Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner welcomed their second child back in May, but in a way they never planned on. The Married At First Sight stars recently spoke with ET's Kevin Frazier via video chat, and opened up about Otis' experience giving birth right in their bedroom.
"We're exhausted," Hehner said, adding that he's still amazed at the entire experience of his wife giving birth to a "nine-pound baby."
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"Nine pounds, four ounces!" Otis interjected. "I'm taking credit for every single ounce!"
"Jaime was amazing," Hehner marveled at his wife's determination. "She's now superwoman to me. Really, really incredible."
Having an at-home birth was never part of the original plan for the couple -- who met and fell in love during their time on the first season of Married At First Sight back in 2014. However, the coronavirus pandemic wound up changing everything for them.
"Having a baby in the hospital turned out to be way more risky than having a baby at home," Hehner explained, while sitting with Otis in the room where she delivered their son, Hendrix, on May 13.
"If it is safe to have a home birth for us, why would we want to take up a bed where somebody that may be sick should be there," Hehner added. "No nurse should have to waste their protective gear on us."
However, giving birth at home meant Otis had to forgo an epidural -- which meant a vastly different experience than when she gave birth to their daughter, Henley, in August 2017.
"I was like, 'Women have been doing this for years! This is going to be fun, this is going to be OK,'" Otis recalled. "[But] it was very, very painful to be quite honest."
Otis said that, despite the intense pain, it was a "very miraculous experience" to give birth without any anesthetic.
"To be able to feel every little bit of him you know moving inside me still kicking as he's coming out like, I mean I could feel everything," Otis said. "Then, when, I held him and it was just the most amazing feeling, like we really bonded… Not gonna lie though, it was very, very painful."
Before welcoming their newborn son, Otis revealed that they'd decided on an at-home birth in April, and explained that the decision was not made lightly.
"To be very honest, if this pandemic never came there’s not a chance I would’ve ever considered a home birth.🙅🏼♀️" she wrote in an Instagram post. "I didn’t know a lot about them and as a Labor & Delivery nurse I learned the safest place to have your baby is in the hospital. ....but then COVID19 came.😬."
"We weighed every single option and thoroughly RESEARCHED," she continued. "I prayed and meditated and just asked for signs🙏🏻 ... and the other day when I met with my midwife I just *knew* a home birth is going to be safest and best for us during this time.🤱🏻."
Fans will get a chance to go inside Otis and Hehner's life as parents -- and even their home birth -- during the upcoming season of Married At First Sight: Couples Cam.
The self-shot six-episode spinoff series gives viewers a look at the marriages that were sparked on the various seasons of the reality series, and are still going strong to this day.
Married At First Sight: Couples Cam premieres Wednesday, June 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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