'DWTS' recap: Vanessa Lachey reveals her baby was born premature

Vanessa Lachey takes center stage during ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars.' (ABC)

Vanessa Lachey exposed the worst moment of her life on "Dancing with the Stars" -- after a controversial week in which she and partner Maks Chmerkovskiy were reported to be in an alleged feud.

Monday's "most memorable year" night showed Vanessa emotionally telling the cameras how she and husband Nick (who dances with Peta Murgatroyd) went through the scary premature birth of their third child, son Phoenix.

She underwent emergency surgery when her water broke at 29 weeks and their son was born early.

Vanessa recalled telling doctors at the hospital about her fragile little boy, "Make him okay."

Nick got choked up, saying in rehearsal footage about his son, "I've never felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do."

Phoenix recovered and is now healthy, and Vanessa considers 2017 the year their family was complete.

Vanessa and Maks performed a rumba on the show for a score of 24 out of 30 and the partners put controversy behind them. Radar Online and People had reported Maks didn't perform with Vanessa last week because they weren't getting along and had a personality clash. But Maks has merely cited "personal issues" as the reason for his absence.

Nick wound up in the bottom two with former NBA player Derek Fisher after sharing the happy year he got engaged to Vanessa.

The singer told reporters backstage about their baby being in an incubator, "Thank God, our boy is completely healthy and fine but it's scary when you're going through it and I think there's a strength in sharing that… I was petrified.

"There's beeps and alarms… and tubes… It's a hard thing. But we leaned on each other. We got through it," Nick said.

He earned the night's lowest score, 22 for a contemporary dance with Maks' wife, Peta Murgatroyd. But at the end of the night, it was Derek Fisher who was eliminated.

The top score of the night, 29, went to "Hamilton" star Jordan Fisher (with Lindsay Arnold), who told viewers about the year he'd been officially adopted in 2005 by his grandparents after his biological mom "struggled with substance abuse. She wasn't ready to be a mom."

His proud parents cheered in the audience for his contemporary dance tribute to them.

And after the show, Jordan told Fox News, "The woman who gave birth to me did -- and I'm grateful for that. [She] also gave me a template for what not to do in life, of which I'm also grateful… the story is what makes me who I am."

Paralympian Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy earned 27 for their foxtrot that showed how she recovered from paralysis. She doubled over in tears at the end of the dance.

Violinist Lindsey Stirling and partner Mark Ballas earned 26 points as she told viewers about the year her father died of cancer.

Ballas wore Stirling's father's actual hat and scarf in the touching Viennese waltz. She cried after the tribute to her beloved dad, who had taken a teaching job to earn enough money so that Stirling could take violin classes.

Stirling said to reporters afterwards, "It's been a really heavy week. Mark has seen me cry so much… I didn't know it would be this hard to talk about it. But… my dad was here with me. I held it together pretty well."

Drew Scott delighted the crowd when brother Jonathan of "Property Brothers" joined him to perform at the end of his jive dance with Emma Slater. Matching Vanessa, they earned 24.

Terrell Owens, Sasha Pieterse, Nikki Bella, and Frankie Muniz also walked away with 24 points.

While Muniz shared with fans the year he suffered memory loss, football player Owens paid tribute to 2012, the year his grandmother died after suffering from dementia.

They were two peas in a pod, Owens recalled to Fox News about the grandma who actually raised him. "I lived in a relatively small town and people knew wherever she was, I was. We rode around on the go cart together."

After Derek was sent home, the 10 remaining couples moved on to next Monday's Disney-themed week, which will have a much lighter tone.