'RHOP's Monique Opened Up About Her Miscarriage & How It Impacted Her Current Pregnancy

On June 17, Real Housewives of Potomac cast member Monique Samuels announced she is pregnant with her third child. Of course, this is happy news for her and her husband Chris Samuels, but it hasn't been an easy journey for their family. In a new interview with Us Weekly, Monique discussed her experience with pregnancy following a miscarriage, as well as being open with her oldest children about the growth of their family. Monique and Chris have a 5-year-old son named Christopher and a 3-year-old daughter Milani.

She told Us Weekly,

"I almost wanted to detach myself from the pregnancy because I didn’t want to feel any hurt or pain if something did happen."

Monique admitted that the miscarriage is "something that affected our relationship." The working mom recognizes that she has wide-reaching platform as a Real Housewife and hopefully it can help other families going through similar situations if she discusses the miscarriage and pregnancy. As personal as this may be for Monique and her family, she explained, "We wanted to put it out there because we felt like there may be other people dealing with the same thing. We were able to work through it and this is life."

Monique became more at ease with the pregnancy once she made it into the second trimester. The Potomac Housewife shared, "I made the decision that I want to enjoy this pregnancy and whatever happens, happens." The soon-to-be mother of three explained to Us Weekly, "I had to turn on my positive thinking and say, 'You know, I’m just gonna trust and believe in God.'"

As positive as Monique is trying to be about her pregnancy, she can't help being cautious when it comes to communicating with her two children. Even though Monique sees the importance of sharing her family's story with the world, she admitted to being way more hesitant discussing the pregnancy with her own children.

Monique revealed that when she was pregnant with her daughter, her son Christopher asked where the baby was every single day. Nine months of pregnancy is long enough, so it makes sense that the Real Housewife would want to hold off breaking the big news to her kids. Monique said, "So ... I am going to try and wait as long as I can before I tell them, this way they won’t have so much time to wait."

In the same interview, Monique told Us Weekly, "If they come to me and they are like, ‘Mommy, your tummy is getting big. Is there a reason here?’ I’m gonna tell them." And that's actually what ended up happening.

Monique was hoping to keep her kids in the dark as long as possible, but her son Christopher started to notice her baby bump and couldn't help asking about it. Real Housewives of Potomac is not currently filming, but Monique did manage to catch part of the conversation on camera.

On July 17, Monique posted on Instagram, "The cat’s out of the bag! @iamchristopher2 asked if there was a baby in my tummy! I immediately started recording the convo! My silly kids cannot deal with this serious convo." The post included several videos of Monique's children responding to questions she and her husband Chris asked off-camera.

In the first video, Monique asked, "So Christopher, what were you saying? You said you thought Mommy had a what?" He immediately answered, "A baby in your tummy." He admitted, "I remember all the pictures" from when his mom was pregnant with Milani.

On the other hand, Milani was not picking up what her big brother was laying down. Monique asked her daughter, "Do you think there's a baby in there?" Milani said, "No," while her brother said, "Yes." It makes sense that Milani would be skeptical since she's only 3 and because Monique pointed out, "Milani, you didn't get to witness having a baby in the belly like Christopher." That is fair enough since she's not accustomed to that older sibling lifestyle the way her brother is.

Baby number three is due in December, and the family has not announced the baby's sex. In the series of videos, Monique's daughter said she wanted a sister and her son said he wanted a brother. At least one of them will end up being right.

For anyone who wants more updates on Monique's pregnancy and eventually her life as a mother of three, she and her husband Chris are releasing a weekly podcast called Not for Lazy Moms on iHeartRadio. The first episode debuts on August 1. In a press release, Monique stated,

"This podcast is to let parents know we all have moments when we question whether we can do it all and make it through the day. I hope the Not for Lazy Moms podcast will not only provide support, information and resources but also make listeners smile and let parents know everything is going to be OK."

Going through a miscarriage after having two children had to be a very difficult experience for Monique and her husband. Thankfully everything seems to be going well this time around. She's had a health pregnancy. She found the strength to open up to the world in such a public way. And now, her kids are on board with the journey.