Ohanian explains why it is important to trust Serena's knowledge of her own body ahead of their 2nd baby

Tennis legend Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian announced that they are expecting their second child earlier this year during Met Gala. Though Ohanian is excited about having a second child, he is also more focused on making sure that his wife is safe throughout her pregnancy and childbirth. He believes it is important to trust a woman's knowledge of her body. Williams went through life-threatening complications after the emergency C-section birth of her first child, daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

“We’re ... obviously taking every precaution and doing everything we can to make sure everything goes smoothly for Serena,” Ohanian told PEOPLE. The couple welcomed their daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. in 2017. He said, “We’re not first-time parents anymore. I feel more confident about having a newborn, all of those things that I just had zero confidence about with Olympia because I’d never even been around babies at that point in my life.”

Other than being worried about potential complications, Ohanian is also troubled that he no longer knows how to take care of a newborn. “I think I’ve definitely forgotten what it’s like to have a new one around, so it might be a rude awakening, maybe literally,” he said and added: "But right now, we’re excited.”

According to Alexis Ohanian, their first child Olympia is the most excited about welcoming her sibling. He said that she is “fired up” about having a younger sibling. "She’s been wanting this," the dad said and added: "She’s been praying and asking about this for quite some time, so she’s very ready.”

In a 2018 HBO documentary titled “Being Serena,” Williams spoke about her post-birth experience: "I can't believe how much went wrong on the way to meeting her." She added, “I almost died.” The ace tennis player in an interview with TODAY in 2018 revealed her post-birth experience. "I ended up getting a pulmonary embolism in my lung, then I had a blood clot in my leg, and they ended up having to insert a filter in me to keep any more blood clots from coming and forming," Williams said.

For her, “everything is a blur,” when she thinks of the experience. "When I watch (the documentary) it's like: 'Oh yeah I remember that vaguely' or 'I don't have any recollection of that'," she said. Williams knew way before her pregnancy that she had a higher risk of having blood clots. Reportedly, in 2011, she suffered her first pulmonary embolism and almost died. She wrote in an article for Elle about the complications she faced post-C-section. “I began to cough. The nurses warned me that coughing might burst my stitches, but I couldn’t help it.”

Williams continued, “I wasn’t coughing for nothing; I was coughing because I had an embolism, a clot in one of my arteries. The doctors would also discover a hematoma, a collection of blood outside the blood vessels, in my abdomen, then even more clots that had to be kept from traveling to my lungs. That’s what the medical report says, anyway. To me, it was just a fog of surgeries, one after another.”

She literally had to go through four surgeries back to back including a C-section. “My body, my entire being, was just so tired at that point. When I first got home, I couldn’t walk down the driveway. When I finally made it to a tree halfway down the driveway, it was a big hurdle for me,” wrote Williams. Her family was a big support for her during that time. Williams wrote, “Everyone in my family cheered me on, telling me, ‘You’re doing so good!' They must’ve been aching on the inside, but they still all acted like nothing was wrong. My dad was so encouraging, saying, 'Look, you did it!' This, after he coached me for years, was all tough and relentless. I’m glad they didn’t let me see how bad it really was.”

Last year, Williams announced in an essay for Vogue that she is retiring from tennis, mentioning her accomplishments, her post-birth health complications, and the struggles of being a new mother.