Looking ahead. Jamie Otis has suffered three miscarriages — one prior to her 2-year-old daughter Henley’s birth, and two after — and the former reality star will explain the pregnancy losses to her toddler one day.
“I totally plan to at some point,” the Married at First Sight alum, 33, exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly. “I mean, one day she’s going to ask … and I’ll explain it to her. How, I don’t know. But I have time to think about it. We’ll take it day by day.”
Although Henley doesn’t know that the Bachelor alum delivered a son, Johnathan, at 17 weeks in 2016, the little one already takes part in traditions honoring him. “Johnathan is still very much a part of our lives in a sense,” the New York native explains to Us. “For Christmas, he was due in December so every year we buy little boys’ toys that would be for his age and we donate them. It’s a nice way to honor him … because I’m supposed to have a little boy [and] that was supposed to be her big brother. [Henley] has seen the tree, and last year I had her help pick out the toys. But she doesn’t know.”
In September, the Wifey 101 author announced that she and her husband, Doug Hehner, are expecting baby No. 2 after a chemical pregnancy and a 10-week loss. Otis, who conceived with the help of at-home progesterone tests from Proov, doesn’t see anything wrong with sharing her pregnancy news early and being open about her miscarriages.
“So many people have had to mourn in private because it’s so taboo to talk about,” the “Hot Marriage, Cool Parents” podcast host tells Us. “Why is that our culture, not to tell anyone about your pregnancy before it’s ‘safe?’You’re supposed to walk that road alone? To have to just go to work and no one can know, and you have to walk around having just lost your baby? … It’s better, I think, to tell people and let them know, if something happens, why you’re a complete walking zombie.”
She and the New Jersey native, 36, announced on Instagram that they are going to find out the sex of their baby-to-be later this month — and Hehner is “hoping for a boy.” Otis wrote on Instagram on Sunday, November 17: “I truly don’t care, which I always thought anyone who said that was lying [because] of course you just care. But after 18 months trying to conceive and a few losses in between — I genuinely don’t care. Just healthy and happy.”
For more information on the Married at First Sight: Unfiltered host’s pregnancy, watch the video above and check out this week’s issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
With reporting by Ingrid Meilan
