A Dancing on Ice star has disclosed that she was stricken with a life-threatening virus soon after giving birth to her first child.
Oti Mabuse, who will judge the ITV skating competition series in 2022, has claimed that she covertly fought sepsis after doctors initially’missed’ it.
The 33-year-old was eventually diagnosed with the disease after giving birth to her newborn girl with husband Marius Iepure, who she described as’very’ preterm.
Oti stated that her daughter, whose name she has not given publicly, had similarly developed ‘infections’ in the womb as a result of sepsis.
According to the NHS, sepsis is a potentially fatal reaction to an infection that occurs when your immune system overreacts to an infection and begins to harm your body’s own tissues and organs.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star opened out about her struggle with the dangerous ailment for the first time on Giovanna Fletcher‘s podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby.
Discussing how she felt post-partum, she recalled: ‘It was this moment of, I’ve been through this amazing birth, which was incredible. It was serene, it was happy and it was everything that I wanted. The last bit was not what I had wanted.
‘You see your child for two minutes and then they get taken away by a group of ten midwives and doctors. That’s when things start to change and start to hit you.
‘I think we didn’t hold her for about a week because she was still in an incubator with the wires, and with jaundice so she was under blue light. And she had infections because it turned out that I had sepsis.’
Oti also said that she and Marius announced their baby’s coming when she was nine weeks old in order to have ‘time for ourselves’ following the ‘huge shock’ of her ‘unexpected’ early delivery.
She continued: ‘She was in a critical condition really for the first six weeks and me and Marius just really wanted to be there mentally, physically, emotionally.
‘My mum, as well, she dropped everything thing and flew directly to England just to be with us.’
‘Things don’t always go to plan, especially when you have a little premature baby. You give birth, you hug and then the baby gets taken away.
‘The next time you see them they’re in a box and they’re wired up and they’re not well or under blue light and it gets traumatic.’
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‘You have to get over giving birth and then get over, “Oh I’m not walking out of here with my baby. We’re going to stay here for a while.”‘
Oti previously stated that she experienced another ‘difficult’ health ailment throughout her pregnancy.
The fitness enthusiast shared a video of her workout, revealing her struggle with Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD), which causes discomfort due to tight pelvic joints or unequal movement in the rear or front of the pelvis.
While it is not dangerous to the unborn child during pregnancy, it can cause pain and impair movement.
‘The pain started really slow but at night while sleeping would intensify (I’m not wearing a belt yet but as weeks go on I definitely will),’ Oti explained in one of her posts.
Oti confirmed her pregnancy on live TV in August last year, and subsequently announced her daughter’s birth via Instagram.
Oti and Marius met in Germany as dancing partners and married in 2014.
She joined Strictly the following year and relocated to the UK with Marius; she has since achieved significant success in presenting, including her self-titled Saturday morning programme.
Oti decided to leave Strictly in February 2022, following a triumph in 2019 with comedian Bill Bailey.
Dancing on Ice continues on Sunday at 6.30pm on ITV and ITVX.
Source My Celebrity Life.