Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev Welcome First Child Together

Total Bellas star Nikki Bella and former Dancing With The Stars pro dancer Artem Chigvintsev welcomed their first child together on Friday, the couple revealed Sunday. The baby boy was born the day before Bella’s twin sister Brie Bella welcomed her second child with husband and WWE star Daniel Bryan. The two sisters even posted similar first photos of their new babies, who are seen holding their mothers’ hands. The sisters also did not show their babies’ faces to protect their privacy.

Bella shared her baby boy’s birth date in the Instagram caption, which was also formatted similarly to Brie’s. “Our baby boy is here and we couldn’t be HAPPIER and more in LOVE! Everyone is safe and healthy,” Bella, 36, wrote. Chigvintsev shared the same photo, adding, “Please welcome our precious baby boy Chigvintsev… proud of my love.”

Bella has been sharing constant updates with fans on her first pregnancy journey, including a picture of herself at 39 weeks pregnant just days before her baby boy was born. Two weeks earlier, Bella and Nikki posed for a joint pregnancy photoshoot, standing back-to-back and cradling their baby bumps. “I have already felt the lioness in me come out, even more, knowing that I am ready to protect, teach, love and guide,” Bella wrote on July 6. “And to go through all of this with my twin sister? Goodness, I would say I am one lucky woman that God knew my timing of becoming a mom was divine.”

Chigvintsev and Bella announced their surprise engagement in January, two months after Chigvintsev proposed. The couple met when Bella competed on DWTS Season 25, but they did not start dating until Bella’s relationship with John Cena ended for good. Chigvintsev has not appeared on DWTS since 2018, although Bella is hopeful he will be asked to return for the show’s upcoming 29th season.

Meanwhile, the Bella twins are still working on a new season of Total Bellas, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Brie told Entertainment Tonight the two live next to each other, so they have been there to support each other during their pregnancies. “We don’t let family come over; it’s just been Nicole, Artem, Birdie and I,” Brie said. “We enjoy our coffees in the morning and then we switch having dinner at each other’s houses so it feels like we have somewhere we’re going.”

The double baby news comes for the Bella sisters while their mother, Kathy Laurinaitis, continues recovering from brain surgery on June 30. During their Bellas Podcast, the sisters said it was “so nice just to see our mom be our mom again.” Laurinaitis was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy after she felt paralysis on her face earlier this year. Her doctors also found a tumor on her brain stem.