Oti: My baby was critical

Dancing on Ice star reveals ordeal after premature birth

- ASHLEIGH RAINBIRD

DANCING on Ice judge Oti Mabuse's newborn daughter spent six weeks in a critical condition after being born extremely prematurely.

Oti, who contracted sepsis while giving birth, said not being able to hold her baby was "traumatising".

The former dancer, 33, revealed: "She came really, really early, unexpectedly premature, which was a big, big, big shock.

"We didn't hold her for about a week because she was still in an incubator with wires, with jaundice, so she was under blue light.

"And she had infections because it turned out that I had sepsis." Oti and husband Marius Iepure, a 41-year-old fellow dancer, welcomed their first child in October after a 16-hour labour. They waited for nine weeks until Christmas Day to announce the birth online. The baby girl's name has not yet been revealed.

Ex-Strictly professional Oti said the life-threatening infection was "missed or not tested for".

She explained: "What happened was the bacteria which protects the baby when it is still in the womb, when your water breaks, it then attacks the baby.