The underwater photography session with photographer Kristina Sherkwas captured during filming of the hit Bravo TV series.
Samuels blogged about the experience in her blog, Not For Lazy Moms, in a post titled, “I tackled my fear of water with a fierce underwater maternity photo shoot.”
She wrote: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the biggest fear of water, which is quite funny since my husband and children absolutely love it! They always encourage me to step out of my box when it comes to water and this time I decided to take it a step further!”
She continued:
I wanted to do something that speaks about life and rebirth
As I was preparing to have my third child, I wanted to do something super special for my third maternity photo shoot! Twice before I took photos to document our amazing moment of cooking a WHOLE human, but this time, being that I suffered a miscarriage previously, I wanted to do something that speaks about life and rebirth. What better way to represent this than water!
She concludes that the shoot was a risk and had her step out of her “comfort zone” but laments that the fact the photographer was willing to home made it the experience less intimidating.
It looks like she later got the entire family involved though this might have been the magic of editing I’m not sure.
Samuels, who is married to retired NFL great Chris Samuels, gave birth to son Chase Omari last November 2018. The couple are parents 5-year old Christopher and 3-year old daughter Milani.
“I really don’t think I fully dealt with my miscarriage until until I found out I was pregnant again,” an emotional Monique Samuels shares during a testimonial to last Sunday’s new episode of Bravo TV‘s Real Housewives of Potomac. “The fear and the loss just came back to me so I really had to just sit back and leave it in God’s hands”
These comments were made during her testimonial in between scenes of a party she threw last year before the birth of her third child last year, celebrating her Rainbow Baby.
A Rainbow baby is a sustainable pregnancy or live birth following the loss of a previous pregnancy or baby.
FYI: A “Unicorn baby” is one that is birthed after infertility.
About her decision to host a celebration, the wife to ex veteran NFL legend Chris Samuels: “I thought this was a good way to celebrate new life to not forget it but to learn from it and move on,” she added.
During the episode, Monique referred to her miscarried child as “her angel baby” and later released several doves in the air in honor of all the other Angel babies out there.
“I know a lot of us women share the same story and a some of us don’t choose to express and share with others but I encourage us to because there’s healing in sharing, ” she added before opening up the mic later for other women in the audience to share their stories.
During the event, her cast mate Ashley Darby, who is currently pregnant accepted the opportunity to speak about having a miscarriage at age 19 and a more recent one with her restaurateur and businessman husband, Michael Darby.
Michael broke down in tears and actually left his wife’s side at a guest table temporarily.
Another castmember of the show, Katie Rost, also is familiar with tragic pregnancy loss.
Rost, a Housewife from Season 1 and currently a “friend of the Housewives” Season 4, suffered a late term miscarriage around 4-5 months of pregnancy.
She was pregnant with her fourth child with her boyfriend, a man named Jacob earlier this year when she miscarried.
According to an Instagram social media post by Rost, Jacob infamously snapped a highly disturbing and graphic bathroom photo of Rost laying on the floor shortly after the loss happened.
She the photo on her Instagram page before taking it down, but not before the gossip press got their hands on it and made it a story.
While in a vulnerable state, snapping a pic is not kind but I do not want to judge her decision to then post such a private and sacred moment on social media but yeah, that’s a heavy situation.
Photo of Rost’s kids and another young girl from Rost’s GoFundMe page
Rost is currently involved in a bitter custody dispute with her ex husband James Orsini over visitation rights with her children, son, James Rocco Orsini and twin daughters Renee Rost Orsini and Kathryn Rost Orsini who she lost full custody to. She has previously accused James of being mentally, physically and financially abusive to her.
Editor’s Note:
I could relate to Samuels’ later comment on the show about living in fear after getting pregnant again.
After I lost my first ever pregnancy about 17 years ago, my husband and I were extremely anxious and scared our second would end the same, with another loss.
We even went as far as purchased a portable ultrasound so we could constantly monitor the baby’s heartbeat anytime we wanted without having to go to the doctor’s for an appointment.
Real Housewives of Potomacstar Monique Samuels is expecting her third child after suffering a miscarriage which was revealed on the hit Bravo Tv show.
The mom of two opened up about the loss never anticipated the outpouring of support on an April episode of the series, filmed the prior year.
“When I first shared my story, I didn’t even realize how many people had experienced miscarriages before,” she told PEOPLE magazine. “It was amazing to have that support and to realize that I wasn’t alone. And to show so many of these women too that they can get through this.”
Samuels announced that she and her NFL veteran hubby Chris Samuels are expecting another baby — due Dec. 3. But although Monique says she feels “blessed” to add another member to her family, she said the miscarriage has changed how she feels about her pregnancy.
She said she is more cautious and frightful that things could go wrong.
“It kind of haunts you,” she admitted to the site. “The first times I was pregnant, it came so easily. I took that for granted. Now that I’m pregnant again, it’s almost like I second guess everything that I’m doing. Even with movement. I’m making sure I’m not moving too fast so I stretch my stomach. It’s something I didn’t think about with my first two pregnancies.”
