‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ Star Ashley Darby Pregnant After Miscarriage

Real Housewives of Potomac‘s Ashley Darby is finally pregnant again, she announced to PEOPLE Tuesday.

“I’m so excited,” the Bravo star, 30, said of her pregnancy. “When I used to hear people talk about having a child and the miracle of life inside you, I know that sounds great, but then to actually experience it? It’s the most all-encompassing feeling ever. I never imagined I’d feel this much love … it’s the pinnacle!”

Ashley and her husband Michael Darby, 59, have been married since May 2014, but as fans of the franchise will know, have been though a tough time over the past few years, separating for six months between RHOP Season 2 and Season 3.

The two were struggling to decide if they wanted to have children when they got back together, then after Ashley got pregnant but suffered a devastating miscarriage, which she revealed in the Season 3 reunion special.

“It was such a traumatic experience,” Ashley told the outlet of her miscarriage. “At the time, I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of how it would affect us as a couple and as individuals because we kind of thought it would be a given that we would just be able to have children. But it was challenging.”

Michael is already dad to two older children from a previous marriage, which Ashley said allowed him to help her through the loss of her first pregnancy.

“It was very impactful for him because he understands the feelings of being a dad,” she explained. “It was so new to me, but he could help me through that.”

Now five months pregnant, Ashley confessed that she and her husband weren’t “actively or consciously trying” to conceive at the time,

“It was a surprise,” she continued. “We found out in the beginning of November and I had just been healing out of it and I thought I was getting sick because of the change of season. I wasn’t feeling too well. Something just told me to take the test, really not expecting a positive result. And then lo and behold, there were two solid lines.”

It was definitely an emotional experience for the two expectant parents.

“I’m not the most emotional person, but I shed some tears,” Ashley recalled. “And then Michael started crying. And Michael, who is a very stoic person, when he cries, I start balling. It was like a share of waterworks between the two of us!”

“It just was a blessing that was bestowed upon us,” she continued. “And the way it happened was just a miracle.”

As of now, the couple is keeping their baby’s sex a mystery (for now).

“We have the results in Michael’s desk drawer at work, but we might do a sex reveal, that’s still a toss up in the air,” Ashley said. “But for now, it’s just really hypothesizing if it’s going to be a boy or a girl based on the heartbeat, the shape of the belly, the condition of my skin — all those things that are supposed to be predictors of the baby’s sex.”

Congratulations to the expectant parents!

Photo credit: Instagram/Ashley Darby