‘Bachelor’ Alum Jade Roper Was ‘Terrified’ Suddenly Giving Birth in Her Closet

Bachelor in Paradise stars Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert welcomed their second child earlier this week, but not all went according to plan. In an interview with PEOPLE, the mom of two opened up about the terrifying experience of giving birth suddenly in her closet, saying that the birth was “wild” and “surreal.”

“In the moment I was freaked out,” Roper told the outlet. “We weren’t prepared for a home birth!”

The Bachelor alumna, who is also mom to daughter Emerson “Emmy” Avery, who will turn 2 on Aug. 17, had been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions and had been expecting that the baby would be “coming soon,” though she hadn’t anticipated going into labor two weeks away from her due date with her water breaking at 9:16 p.m. as she and her husband were watching The Bachelorette.

“I thought I was going to get in the bath and then we’d go,” Roper said. “We were waiting for Tanner’s mom because she was coming to watch Emerson. But then I got out of the tub and my contractions were so intense I couldn’t even keep on top of them.”

“I started pacing in the bathroom and found myself in the closet trying to think about getting clothes on. Then I yelled for Tanner and I was like, ‘Tanner it’s happening now!’” she recalled. “He came in and tried to get me dressed. He put me in a T-shirt and his gym shorts. I was just in a pain and labor fog.”

Roper’s labor progressed so quickly that she didn’t even have time to get to the hospital, Tolbert saying that within minutes, “the baby was crowning.” The baby boy was born at 10:31 p.m., just a little more than an hour after Roper began experiencing contractions, weighing 7 lbs, 9 oz. and measuring 20 inches long.

“One of the main paramedics caught the baby and I cut the cord right there in our closet,” Tolbert said. “But we didn’t waste a lot of time because we wanted to get mom and baby on the gurney to the hospital.”

“I’m really grateful,” Roper said of the experience. “I mentally kind of lost it at one point. But luckily, I had a really great team behind me. They were my strength in the moment. And it just feels so right to have our son here. It feels like he’s been a part of our family forever.”

Now, Roper is recovering at home, explaining that “because it was such a fast labor, and my body went through so much in such little time, my recovery has been a little bit harder than it was with Emmy.” She is also spending plenty of time bonding with her newborn.

Roper and her husband met on Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2015 and tied the knot in January of 2016 in a televised ceremony. In August of 2017, they welcomed their first child, announcing in January of this year that they were expecting again.