And baby makes three…or four.
TLC’s hit reality series “sMothered,” co-produced by The Post, follows several pairs of mothers and daughters with boundary-pushing close bonds.
Monday’s episode (9 p.m.), called “Coming Clean,” features Las Vegas-based duo Sunhe, 53, and Angelica, 33, as Angelica gives birth to her daughter, Amara, in a dramatic and harrowing 12-hour labor.
“My mom filmed the [scenes] in the hospital. The camera crew wasn’t allowed in there,” Angelica told The Post. “My mom can add ‘camera crew’ to her resume now.”
Angelica’s baby girl, Amara, was born June 10, 2020 at the height of the pandemic, so only Sunhe was allowed in the room. The baby’s dad, Jason, 41, had to watch the proceedings via video chat at home. Angelica referred to the birth experience as “traumatic.”
“I got preeclampsia [high blood pressure]. I was super stressed out and that didn’t help,” she said. “It took a few hours to get my blood pressure under control.
“It was extremely hard to not have Jason be in the room with me or even at the hospital during this monumental time,” Angelica said. “My mom had given birth before, obviously, and she was the best person to walk me through this whole experience. I was really upset that Jason couldn’t be there, but I know that in some states, women were having children by themselves with just the hospital staff [during the pandemic].
“Going through something like that with all these IVs coming out of my arm and them checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes…I’m grateful that they at least allowed one person, and that she was my mom.”
Sunhe and Angelica are among the few mother/daughter pairs who have been on “sMothered” for all three seasons since the show premiered in 2019. Their main conflict has been Angelica’s growing relationship with Jason, which often clashes with her relationship with Sunhe. Although she’s an adult in her 30s, Angelica still lives with Sunhe (and Jason) and spends almost all of her time with her, even bringing her mom on dates with Jason in the past.
Amara’s birth has added a new dimension to their ongoing issues, Angelica said.
“My mom is very protective of Amara, even with me. She’s like ‘You’re not holding her right!’ or ‘She doesn’t like that when you do this!’ If Jason doesn’t do something that my mom is used to, she corrects it. So I think having this baby has made her even more critical of Jason than she was before, unfortunately.”
Sunhe offers her babysitting services to Amara on “a daily basis,” Angelica said.
“My mom is the one who chose Amara’s name. It means ‘shooting star’ — and that’s what the baby is to my mom. She’s the light in her world. She’s the light in our world, too, but my mom’s eyes shine so bright every time she looks at Amara, and I can see the love exuding from her whole being. I literally had this baby for my mom! I was her surrogate, it’s my mom’s baby.”
The show’s production was pushed back due to pandemic delays, which is why footage of Amara’s birth is airing on Monday, even though baby Amara is now a year old.
“I feel really great that at some point, Amara will be able to watch this,” Angelica said, “and to see what Mommy went through to deliver her safely.”
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