The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Ben and Jessica Higgins are having a GIRL!

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Ben and Jessica Higgins sit down with you to share all the personal details about their baby girl on the way. Why did Jessica never think getting pregnant was going to be a possibility for her? They open up about everything. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh, my God, perfect.

And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I'm take it all.

I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was the same, go off on me.

I deserve it. You know, lock him up. Listen to No Such Thing on the. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. I'm Dr. Joy Hardin-Bradford, host of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. I know how overwhelming it can feel if flying makes you anxious. In session 418 of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett and I discuss flight anxiety.

What is not normal is to allow it to prevent you from doing the things that you want to do. the things that she were meant to do. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, it's Honey German, and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Grasias, come again. We got you when it comes to the latest in music and entertainment with interviews with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities.

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And of course, the great bevras you've come to expect. Listen to the new season of Dresses Come Again on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHeart Radio. It's time for the Almost Famous podcast. We are here. Well, it's not we. I mean, it is we, but it isn't your typical we. Ashley isn't with us today because today is our very special episode talking about a new baby into the Higgins family. My wife Jessica is here with me today as my co-host.

Yeah, and we both wore pink today on accident. It was on accident. I did not think about that. That actually feels like something I would stay away from doing. Yeah. You're not a fan of it, but I love it. Yeah. Today we're here just to give you some of the insights, the details.

We haven't talked to anybody yet, except for, you know, on. social media about kind of our big announcement and the path to getting there and what we're excited about. And so I think we just wanted to sit down with the almost famous listeners and kind of explain everything. I think the big first question that people are asking and that we should be answering is, was this expected? Yes. It was very expected. Ben and I had been trying for a decent amount of time. And we were referred to. to a fertility clinic by my doctor because I wasn't ovulating regularly. So we did this through a fertility clinic.

We did IUI, which is the step before IVF. So I don't know, should I get into what IUI is? Yeah, I think people would be interested. Okay, so IUI is where I took some medicine or hormone stimulating medicine for about two weeks. I call it, so when somebody asks me to explain it, I say it just makes you like a a baby making machine. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. It took me like a month to make myself a baby making machine. Um, so I, I took some medicine and then when the timing was right, I gave myself a shot to make myself ovulate. And then it's basically direct sperm insertion. It's like

the medical way to explain it. Is that how they explain that? Yeah. I feel so aggressive. What happens? That was my one and only job. He crushed it. We, yeah, it actually took us one try of IUI. So when it comes to fertility journeys, we got really, really lucky. We had a great doctor. We had a great experience. And I kind of had a feeling it worked on the first try. They were going to give us six tries for IUI before IVF.

And so Ben was like, we have about six months. So he was shocked when it worked on the first try. I was shocked. I mean, I'm surprised just because I know, you know, it's not easy. and I think you're always going to be a little shocked. Like when somebody tells you, hey, you have a little baby coming into this world. And it's inside of me. Like, I think that's a little shocking idea, right?

Yeah, that's true. It's still kind of weird. Well, so how many weeks long are you as of this show? As of this very second, I'm 16 weeks, exactly. Baby's the size of an avocado, four to five inches long. But we have known for a while. So we found out when the baby was, what, three weeks? Well, counting pregnancy weeks is so weird because, like, I was technically, we knew exactly I was two weeks, but they counted, like, two weeks before that.

So we've known since I was in pregnancy terms, four weeks. Four weeks? Okay. So that's when we found out. How did you tell me? I guess how did you find out? And then how did you tell me? So after IUI, they say you can take a pregnancy test at home two weeks later.

And it was literally exactly two weeks. And I woke up at 4 a.m., like so excited because I just had this gut feeling that it was going to be positive. And I'd taken so many negative pregnancy tests that I just wanted to see a positive so bad. Even if something happened in the pregnancy, I was just, I was so excited. So I woke up at 4 a.m. I took the test and just kind of like stared at it for about two hours. And then Ben was, I heard Ben moving upstairs. and Waylon, our dog, was downstairs with me.

So I tied a bandana around Waylon that said, Big Brother, and I sent him up to wake you up. And he did wake me up. I just thought he was looking cute with a bandana. I didn't know what the bandana said because it was so early in the morning. But then I finally looked at it, and it said, I'm going to be a big brother, which was the cutest thing, like double cutest thing, to see Little Wayland and wanting to be a big brother.

And he was so happy. He was so proud. So proud of his bandana. So proud to wake me up. Now, from that point. forward, I think for us, we kind of sat in it just with each other. We were excited and, you know, we talked about it a lot, but it was something that we kind of wanted to hold on to for not only like the appropriate reasons where it's like, hey, we just don't need to tell

everybody right away, but also just, you know, for our own privacy. However, at about two weeks later, my parents came to visit, and it was Father's Day. And so we were going to obviously do a FaceTime with your, you know, parents. And so we decided at that point to tell them first. Walk us through how we told both, because I think they're both really special. Yes. So for my dad, me and my siblings pitched in, well, me, my siblings and our spouses, pitched in to get him one of those picture frames.

I think we did the aura frame where you can upload a photo and it'll show it in real time because my brother has a baby. and we obviously live far away. My little brother lives far away, so it's fun to be able to share photos back and forth. So we got in this picture frame, and since I bought it, I had like the activation code. So I said, you have to FaceTime me so I can teach them how to set it up, whatever.

So everyone was together for Father's Day brunch, and they FaceTimed me, and I gave him the activation code, and then I was explaining how it works, and how you can upload a photo in real time. And I was like, here, I'll upload a photo and show you how it works, and I uploaded my positive pregnancy test. So my whole family was there, minus my little brother, who we FaceTime earlier that day, and just told. But they were so excited and so surprised.

We do have that, like, on video, right? Yeah. We can share that at some point. Yeah, we can share that video. And then for Ben's dad, they came the day after Father's Day, and we got him a Father's Day card that said the best dads get promoted to Grandpa, and we gave it to him in person. And he said, are you trying to tell me something? And you said, yes. I'm pregnant.

You know, I'm an only child. So I think my parents, I'm not kidding when I say, I feel like I remember them talking about having grandkids when I was still in high school. Yeah. Like, I think this is their Super Bowl. Yeah, they're so excited. But the cool part is your parents and my parents. I never realized this, I guess, growing up. grandparents get really excited about having grandkids.

Like, both of our sets of parents aren't just like, this is going to be awesome. They're like over the moon referring to it as their baby. Like, they are so excited. I mean, you get all of the fun of having a kid with none of their responsibility. Like, they've already had the responsibility part. This is just fun for them, you know? So it must be fun to have a kid, though. At least it's, it's like enjoyable enough where you're like, I want to do this again.

I think it's going to be so fun. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's, I think, where we need to transition into next is, you know, somebody wrote in and asked, how do you think I'll be as a girl dad? Because obviously, we did find out the gender. We were both wanting to find out the gender. I think for me and my reasoning is I'm more of a, like, planner. I don't like inefficiencies.

And so I was thinking, if people are going to get stuff for us and we're going to buy stuff for ourselves, we should know the gender so everything, like, matches, you know, ready to go. we're off and running. And I just don't want to wait. Yeah. And I'm glad we did find out. Yeah. But we did find out as a baby girl.

Mm-hmm. So how do you think I'll be as a girl dad? I think you're going to be the best girl dad in the whole world. I think you're just going to love her and encourage her and tell her she's beautiful. And I know the way that you make me feel. And I just can't imagine the way you're going to make our daughter feel just, like, so wrapped in love. You're also more emotional than me. Not at this very second, but in normal life.

And so I just think she's going to wreck you in, like, the best way. Yeah. I sent then a video on Instagram yesterday of a little girl in a princess dress showing her dad. And he replied and said, why would you send this? It's very sweet. It was very sweet. I just can't wait for a little girl to run up to you in a princess dress and hug you and just... I'm getting emotional talking about it.

It's going to be so sweet. You got to stop talking about it. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her.

Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor, and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him?

Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine that you're on an airplane, and all of a sudden you hear the... this. Attention passengers, the pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone, to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, do this, pull that, turn this. It's just, I can do it in my eyes close. I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And on our

new show, no such thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join no. as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the run right. I'm looking at this thing.

Listen to no such thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called, emergency intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes,

we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app.

Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time. to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief.

Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea. who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was

salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors. And you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. feel like I am more set up to be a father of a girl at this point now that we found this out like at first I was like oh man like it'd be fun to just like let them you know get dirty and we can we're going to still do that but boys are different we have a lot of boys that live around us and all of our friends have had boys boys just kind of cause chaos I'm sure girls do that in their own beautiful way but I do feel like when it comes to especially especially the motions like the emotions. I'm better set up for it. I'm just worried that I'm going to become like a mess. Like I'm going to lose all toughness. And I don't have a lot left. Like, I don't think I've

anything left. I think you have a lot of toughness left. And I think that when she's a teenager, you'll like get that grip back. But I think when she's really little, I do think she's going to have you wrapped around her finger in the best way. Well, you know, I think the question then right back to you is how do you feel? like you're going to be raising a girl and are you excited for it? I'm so excited. I need to start by saying that. I just always thought I was going to be a boy mom.

Like, I grew up doing sports. I grew up with brothers. I, like, just feel like I would have a lot of fun with a little boy. But now that I know it's a girl, I'm so, I feel like I'm just carrying my best friend in my belly. Like, I know the relationship I have with my mom. And I just feel like we're going to be like the very best of friends. and she's going to be my little twin.

And she might not be, but my prayers that were really good friends. And I'm so excited to get all the girly things. Like, we got a box of bows from my mom. And I, like, that made me so excited because I'm just excited to be a girl mom. I don't know. Every bit of it. I'm excited to watch princess movies with her, dress up with her. It's going to be so fun.

I don't even know how to put a bow on a girl. No, he didn't know how to open the bow. No, I didn't actually. I heard my finger. I actually cut my finger trying to do it. There's been some really fun things that have happened that I think people would enjoy hearing about, and I always enjoy hearing about it. Obviously, this is something that we wanted. We planned for.

We're excited about this. It wasn't like an unexpected shock to us, but it's been an unexpected level of joy that I think you and I both experienced. You've been a trooper. You felt pretty terrible for a long time. Like, you've been really sick through this journey. And now you're starting to, I feel, like, come, you know, to the other side. Food isn't so much of a weird turnoff. It's now, like, you're more into it.

Do you want elaborate on that at all? Yeah, I was really sick my first trimester, just in every way you can possibly imagine. And I wouldn't take nausea medicine for a long time because that first trimester, you, like, don't look pregnant. And the only way you really feel pregnant is with your nausea. And I was like, I just want the reminder that, like, she's there and she's good because I always heard nauseam and a healthy baby. But then I got to the point where I was like, give me the meds.

She's there. She's good. Give me the meds. But yeah, it was the first trimester. Everyone said it's really hard. It's really hard. But looking back, like, it's a blur now, you know? Yeah.

I guess for you probably. For me, it feels like it was last week, which it kind of was. You know, it's interesting to see just like... evolve into this mom like to be sick and kind of want to be sick like in this weird way like I don't understand it

and I'm so thankful that she's the one carrying this child because I think for me I'd be like just give me the medicine right away I don't want to feel this at all but you have just really like enjoyed already kind of becoming a mom and being a mom it's been really fun to watch

but obviously there have been stages to this process of wanting to have a baby, waiting for that positive test, waiting a few more weeks to tell anybody so you and I were just kind of living in our own world. There's a spot out here in Colorado that you've kind of been visiting and just praying.

You've shared about it on your social media, but prayer has been a big kind of foundation for you during this time. Like it's really been something you've leaned on. What have you kind of learned through those moments of silence? Yeah, with my job, I talk to women all day, and I've heard great stories about pregnancy and horrible stories about pregnancy and the highs and the lows. And it's, like, terrified me a little bit. So I've had a lot of days where I've just felt really uneasy and, like, why should we have a healthy baby? Like, why do we get to have one? And so in those moments, I've just gone and, like, sat and just prayed a lot of prayers of, like, thankfulness and just I can't believe I'm this lucky to have a healthy baby, but also just like take away these anxieties. Like I don't want to project those anxieties onto my baby.

And I also just don't want to feel that way when this is a really exciting time. I know most first time moms get those, you know, you're scared. You're like responsible for this little life and you want to do everything to make sure it's okay. But a lot of it's out of your control. So that the prayer garden I go to just, it's brought. me so much peace. Like I just leave there and I'm like, ah, everything's okay. Even if I can't control it, it's going to be okay. So I think just like giving up a lot of those control pieces

has been huge for me. And that's been the most common prayer that you've been praying is the control piece. Yeah. And like, I don't want to feel anxious this whole time. Like I don't want to feel anxious for the next 24 weeks. I want to continue to be excited. You can feel anxious for the next 24 weeks because then I'll take over and feel anxious for the next. 18 years. Well, probably longer than that. Yeah, I think it's been really fun to, it's just fun and, you know, it reminds you. I think it's a good reminder of why we got married too.

It was like, what about each other that we love, respected, appreciated. You know, you're married for a few years, you're living life side by side. We've had a really fun couple years. just the two of us. And then, you know, we enter into this new stage of life and you see how your partner is reacting to it. And it's like, no, this is why, you know, this is what I thought I was getting at the beginning, you know,

and why we wanted to commit to each other for the rest of our lives. It is a really exciting time. I would say personally, I have had many different emotions. Like, I can't, and we've talked about it, I can't honestly say that the idea of having a child, like a baby ever like euphorically brought joy to me when we were talking about it. I was like, I know it's something I want to do. I know it's something that I will enjoy doing.

I have no clue what that looks like. I don't even know what I'm excited about. Yeah. But I'm not like I was, I tried to be as honest with you as possible. It was like I don't want to tell you like, yes, I am so overly excited about this. There was actually like kind of like a numbness and emotion. towards it. There wasn't anxiety when we were talking through. It was more of just a, I don't even know what this means. I don't even know what this is that I should be

expecting. And I like to prepare myself for big moments. And I couldn't prepare myself for this. So then we find out we're pregnant. You're pregnant. We're not pregnant. We're a team. No. I'm very much not a part of this team right now. You've been the best. I have zero role other than just like kind of stay out of the way. But, and then when we found out, we found out, I was immediately so anxious, like, so nervous. Like, my mind went to, what in the world am I about to do? I'm not ready for this. I'm a child myself.

I don't, I don't have anything prepared. What am I doing? Like, how do we think this makes work? And then I just kept to remind myself, been you're 35 years old. If you're not going to do it now, you're never going to do it. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. according to this person, this is her boyfriend's

former professor, and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not?

To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine that you're on an airplane, and all of a sudden, you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency, and we need someone, anyone, to land this plane. Think you could do it?

It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, until this. Do this, pull that, turn this. It's just... I can do it my eyes close. I'm Mani. I'm Noah. This is Devon.

And on our new show, no such thing. We get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the run right.

I'm looking at this thing. Listen to no such thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect.

And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Hi, I'm Jenna Lopez. And in the new season of the Overcomfort podcast, I'm taking you on an exciting journey of self-reflection. Am I ready to enter this new part of my life?

Like, am I ready to be in a relationship? Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? I wanted to be successful on my own, not just because of who my mom is. Like, I felt like I needed to be better or work twice as hard as she did. Join me for conversations about healing and growth. Life is freaking hard. And growth doesn't happen in comfort. Happened in motion, even when you're hurting.

All from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen. Honestly, these are going to come out so freaking amazing. Be a part of my new chapter and listen to the new season of the Overcomper podcast as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change.

Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors.

And you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. Then the next stage was emotion. I could watch the stupidest videos on Instagram or a commercial with a child running up to their dad and just start crying.

And now I'm in this really comfortable place of peace, excitement. I think I understand better what we're getting. Like I don't think I'll ever fully understand what it's like to raise a little baby. You just kind of jump in. But now I'm kind of in this season of I think I know enough to be like, we can do this. together.

But you have felt like you've just been excited the whole time. Yeah. I don't get it. Explain yourself. Like how is this something? Like you're bringing life into this world. And yet, like, your peace of mind and your joy and excitement has been consistent since really the moment we started trying. Yeah.

I'm going to get Tiri talking about it. But, like, when I was little, when people asked what you want to be when you grew up, I always said I wanted to be a mom. It was a princess mom, to be specific. Yeah, I was glad you read it. I wanted to be a princess mommy. Up until, like, seventh grade, like when it was, like, way inappropriate

for that to be what you wanted to be when you grew up. But, like, I grew up nannying. I grew up babysitting. I've had cousins, and I've just always had this, like, I want to be a mom. And then when you and I got married, I was like, okay, I'm not ready to be a mom yet. Like, I want to really enjoy this time.

Just me and you. I felt almost selfish with my time with you because we dated long distance and you and I have so much fun together just the two of us. But then I went through a season where I was like, and we kind of talked about it. Like maybe we're not like kid people. Like maybe we don't do it. But then. That did not last long. No, it lasted for about a month.

But we did talk about it. We did. But then I don't know. Something like in the last year or whenever we were like this could be a good time for us to start. to think about a baby. It was like go time. Like so exciting. And then because I've not taken the best care of my body in the past, I've been really open

about having eating disorders and I was a long distance runner. And I thought I would never be able to carry my own baby. And we talked about that too, even before we got married. Like I was getting testing done to make sure like it was even a possibility. And every doctor told me it was a possibility. but then when we were having a hard time, I was just kind of like, what if this doesn't happen for me? And it really is, like, my heart's desire since I was an itty-bitty girl.

I used to carry my baby dolls around. My mom would carry my little brother. Like, I've had that instinct. So then when I found out that we were, like, when I saw the positive pregnancy test, it was like, I just never thought that was going to happen for me. And the fact that it has is just like, I'm sorry. You can grow. I've never been this happy.

Like, I've never been so, like, proud of my body. And just, even though it's changing and it's sometimes uncomfortable, like, I'm so excited for all the changes. And I'm so excited that I have this baby growing because I never thought that I'd be able to. So even when it's hard and even when I was so sick, I was just so, like, excited. And I've just been so grateful this whole time. But, yeah, I've, like, I've genuinely, I don't think I've been this happy since, like, you and I got engaged and married. Like, I have just had so much. I know, but, I mean, those are, like, these are, those are, like, the two biggest moments of joy I've had.

So, um, I can't even imagine meeting her. I'm just, like, I'm so thankful that I'm able to have a baby. I never thought I'd be able to. So I just feel really excited and, like, so. so grateful. You should be proud of yourself, too. Like, I don't know how to, I don't even know how to say it. I don't know if I ever have, but it is interesting with your past and just having,

you know, this long distance running career and having to keep your body in what you imagine and what people were kind of telling you in this like really, like, lean, overly, like, athletic state. And then the repercussions from that for you emotionally, mentally. physically and now for like your biggest fear out of that like kind of the unknown of yeah but what else has this done to my body and for you now to be pregnant is like a really big thing to celebrate and just hopefully like some like peace yeah it's it has given me so much peace and like just I just feel like this baby is such a sign of like redemption like there's there's nothing that like

I can do that can't be undone almost. Even, that's probably an overgeneralization and not true, but I really do feel that way. Right now in this season. In this season. I think it's very fair for you to feel that way, yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know, I'm just, I'm so excited and thankful. It is a big deal.

Jessica's pregnant. And Ben has been so sweet in this pregnancy. He's, like, dropped everything to go get frozen yogurt with me. He's made me what I want for dinner. Which is wild stuff. Like, the dinner stuff doesn't make any sense. Sometimes, I mean. Sometimes it's mac and cheese with ice cream.

Yeah, or like, all I want is like plain buttered pasta. Like, that's like, sounds so good to me all the time. Yeah. It's been weird. Bland, no vegetables. We've had fun with it, though. And we're having a great time. We're very excited to be parents.

We're ready and prepared. Final kind of like rapid fire, honey, questions for you just to kind of answer anything that was written And so we can kind of go through it. Do we have any names picked out? You don't have to share them because I was told by Wells Adams to not share the baby names because it opens you up for more feedback than what you really want. I've heard that too. So we're not going to share them, but we do have a top three list.

That is open to change, but we feel pretty good about our top three. How did we come up with the baby announcement idea? I asked you how you wanted to announce the baby and you said you wanted a video of our love story, so we made one. That video wrecked me, too. I just, I feel like I'm holding on by a thread these days. At any moment, I am liable to, like right now, I'm liable to break down. The nursery, do you want to share kind of the theme of the nursery? I kind of think I did last week, maybe more than I expected to.

So do you want to share the theme and why it's the theme? We're doing a very subtle, not like over-the-top, Winnie the Pooh theme. So we're going to have some little Winnie the Pooh elements because Ben and I love Winnie the Pooh. It was both of our favorites growing up. And we had some of our best friends read Winnie the Pooh quotes at our wedding. Like it's just been a big part of our love story randomly. So it's going to have some little Winnie the Pooh elements. And then Ben wants to paint the walls pink, which just melted me.

Goodness gracious. I do want to paint them pink. Which is so sweet. Yeah, we're going to paint them pink. It's going to be really pretty. Oh, goodness gracious. All right, final question for you, hon. What is the thing you're most excited to teach your new baby girl?

Oh, my gosh. Like, deep or surface level? Whatever you want. Like, what's the first thing that comes to mind? I really can't wait to watch Disney movies with her. Yeah, I thought that would be. I can't wait to, like, show her all the princess stuff. You've been waiting for an excuse to watch Disney movies for a long time.

You might have to rewatch before to make sure, like, they're appropriate. I think anything's appropriate. For me, I think, I think what, like, when it's the question of what I want to teach, what are my most excited teacher, I think I'm really excited to just show her what family she's entering into. Like, we have great parents, incredible siblings, really great, like, aunts and uncles and grandparents, and just, like, like, we have great parents. we got a really good thing going.

And I feel very grateful for that. Like every night when I go to bed, I pray that I'm thankful for you and our dog and a baby girl. And then this amazing family. And now everybody gets that. And so I'm excited for her to meet them. Yeah. I've said this to so many, like all the people that have shared in our joy,

our friends, our family, everybody. Like this baby, I just, I can't imagine someone coming to the world more loved than our daughter. Goodness. Yes, we have a full closet already. We've got a hand-me-downs. And I've asked people not to give us stuff. Oh, goodness. Yeah, she's got a lot of hand-me-downs.

Not all hand-me-downs. Yeah, and a lot of people that love her. Goodness. We'll keep you updated as we go. We wanted to do this with the almost famous listeners because we haven't done an interview yet. We've kind of kept it close to our chest. You know, but we're very excited.

We're very ready, as ready as you can be. Wayland, going to be great. He's already sleeping on top of Jess at night, literally like... Head on my belly. Head on the belly. I think he's going to rock and roll this thing in the best of ways. He's going to be such a stud. So everybody's really ready.

Everybody's really prepared. We're excited. But we'll keep you updated as big things happen. We still have a long way to go. You have a long way to go. My life hasn't changed that much. So until next time, I've been Ben.

I've been Jess. We'll share the name of the baby girl who's with us as well once she's born. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor.

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