Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder are so extra together and I love it. They love each other, they love animals, they’re joined at the hip and they’ll tell you about it. They’re also expecting their first child together sometime this late summer. I was looking forward to them a) giving the child a really wacky name that hopefully wasn’t too stigmatizing (I’m not that cruel) and b) oversharing and gushing about the baby on their social media. Only Nikki and Ian are pledging to turn their phones off and put all their efforts into the baby that first month he or she is born. (They don’t know the gender supposedly.) Nikki discussed their plans in an interview on the September issue of Fit Pregnancy and Baby, which she covers. She also said that she and Ian aren’t going to accept any visitors the first month and it will just be the two of them and the baby.
Being pregnant makes her feel freer about her body
“As an actress, I’m surrounded by chatter about my body. 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*cking cool!She’s still exercising but in a sustainable way
“I still do workouts. I take a 30-minute walk every day. Five days a week, I do 30 minutes of cardio, usually either jogging—which is now kind of a combination of jogging and scooting—or the elliptical. I carry 2-pound weights and do hills. I do yoga. I lift weights. I do workout videos when I can’t do outdoorsy things. And I just got water weights, so I can work out in the pool. I’ve always been an active person. It’s what makes me feel good. As long as the baby’s fine, I’ll keep it up.”Ian cooks for her
“I normally love to cook, but since I’ve been pregnant I’ve lost interest. So all day I’m like, ‘Hey, what are we eating?’ Luckily, Ian’s a closet chef, and he’s also the sweetest 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.’ ”They’re doing 30 days of no-phones and no visitors after the baby
“We’ll take the baby’s first month for ourselves. 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.”
[From Fit Pregnancy]
Fit Pregnancy has a video with Nikki and it’s actually really cute. She said that she has to pee every 20 minutes now that she’s pregnant, which no one warned her about, and that she is sneezing a lot because her septum ring is pushing on a pressure point in her nose. I don’t understand why she doesn’t just take it out.
As for the 30 day silence vow, that sounds like one of those proclamations you make with good intentions but then realize is unrealistic. At least I do that. “I’m going to cut way down on sugar” is one of my favorites and then I eat two servings of Jelly Bellies as a mid morning snack. I wish I was joking. Also it sounds like a recipe for cabin fever. It’s hard enough dealing with a new baby, but they won’t have any outlet to share all the selfies and sleeping pics they’re sure to take. They also presumably won’t have help from a nanny or housekeeper. (I know they have a housekeeper as Ian referenced one on Instagram.) As for the no visitors policy, do they not have ANY family? I had both sets of grandparents there in the waiting room at the birth center and half came from overseas. New babies bring out all the relatives.
Photos credit: Getty and Fit Pregnancy
I picture them staring intensely into each other’s eyes as they hold the baby for 30 days. Enjoy!
Lol! That’s what I picture too, and Ian will keep an hourly journal about how beautiful it all is. More power to them I suppose!
Those two are so embarrassing. Anyway good luck with the no visitors part.
I have no idea who these people in the article are, but I think the no visitors at the very beginning is a great idea. I personally think it’s insane that babies are held by about 30 different people in the first few days of life – it’s not healthy for the baby and it can be stressful on the parents. So moms (ie me!) just want to just recover and sit in bed and stare at their baby for a couple of weeks, not entertain visitors and worry about the state of the house, your outfit, the baby’s outfit, your tummy etc. Each to their own, but for me, we kept visitors away for the first couple of weeks, I stayed in bed and recovered with my babies and it was bliss. But we had a home birth so people probably just assumed we were weird-o’s anyway. 🙂
Agree. My baby is 4 weeks today and I have tried to limit visitors too. Although once you get to baby #3 people aren’t as excited. I don’t take them out til they get their 6 week immunisations, and they’re feeding properly, and I’ve stopped leaking from various places. I waited a week to tell most people the baby had even arrived. So I’m a weirdo too. 😄
i think they’ll keep off social media but as for relatives and their support staff, I don’t believe they’re going to be completely ‘off the grid’.
Agree. I don’t know their family situations, but my mom and dad were the first ones in to see my babies (only husband at delivery) and I was so glad to see them bond with their grandbabies and to see how much they loved them right away. Plus I loved hearing someone who loved them as much as me gushing over how precious they were! I love those memories, especially as my dad is gone now. I get not wanting everyone you are not super close to bombarding you, but I wouldn’t deny close family personally, they were always as excited as I was! But, their baby, their choice.
I’d be on the phone calling my mom every twenty minutes asking her if I was supposed to do/not do something!
That’s like saying “my children will never watch tv” and “they’ll only eat organic, homegrown food I’ve prepared myself” or “they’re only going to play with sustainably gathered wooden toys” or my favorite “my children aren’t going to be loud and unruly in public or throw a public temper tantrum”. We’re all amazing parents before we have kids.
Yeah, everyone is the perfect parent before they are actually parents.
I definitely understand having unwanted relatives in the house — needing food, dirtying dishes, sheets and towels, etc… But my mom was such a godsend when she visited. She watched my newborn while I slept, and I would magically wake up to a clean kitchen and folded clothes.
Haha! I agree with you all is flowers and rainbows till the kid actually comes lol GL with that!
Ha! Well said.
🙄
These two are too much! But they’re happy…so good for them.
What a strange cover photo to choose. You can barely see her face because of her hair.
That’s cute. My son had colic and his days and nights mixed up. If Satan would have showed up to harvest my soul, I’d have directed him to the rocking chair and made him babysit until I had a nap and a shower. So, best of luck to them with that plan.
LOL.
Colic mom here too, virtual chest bump to you! I wouldn’t wish a colicky baby on my worst enemy, I fantasized about killing myself or running away every single night about 4 hours into the constant screaming. I’m lucky I made it out alive. Their plan is definitely cute, but we’ll see how it goes once baby is home and two new parents are trying to navigate wtf to do, lol.
Amen to this. My kid had colic too, and at one point I seriously considered going back to the hospital and seeing if they might do a take-back. Sounds stupid, I know. But in my sleep-deprived state, it weirdly made sense at the time.
Not stupid at all! Your brain comes up with many ways to try and get away from the constant screaming and stress, it’s awful! Somehow I knew I wouldn’t really hurt myself or run away, but it made me feel better to fantasize about it.
I can see it as 30 days can really fly by.
They seem like the type of couple who would try something like that. Agreed that it’s well-intentioned but unrealistic – surely at some point they’ll need help with the baby, esp. if the child is their first?
No way no how. First off, most babies do nothing but sleep/poop/cry every 2-3 hours the first month. It’s not this magical time of sunshine and rainbows. Second, she’ll most likely be googling questions about ‘how much milk should they have?’ ‘is this poop normal?’ and ‘how long should tummy time be at 3 weeks?’
It’s about quality of visitor. We had one relative come by when baby was a week old (with a cold no less) and complain about not getting fed and that our house was a mess. My sister-in law came by and washed all the dishes in the sink, changed the baby, and ran a load of laundry. My mom came for the first month, and I am SOO grateful. A adult to help when I was crying and needing help in the shower. (sometimes mom helped me, sometimes mom took baby) A second person to cook other than my partner.
It is common sense and curtesy that if you visit new parents, BE HELPFUL. Bring food. Watch the kid so mom can shower. Make your own damn coffee. Don’t sneeze on the kid. Some people, really.
You’d be surprised how uncommon it is, actually. TONS of people stop by and expect to be entertained and fed. We were the first of our friends to have kids, but it really changed how I approach new parents, tbh. I wait a few weeks to let them get settled, being tons of food, do their dishes or vacuum, and hold their kid while they nap/shower, ect, then LEAVE pronto.
Geez. Maybe it’s because I have nephews, a gaggle of younger cousins and lots of friends with kids, but even child-free me knows basic courtesy of showing up when there’s a new baby. I have literally mopped floors and done laundry for new moms. I’ve changed diapers and and spit-up covered clothes. And if I even suspected I might be coming down with a cold, I stayed away. WTF
I guess I’m alone in that I think that’s a great idea? With my first kid, family was over so much and there were so many things to do – newborn pictures, ect – that I really didn’t enjoy having a baby. I waited until six weeks with my second to “introduce” him around.
Sounds like this “extra” couple as first time parents!
I suspect they’ve watched too many movies or have seen too many unrealistic IG accounts. If I were up a few times to feed the kid during all hours of the night, you bet I would terrorize people via WhatsApp or scroll through Instagram. Also, they’re not going to allow their parents to visit? Mine would disown me. And I get that you don’t want to play hostess as a new mom but if my bff did this, I’d say good luck and call me when I’m graciously allowed back into your life. See if I still feel helpful.
I had a friend opting for reusable diapers from the best organic cotton. That lastet until the first poop…..
the black and white pic is gorgeous. I love her dress and the pose.
Please, they will be documenting every moment then after 30days flood social media with baby and group pictures of how in love they are. The ole i don’t want attention but LOOK AT ME!! They are so EXTRA :-/
In theory it’s a great idea, especially in the hospital. I’ll never forget how awkward it felt seeing relatives I barely knew come by to visit. I labored all night and gave birth at 930 am, I was still trying to process everything that just happened and it was horrible trying to put on a socializing face while gushing the remnants of my uterus into a maternity diaper and having no control over my poots. People have good intentions and love newborns, but stay away unless you’re really close or invited!
Good luck to them…I made my family wait a week (everyone out of town so they were all overnight guests) and I’ll never hear the end of how badly I deprived everyone. I would have loved to go a month without visitors. I didn’t find It helpful and honestly killed my new baby vibe.
Hahaha what does she think she’s going to do when she’s breastfeeding every 2 hours for an hour at a time at 3 am? Between streaming tv, facebook, twitter and IG, I had stuff to do. With my first kid, HBOGo just started so I rewatched GOT and Sex and the City while feeding. By the 3rd kid, we had Netflix so I caught up on all the shows that were must see. But gazing lovingly at your child for hours (especially in the beginning when feeding hurts like hell and you want to die) gets old really quick.
Hear hear!
It always tickles me when C/D list celebrities announce they’re going to remove themselves from social media to focus on whatever. Like….Ok, See you when you get back. Who is really stressing if these 2 aren’t on social media?
I think it’s a really interesting idea but tell your Mom she can’t see her new Grand baby for 30 days and see how that actually goes….
Bodhi Soleli Reed Somerhalder is their baby name, they just released it. They had the baby 16 days ago (so much for a month of no contact with anyone but each other)
That name seems…. appropriate for them.
It’s very on brand for them
The name is so extra, wow.
My family waited most of the night in the hallway while I labored with my son. My mother, stepfather, and grandparents were there at late, late night when he came to the world. I brought him home that afternoon after presenting him to my father, his namesake, at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. We came home, all the cousins, all the other little ones, EVERYONE, was there to celebrate this new beautiful boy to the heart of us.
Such a precious memory.
And their chosen name is very free spirited. Blessings to this new family and this new precious babe.