Nikki Reed is giving a revealing and intimate account of her pregnancy — but don't expect anything other than complete secrecy when the baby is born.
The 29-year-old actress opened up to Fit Pregnancy and Baby Magazine about her new role as expectant mother, as she nears the birth of her first child with husband Ian Somerhalder.
The couple's lives changed, she said, when the self-proclaimed early bird discovered she was pregnant before dawn one morning.
“I didn’t have my glasses or contacts and I can’t see without them. I was squinting, thinking, ‘Are there any more lines?’" she recalled to the magazine. "I yelled to Ian, ‘Get up!’ He ran into the bathroom, read the test, and we were so excited. We watched the sun come up together, just thinking, ‘Wow, we're going to have a baby.'"
Reed tried to keep the secret for as long as she could, knowing it was a matter of time before the weight gain would be noticeable outside their home. But the red carpet stunner says she never felt more beautiful than she does as a pregnant woman.
"As an actress, I’m surrounded by chatter about my body," she explained to Fit Pregnancy and Baby. "How do I look on the red carpet? Whose dress am I wearing? I’ve always rebelled against that, but being pregnant has given me this new and powerful appreciation for my body.
"Why do I suddenly have this layer of fat? Oh, it’s because my body needs to create breast milk. Why am I hungry and thirsty? Because my body is creating amniotic fluid. I want to write my pregnant body love letters, it’s so f----- cool!"
There have been some concessions for Reed during pregnancy: mountain biking, horseback riding, AcroYoga and cooking. Fortunately, she's got quite the romantic leading man.
"When I told him I felt bad about always asking for food, he said, ‘Being able to do this for you is my favorite thing in the world,'” said Reed.
As for the baby's gender, that will be left as a surprise plot twist.
Whatever other surprises are in store for the couple will not be played out in front of an audience once the baby is born. At least not for the first month.
“We’ll take the baby’s first month for ourselves," said Reed. "After the baby arrives, we’re doing one month of silence. Just the three of us, no visitors, and we’re turning off our phones too, so there’s no expectation for us to communicate.
"Otherwise, every five minutes it would be, ‘How are you feeling? Can we have a picture?’ You don’t get those first 30 days back, and we want to be fully present.”