Jamie Otis gives fans an update on her fertility struggle: 'Roller coaster of emotions'
Jamie Otis is giving fans a "pregnancy update."
The"Married At First Sight" star took to Instagram to share a lengthy video of herself and her husband, Doug Hehner, detailing their recent struggle to conceive their third child.
The pair currently share two children, a five-year-old daughter, Henley, and a two-year-old son, Hendrix.
Otis began by letting fans know that despite her and Hehner's best efforts, she is "not pregnant, unfortunately."
After experiencing a few pregnancy symptoms, Otis admitted that she was feeling "hopeful."
"You had every sign of being pregnant," Hehner chimed in before Otis shared: "I have been so tired, and I'm like, 'I must be pregnant. This has got to be it.'"
"I don't care when we conceive the baby at this point. Just give us the baby," she continued.
She recalled stressing herself out "by taking all these tests" prior to her previous two pregnancies. "I don't care what anyone says, I can't help it! I try so hard not to, but I can't help it. I just want to know."
After taking an early pregnancy test and seeing negative results, Otis "kinda lost all hope."
"But then my period was late," she added. "And I was like, 'oh my god, I think I'm pregnant!'"
"It's just this like, roller coaster of emotions," the 36-year-old said. "It's almost like, you mourn the loss of the not."
"I have got to do something about my health in order to be able to try to grow this family," Otis went on, adding that she is going to prioritize relaxation and "get healthy so I can support a pregnancy."
"I'm going to try really hard not to overthink it," she said. "I guess when you're in your 30s — I'm considered advanced maternal age, geriatric pregnancy — so I guess you gotta do things differently."
"When you want to grow your family and you already have two children — the thing I hate the most is when people say 'Enjoy what you have.' I am enjoying what I have. I enjoy it so much I want more," the "Bachelor" alum pointed out, defending her choice to try for a third child. "I want to grow my family so when we're old and grey, we have someone sitting at our table for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.
"I know we're supposed to have more and I feel like we're gonna have more," she said. "We're gonna focus and get this thing done."
"We're gonna grow our family — all in God's perfect timing," Otis penned in the caption for her more than 850,000 followers.
Fans thanked Otis for her transparency and offered her and Hehner supportive and encouraging comments.
"Been there and totally know how you are feeling. You were meant to be a mama to many, that’s obvious. One way or another, I think we all have faith that your family will continue to grow," one Instagram user wrote.
Another added: "Sometimes you can try too hard. Try to make it fun and try to forget about getting pregnant. It will happen when the time is right. Nothing is wrong with any of you. You have two beautiful children and I am sure number 3 will make an appearance when you don’t expect it."
"Thank you for keeping it real, as always. It's going to happen! Stay positive," someone else commented, while another assured Otis, "Nothing is wrong with you. The beautiful thing is your body is still working. Periods suck, but as long as they're still coming, there's still hope!"
"I hope you get your two lines soon," a fan penned.
Last month, Otis shared a candid Instagram Reel responding to fertility advice she has received, recommending she "just stop trying."
"When someone tells me to 'just stop trying so hard and you'll get pregnant,'" read the on-screen text. Otis also lip-synced to audio that sarcastically quipped: "What? Haha. OK."
"Let me tell ya, we've tried 'not trying so hard' and we've tried so hard — tracking my every ovulation and then getting on it...," the mother-of-two wrote. "Even without us 'trying so hard' we still get nothing in the pregnancy department."
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