Pregnant Nikki Bella Says She 'Had to Cancel' Her Baby Shower amid Coronavirus Concerns
Nikki Bella couldn’t be happier to be expecting her first child with Artem Chigvintsev, but she can’t help being a little sad over some pregnancy events she’ll miss as a result of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE, the Total Bellas star, 36, reveals that as “a first-time mom,” she’s “really bummed” to have to forgo things like going to parenting classes with her fiancé and having a baby shower.
“I imagined getting pregnant forever and I had to cancel my baby shower,” Nikki says. “Anything fun that you do that you get so excited for your first time pregnant, I had to cancel, and that really bummed me out. Just going to classes with Artem, and now we’re going to do everything online, or even going out and shopping for a baby and grabbing lunch. Just everything we do is from the computer.”
“Hopefully maybe I do get [a baby shower] right before [I give birth], but it’s been hard not getting all those first things,” she adds.
Due in the summer (less than two weeks after twin sister Brie Bella is set to welcome her second child), Nikki is looking on the bright side and counting her blessings, despite her disappointment over other aspects.
“My baby and I are healthy,” she tells PEOPLE. “I feel so grateful for that because of what the world is going through and the people that are dying and struggling, but obviously this is not what I imagined.”
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James White Nikki and Brie Bella
“Brie used to tell me, ‘Nicole, when you’re pregnant, you’ll get high fives because they’re not going to believe that you can still hike pregnant.’ And I was excited for the high five and now we go when [there’s] no one out there, so it’s like I’m high-fiving air,” Nikki says. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m still doing it.’ ”
For Brie — who already shares 2½-year-old daughter Birdie Joe with husband Daniel Bryan — social distancing due to a global pandemic is a new concept, but the actual self-isolation isn’t so much.
“When the baby comes, you kind of go on quarantine anyway for two months, it feels like,” she tells PEOPLE. “It kind of feels like when you first have a baby, and then all of a sudden our babies are going to come [in] July when people probably end up being able to be out in about July, August, and we’re going to be back in quarantine.”
James White Nikki and Brie Bella
RELATED VIDEO: Brie and Nikki Bella Are Both Pregnant — and Due Less Than 2 Weeks Apart
Brie and Nikki Bella Are Both Pregnant — and Due Less Than 2 Weeks Apart
The twin sisters say they "never thought" they'd be raising children at the same time
Brie admits that it “does bum [her] out” that she and her sister can’t experience pregnancy together in the way they envisioned, though, after the initial shock of finding out they were expecting around the same time.
“We had a lot of plans,” Brie says of herself and Nikki. “Doing a babymoon together, just a bunch of fun things, and it was sad to cancel everything because it was just like, ‘Wow, this year felt really special.’ ”
“Then we got inducted into the [WWE] Hall of Fame and just all these different things, and to see it all in our book and all of it just go away, we’re like, ‘Whoa,’ ” she adds. “It’s a little weird, but we’re rolling with it.”
Total Bellas airs Thursdays on E! at 9 p.m. EST.
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