Baby bliss! Flipping Out star Jenni Pulos, who is pregnant and expecting baby No. 2 with husband Dr. Jonathan Nassos, spoke exclusively with Us Weekly at her baby shower, where she opened up about her tough but rewarding journey to second-time motherhood.
Pulos, 44, who is already mom of daughter Alianna, 3, celebrated the upcoming arrival of her little one at her pal Krista Levitan’s private home in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood on Sunday, April 23.
The Bravolebrity and her friends, including Flipping Out costars and new dads Jeff Lewis and Gage Edward, snacked on Southern cuisine — pork sliders and fried chicken and waffles! — followed by peach cake, cake pops and macaroons for dessert. Guests sipped on white wine by Patricius Tokaj and red wine by Vivanco, and left the fête with gift bags full of PRODUCE Tees, UPPAbaby blankets and other products by Babyganics.
Once the party died down, Pulos, who donned a Rosie Pope Maternity dress for the event, chatted with Us all about her pregnancy. “I feel good,” the reality star told Us. “I had a rough first trimester and I had been taking progesterone, which a lot of people do that when they do IVF, and it was contaminated. So, it was a little touch and go there that I thought I’d lose the baby.”
Despite the difficult start to her pregnancy, Pulos told Us that the experience has only made her more grateful to be expanding her family yet again. “The good news is, when a miracle is supposed to be, it’s supposed to be. So, we made it through and the rest of the pregnancy has actually been quite nice,” she said. “I get tired, but I would say to older moms, you can do it. You can do anything. In today’s day and age, people are having kids older and I think that’s absolutely OK.”
Now that her health is back on track, Pulos can’t wait to meet her new daughter, who is due on June 10. Incidentally, that date happens to be the 40th birthday of the TV personality’s hubby. “He’d get cheated out of his 40th birthday party, but that’s OK, right?” Pulos quipped to Us of the orthopedic surgeon, 39, whom she wed in 2012.
Asked about Nassos’ reaction to having another girl, Pulos told Us that he is excited, but also a bit worried. “My husband said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m so thrilled. I’ve got to go to Starbucks,’” she recounted. “So, I think in his head, he thought, ‘OK, I’ve got to get some caffeine and process that that’s another wedding, that’s another girl, I’m the only man in the house.’”
To level the testosterone in their home, Nassos adopted a male dog. “But we did just get a boy puppy and he’s so proud of his son, so he got his son too,” Pulos told Us of her family’s new Labrador/Collie mix named Dudley. “We rescued him.”
Pulos — who has been craving fruit, chocolate and ice cream throughout her second pregnancy — told Us that she would have been grateful for a healthy baby, regardless of sex. And now that she’s in the final stretch of her pregnancy, she’s counting down the days until she gives birth. According to the “No Fighting, No Biting” rapper, the moment will be extra joyous given the struggles she’s endured.
“We had one viable embryo. One,” Pulos told Us. “One out of everything, so it was like one shot. My IVF doctor, Daniel Potter, he’s incredible. He said, when I met with him, and this is why I knew and I would say to people, research the doctor who you end up with, don’t be afraid to meet more than one person and then make a decision because when I met with him, he said, ‘We need a miracle. It can happen. And it’s the fourth quarter and we have to throw a bomb into the end zone.’”
She added, “And literally there was one pass. … And so, when we found out, it just was, wow, miracles happen and this is one.”
