Marissa Hermer's "Life-or-Death" Pregnancy Changed Her This Season of Ladies of London

Marissa Hermer successfully gave birth to a bouncing baby girl in the Season 3 premiere of Ladies of London. Though Sadie Ilamae Hermer, who came into this world on April 21, 2016, was Marissa's third child with her husband Matt Hermer, there was a lot that was different about this pregnancy. 

For one thing, Sadie is Marissa and Matt's first girl. They had two sons, Max and Jake, previously. This pregnancy was also a particularly difficult one for Marissa as she dealt with placenta accreta, which occurs when the placenta attaches itself too deeply to the uterine wall and can cause dangerously excessive bleeding. 

As we saw in the Ladies of London season premiere, Marissa feared for her baby and her life as she prepared to welcome Sadie into the world. She recently told The Daily Dish that having the cameras capture those intimate moments in the hospital was surprisingly comforting. "It’s so surreal anyway but having video cameras didn’t make it any scarier than it already was. It’s as scary as it gets," Marissa explained. "I feel like because we were filming it, I thought it was going to be OK because they were filming it to put on TV, so it has to be OK because it’s a TV show." 

Marissa said she couldn't have gotten through those scary times without having her husband Matt by her side. "Thank goodness I have him with me and supporting me through this. He's amazing. He literally is my rock. He was very steady the entire time and supportive," she gushed. "In the hospital, it was exactly what I needed. He's great. I don't know what else to say. But he's been incredibly supportive, incredibly nurturing, very protective, and he definitely knows me better than I know myself."

Luckily, everything did turn out to be OK for Marissa and her baby, and Sadie is doing brilliantly these days. "She’s wonderful. She’s absolutely thriving. She was two months premature, which I think you hear in the first episode. It was a very hard decision to make, but basically she had to be delivered that early in order to save my life, essentially," Marissa said. "Now she’s in the 99th percentile of babies' weight. She’s caught up and then some. She’s wonderful. She’s just a delight. She’s squealing and giggling, and the boys absolutely adore her. She’s doing very well." 

Marissa said she has also come out of this frightening experience a different woman. "I won’t speak for anyone else, but I have heard when you have a life-or-death experience, it changes a person. It changed me," she said. "My priorities have completely shifted. I don’t think they were out of whack before, but I’m so grateful to be alive, [for] my daughter, to have three healthy children, and that’s almost all I care about."

Though this pregnancy really put things into perspective for Marissa, that doesn't mean she'll be staying away from the drama this season of Ladies of London. "It was almost an escape for me. I loved it when Julie Montagu and Sophie Stanbury and Adela King, the new girl, would call me and explain to me what drama was going on on the other end. I’d be like, 'Oh, I love it!' It was such a distraction from my own drama going on under my own roof and my own body. It was really nice. It sounds awful, but I reveled in other people’s drama. It was the nicest escape from my own life-and-death drama," Marissa said. 

But going through a hardship like this also showed Marissa who her true friends are. "I think that when you go through any big life event, there’s some people who really surprise you in a wonderful way and some people who surprise you and you’re like, 'See you later,'" she said. "As we get older, as I have — or anyone — has more children or really has anything that takes up more time in your life, your sweet time is more and more precious. For me, my sweet time is more precious, and I will share it with those friends who give a lot back to me. If I do find that some of my friends on the show that I find are toxic, and I’m like 'You’re not getting any of me,' and I might be cool with it. I’m to the point where I’m like, 'See you later. Goodbye. I cannot give you any of my time. You’re toxic. See you later.' I just can’t handle it. Before, I think I was much more patient and had a lot more time and interest in placating people I don’t anymore."

See more of the little lady Marissa is thrilled to spend her days with, below.