Candiace Dillard Bassett Was Paralyzed in Pain Days After Giving Birth. Here’s What Doctors Found Next (Exclusive)

For Candiace Dillard Bassett, delivery was easy. But after giving birth, she says? “Zero stars, would not recommend at all.”

The The Real Housewives of Potomac alumna, 37, and her husband Chris Bassett, 46, welcomed their first child together on Thursday, Oct. 3 — son Jett Maxwell Lee Bassett. But while she’s sharing her happy news exclusively with PEOPLE, Candiace also reveals that her health took a turn for the worse after giving birth, leaving her paralyzed with pain.

The problems began two days after leaving the hospital, while the couple was at Sanu Postnatal Retreat, a luxury wellness center in McLean, Washington, DC, a suburb of northern Virginia.

“I started having these horrible pains in my lower abdomen,” Candiace says. “It was so bad I couldn’t walk, move, do anything. And it kept getting worse.”

Candiace Dillard Bassett Gives Birth to First Child, Son Jett Maxwell Lee: ‘I Already Want More’ (Exclusive)

Candiace Dillard Bassett and son Jett Maxwell Lee.

Antwon Maxwell

Treatment with ibuprofen and Tylenol every four hours was the only thing that kept Candiace from feeling disabled, but she still “didn’t feel normal.”

Then the fevers started, one was 103.9°F. “I was on fire! And it lasted for a week,” Candiace recalls, noting that the problems persisted even after she returned home. – I simply could not break it.

At the same time, the Bravo star was trying to breastfeed her child. “At first it was really painful, it hurt a lot,” she explains. “I know it hurts a lot at first when you’re adjusting, but I was already dealing with so much pain that it made it so much worse. I wasn’t producing as much milk, I couldn’t pump. I was a mess.”

All this also affected Candiace’s mental health. “I was really depressed because you have to understand: I couldn’t get up – literally, I was stuck in bed, bent over in pain,” she says. “I couldn’t take care of my baby. If I didn’t have a husband, me and my child would be dead because I couldn’t do anything. I was like a literal plant, I was lying like a bump on a log.”

Candiace Dillard Bassett, Chris Bassett and son Jett Maxwell Lee.

Antwon Maxwell

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Finally, Candiace’s dad convinced her to go back to the doctor. Computerized axial tomography (CAT) revealed a blood clot in the left ovary.

Fortunately, surgery was not required, but the “Drive Back” singer was prescribed six weeks of blood-thinning medication, which was administered daily by injection. After that, another CAT scan will determine the status of the clot and allow doctors to reassess the situation.

About a week after taking the medication, not only did Candiace’s body feel better, but so did her mental health. “My depression has really gone away and I feel so much better now,” she says. “I can actually take care of Jett; hold him and take care of him, breastfeed and actually be mom. And I’m totally obsessed, like — it’s everything I wanted it to be and more.”

She goes on to thank her husband for stepping up when she had to step down.

“I always knew he was a great father, but this just solidified it for me,” Candiace says of the chef, who has three children — sons Owen, 22, Mateo, 14, and daughter Naia, 10 — from two previous relationships. “Because Chris did almost everything. Mostly he got up in the middle of the night. He held Jett, watched him. I’m so thankful I didn’t have to go through this alone.”

Candiace Dillard Bassett and son Jett Maxwell Lee.

Antwon Maxwell

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And actually becoming a mom—a decision Candiace had previously agonized over—strengthened the love she had for her mother, Dorothy Watts.

“My mom was here for two weeks and it was weird being a mom in front of my mom,” Candiace tells PEOPLE. “But while she was here, I asked her, ‘How did you do it with three kids? How did you have me and then a toddler and then a newborn and a full-time job and a husband and a house and a dog?’ Because I’m having heart palpitations thinking about doing one of those things with a newborn!”

“Yes, I definitely have a newfound respect for what it takes to not only be a mom, but to be a good mom, to be present mom. And my mom was really present,” Candiace says. “I always felt her in my life. So I hope to be as good a mom to Jett as she was to me.”

For more on Candiace Dillard Bassett, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

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Source: HIS Education