Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
How Dr. Jackie Reacted to the Phone Call That Eva Marcille Was Having Early Contractions
The Married to Medicine OBGYN discussed her response to her 8-months-pregnant RHOA patient's call.
Bravo Digital's Megan Segura and Erik J. Mac bring you exclusive interviews from Bravo HQ, featuring Bravolebs such as Nene Leakes, Captain Lee, and Stassi Schroeder, plus expert commentary and behind-the-scenes scoop straight from Bravo execs. New episodes are released every Thursday morning, wherever you get your podcasts.
Married to Medicine's Dr. Jackie Walters has been a practicing OBGYN since 1997, and has literally just written a book about her experiences, The Queen V, so of course she's seen her share of scary situations. And on a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, we saw just how real the job can get when you're responsible for pregnant ladies and babies' lives. As Eva Marcille arrived to Nene Leakes' Jungle Brunch, an 8-months-pregnant Eva started to feel some contractions. As she noted in the episode, "I've had two in the last 10 minutes and I think another one is coming on."
When Kandi Burruss arrived, she offered to call Dr. Jackie, who happens to be both Eva's OBGYN and Kandi and her surrogate's OBGYN. Dr. Jackie instructed Kandi to help get Eva to the hospital — unless she wanted to be the one delivering the baby. (She didn't.) Eva did go to the hospital and noted, "My baby's not really big enough to survive outside of an [incubator]. So I know if I go into full labor, I will most likely have to go home without him and there will be a lot of health complications."
So when Dr. Jackie did an interview with The Daily Dish podcast, she shared her experience of receiving that phone call regarding Eva potentially going into labor. When asked if she was nervous for what Eva was going through, the seasoned OBGYN replied, "Absolutely not. I'm trained to be ready."
She added: "Now, I’m not trained to be ready on a TV set. OK? But no, we knew what to tell her to do and, or what not to do and be open and honest with the patient. If you don’t know something, you tell the patient, I don’t know, but let me look it up. And so, I’m never nervous when I don’t know because I can always look it up."
And if Eva had gone into labor at the restaurant, Dr. Jackie would've coached the RHOA ladies over the phone: "I think it’s natural instinct. You just kinda jump in place. And you really want to make sure baby’s safe and mama’s safe and I have that personality where I wanna keep everybody calm, so I try to act like, it’s OK. You got this, you know?"
Luckily, that wasn't the case, and Eva was sent home from the hospital with instructions to go on modified bed rest to avoid active pre-term labor. And spoiler alert, baby Maverick arrived healthy and happy in late September!
Want more RHOA? New episodes air every Sunday at 8/7 or catch up on this season through the Bravo app. Preview below.