Gretchen Rossi is feeling joyful (and nauseous!) this holiday season. The Real Housewives of Orange County alum, 40, is pregnant and expecting her first child with fiancé Slade Smiley.
The couple, who began their IVF journey four years ago, announced their pregnancy news on the Monday, December 17, episode of The Doctors.
“These symptoms, I gotta tell you,” Rossi quipped. “Man, like I swear, they lie to you about morning sickness. It’s all day sickness.”
But the former Bravo personality has never been happier after struggling with infertility (a condition that affects 7 million women.) “There was plenty of times during the process that we were like, ‘Is this ever going to happen? Is this ever going to come to fruition?’”
Smiley noted that he hated seeing his partner “suffer.”
In February, Rossi opened up to Us Weekly about undergoing IVF. “Physically it was difficult on my body. It’s funny because when you get pregnant, and you gain weight, it feels worth it because at the end, you have a baby,” she explained. “But when I went through IVF, I gained 10 pounds within three weeks and I’ve never done that before in my life. I got cellulite in places that I’ve never had cellulite before.”
Rossi and Smiley, 45, got engaged on season 8 of RHOC. He popped the question during a helicopter ride.
“We’re really content. We’re really happy,” Rossi told Us in February. “I think that one day we definitely want to get married, but right now we’re just focusing on starting a family so we just don’t want to put the money and the sources into a wedding.”
Smiley already has two children from a previous relationship.
