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Shamari DeVoe was on bed rest for two and a half months while she was pregnant with her twin boys Ronald and Roman. The former Blaque singer, who recently joined Real Housewives Of Atlanta, suffered complications throughout her pregnancy that could have led to miscarriage or worse.

According to the CDC, Black mothers are 243% more likely to die from pregnancy or child-birth related causes. Like so many other Black women, even high-profile celebrities like Serena Williams, Shamari had to convince doctors to listen to her when she demanded they check her cervix.

MUST SEE: Listen To Black Women: How Can Black Women Lower Their Chances Of Death During Childbirth?

Doctors assured her nothing was wrong with her cervix, but Shamari was adamant about it and it ultimately saved the life of she and her boys.

“[Producers] reached out to me when I was pregnant last year about joining the cast and because I was pregnant and I was on bed rest, I had to decline,” she revealed in a candid interview. “I had to make sure that my babies baked as long as possible because my oldest son, he wasn’t growing as fast as his [brother], so they wanted to make sure that I was being watched 24 hours,” she explained.

Going into detail about an experience Black women know all too well, Shamari revealed she had to plead with doctors to check her cervix because she felt like something was wrong.

“I told him and at one point he was like, ‘Your cervix is fine,’ And then I was like, ‘No, I want you to check it.’ And he checked him and he was like, ‘Oh my God, it really is opening.’ I had to go in once every two weeks and then, finally, one doctor visit, they were like, ‘Oh no, you have to go straight to the hospital and be on bed rest for the duration of your pregnancy.’”

She further explained her condition. “My cervix started to open and they had to make sure that to keep the pressure off of my cervix in addition to Ronald not growing as fast as, as his brother.”

Describing how difficult of a time it was, Shamari said, “Some days it felt like the walls were closing in, but I have a supportive family. I have supportive friends and it was not one day that went by that I did not have a visitor. I think that’s very important that you have people that come by and they check up on you. I have a dear friend of mine that would come in every, every week and she would change the the atmosphere in my room. It’s really difficult, but I think just that motherly instinct kicks in and you’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure that your baby make it into this world. So I stayed there and my husband was so supportive. He was there every single night and if he was not there in the hospital room with me it was, it was because he was on tour on the road and that’s the only reason.”

Despite being on bed rest, Shamari had a maternity shoot right in her hospital bed. “I did a full blown maternity shoot in the hospital. It looked like I was laying in like a king size bed.  Like if you go to my Instagram page, you’ll see that I’m going to go look at it and you’ll see my maternity shoot. That was all in the hospital.”

On a recent episode of RHOA, we learned Shamari and her husband Ronnie DeVoe (New Edition) had an open marriage for about year, followed by an intense period that almost rocked their union. With a lot of counseling, they appear stronger than ever.

Shamari and Ronnie put in the work to make their marriage stronger, including learning one another’s love language and practicing active listening to perfect their communication.

“We have an unbreakable bond,” Shamari said. “We have been together for 17 years. I’ve been married for 12 years and we make sure that we communicate with each other. We make sure that we constantly stay around other like-minded couples that have the same ideas that we do, which is to being a successful, healthy relationship”

Shamari also believes in prioritizing her husband over her children because a strong marriage is the foundation for raising grounded children.

First is God, then it’s my husband and then it’s my children and that’s the way,” she explained. “That’s the way the Bible teaches us so I try to live by that.”

She added, “Me and my husband are one and when you make that oath before God, you become one on that day. That is like the closest relationship that you can have under God. And then you know, me and my husband were there first and then the family comes second. There’s no kid without my husband. He comes first, I need my husband to even have a child. And then one day when my children grow up, mommy will no longer be first. And I’m perfectly fine with that. That’s beautiful.”

As for Shamari’s story line on RHOA, she feels she brings something different to the show.

“It’s weird because I’m watching myself outside of myself, like it’s an out of body experience. Everything was so great about it. I think the world is ready for some new energy and I’m definitely bringing something different to the show.”

Shamari is currently working on new music with her Blaque co-star.

Watch Shamari and Ronnie DeVoe on RHOA every Sunday night at 8pm on Bravo TV.

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Shamari DeVoe’s Cervix Was Opening While Pregnant With Twins, But Her Doctor Didn’t Believe Her  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com