifetime, and she and Doug often appear on Married at First Sight: Couples Couch, which features former MAFS couples offering commentary on encore broadcasts of the show.
Married at First Sight: Couples' Cam, which features raw, self-shot footage of Married at First Sight's successful couples from the past 10 seasons, currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8PM ET/PT on Lifetime.
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