Originally appeared on E! Online
Fifteen weeks into her pregnancy, reality TV alum Francesca Farago is learning it really does take a village to raise a child. Or children, in the case of her and fiancé Jesse Sullivan's twins.
Her rapidly expanding tribe, of course, includes her ultra-supportive husband-to-be, his 15-year-old child Arlo, the team at the fertility clinic that oversaw their IVF process and the roughly six OB-GYNs they've consulted since.
Plus one particularly astute Internet diagnostician.
While the Too Hot to Handle alum's Instagram and TikTok DMs have been filled with the usual variety of trolls, "there's something wrong with my uterus and my cervix, and I would not have learned that if it wasn't for Snapchat," she revealed in an exclusive interview with E! News. "Someone messaged me and said, 'Hey, I lost my twins at 21 weeks. You should go get your cervix checked.'"
The advice admittedly sent Francesca into a bit of a spiral.
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"It opened up a whole world of anxiety and stress and doctor's appointments and specialists," the TikToker said, sharing that she discovered she did, in fact, have a short cervix. "But it also opened up, potentially, me being able to save the babies in the future, me avoiding a miscarriage."
So put that in social media's plus column.
Now that she's in her second trimester, Francesca plans to get a cervical cerclage—temporary stitches that can help the cervix hold a pregnancy in the uterus. Though that hasn't fully assuaged the 30-year-old's pregnancy-related nerves.
"I hear every day, honestly, horror stories from other mothers of things that went wrong and it does put a lot of fear in me," she explained. "And I'm already a fearful person in regards to the pregnancy, because of how hard it was to get to this point."
So she's grown to accept that worrying about your kids is part of what to expect when you're expecting.
"I am so nervous of something going wrong," Francesca admitted. "I thought getting out of the first trimester, I would feel like, 'OK, we're in the no-danger zone.' But I'm not out of the danger zone until the babies are in my arms, and even then I have to keep them alive. So I feel like you're not out of the danger zone until they're, like, 18. But even then, you're still worried. So for the rest of your life, you're worried forever."
Good thing babies are so cute.
"Buying baby clothes is how I wake up in the morning," Francesca shared of leaning into the fun side of prep. "Literally, Jesse rolls over, and I have my phone out, and I'm like, 'But look at this teddy bear onesie, look at this little knit jumper.' I am obsessed with baby clothes."
Even more so with the idea of little Peaches and Garfinkle—the pet names she and Jesse have adopted for their future offspring—actually wearing the teeny tiny duds.
"When I see them in my hands, I can't believe we're going to have an actual child in this onesie in the fall," said Francesca. "It makes me so happy."
Though, to be clear: Peaches and Garfinkle are not the monikers she and Jesse, 34, landed on after rejecting the likes of Heart, Lovely, Afternoon and Baby. While she revealed they "pretty much" locked in their winners, going back to the same picks they've been bandying about for the past two years, "I'm just scared to use their name names as of right now."
While the duo's still-under-construction home is bursting with onesies, Mom's wardrobe is still a work in progress.
"I've been living in the same four outfits," Francesca admitted, "because either my clothes don't fit or it's so uncomfortable. And I think you're already so uncomfortable, just being alive, that you really need your clothes to be comfortable. So maybe I'll launch some maternity bodysuits or sweatpants and stuff like that in the future, because I will be having more babies."
A maternity line for her sustainable, ecologically-sensitive swimwear brand Farago the Label is also in the works. But it means finding another manufacturer as her current "small, vegan, cruelty-free, ethical" partner requires about a year to launch new designs. "The babies will be, like, one by the time the bikinis are launched," lamented Francesca. Though, for now, she's just relying on the adjustable nature of her go-to suits.
And she knows a willingness to be flexible is a requirement for her new gig as a mom of three.
Eager to add to her and Jesse's brood, she said she's most excited about "just holding them. Literally touching their bodies and looking at their little feet and little hands and seeing what eye color they have and if their hair is curly or straight. It's mind-blowing to me."
Two years into her romance with Jesse, "It feels crazy that this is actually happening, because I talked about it and I thought about it for so long," Francesca marveled. "So the fact that there's going to be two children in front of me, it's crazy."
It will be another sweet milestone for the pair who have already enjoyed quite the courtship. Keep reading to relive their passionate romance.
June 2021: First Meeting
Summer 2022: Social Media Official
May 2023: Engagement
March 2024: Baby (Soon-to-be) on Board
April 2024: Double the Love
