Oti Mabuse has revealed her plans to start expanding her family, despite admitting to a "shocking" birth experience with her first child, who was born eight weeks prematurely and contracted sepsis from the double Strictly champion.
"You hug but then the baby gets taken away," the mum-of-one explained to The Times. "And then the next time you see them they're in a box, wired up, not well, under blue light. I remember crying because I couldn't get the wheelchair close to her bed. Emotionally it was very exhausting. I didn't get to hold her for about a week."
Addressing her emotions around the birth, Oti admitted: "In the moment I was not traumatised. It was all I knew. Even when you have moments of weakness, when you feel like, 'Oh my God, I'm discombobulating', you do what you have to do to be a good mum, to be strong for your daughter and be there for her, to change her and feed her and do skin to skin."
The experience hasn't put Oti off the idea of expanding her brood with husband Marius Iepure and when asked how many children she'd ideally have, the star joked: "I'd like as many as I can afford."
© InstagramShe continued: "What I have been through shocked me, but it made me even stronger. For the first time in my life I have a purpose, which is for my family to have a good life. You can imagine if I'm ambitious in my work, how ambitious I am as a mum. This industry has its ups and downs but I love it and I'm doing it all for my baby and my husband. I'm the breadwinner and I am taking care of my family."
Oti became a mum for the first time in 2023, confirming on Christmas Day that she had welcomed a baby girl with Marius. Oti and Marius married in 2014 after meeting at a dance trial in Germany.
© InstagramThe dancer's daughter, whose name she has not publicly shared, has recovered fully and speaking exclusively to HELLO!, Oti shared: "She's healthy, she's happy. She's a very very calm, gorgeous angel! We enjoy spending a lot of time with her. It's another world, and it's just so rewarding."
The 33-year-old continued: "It's a new world and everything has changed. Everything. The first thing that I think about, what I see when I look in the mirror, my mindset. I still don't feel like myself, because I am embracing this new me. I don't want to feel like my old self!
© Instagram"Me as a mum is more confident, I'm more self-assured. I'm tired, but everything I do is for a purpose, and I enjoy this new me. The new normal is exhausting, but so much more rewarding than the old me."
DISCOVER: Oti Mabuse's unexpected living situation following baby daughter's 'traumatic' premature birth
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