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Cape Town - South African model Nicola Breytenbach Steiner has announced she is four months pregnant with her second child.
Breytenbach and her US businessman husband Ben Steiner have been married since 2008 and welcomed their first child Evangeline in 2009.
They have been planning a second child but were surprised by the recent news of Nicola's second pregnancy.
"Yes it was planned, although it did happen a lot faster than we thought!" she gushes, merely two months after her most recent visit to SA with her little family.
Nicola says she "found out some weeks ago already" but decided to wait until she was in her second trimester to announce the news to the world that she was expecting again.
"Things become a lot more safe and sure then. I was at home in Florida, and I had a little sixth sense telling me that maybe I was already pregnant. I took a home pregnancy test to be sure and I was thrilled!"
When Nicola took the pregnancy test, her husband Ben was away on a trip and she waited for his return before sharing the news.
Phone home
"I didn't want to tell Ben on the phone and the only person I knew would be awake in SA was my dad. It was about 5:30 in the morning but thank goodness he picked up. I was so happy to be able to share it with him. I waited for Ben to come home the next day before I told him," says Nicola.
The SA-born model, who is signed to Trump Models in New York, is planning on giving birth in the US. "I'm going to give birth in the US in New York. I would like to have the same doctor that I had for Evangeline and my house and friends are all here. I have a great support system here with my family being so spread out and far away. Hopefully they will all be able to come for the birth."
Exhausted
Being pregnant a second time around has already provided some challenges for Nicola. "I am much more exhausted as I already have a toddler to run after! And she really is a bundle of energy now. With my previous pregnancy, I could take a lot more time to rest and relax but there isn't much time for that this time."
So does she want to be surprised by the baby's gender? "I don't have patience at all to wait! We will find out as soon as we possibly can," admits Nicola.
Charity work
Nicola, who has modelled for Versace and Revlon, is also an ambassador for the Diamond Empowerment Fund – headed up by Russell Simmons - and heads up the Africa Angels programme. This section of the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) is dedicated to having celebrities utilise their ability to leverage their influence, contacts and status to raise awareness and funds in support of the organisation's vision to help Africans help Africa through education that empowers and provides tangible skills to help build lives.
She says that work won't slow down just yet and she's going to be very active with DEF projects this year.
"I'm taking acting classes in New York right now which is obviously fine to do while I'm pregnant and my charity The Diamond Empowerment fund has a lot of events globally this year that I'll be working on a lot. I won't really slow down that much but I am going to travel less towards the end of course."
Healthy pregnancy
Until then, Nicola plans to stick to her exercise regime throughout her pregnancy. "I will take it a little easier but still continue with my power yoga and training. I'll probably start swimming again too. That's great exercise when you're pregnant," she says.
Has she learnt any lessons learnt from the first pregnancy? "There really isn't much to take from the first one. As I can see already every pregnancy is different and having a baby already makes all the other rules go out the window," says Nicola.
Clayton Morar is a celebrity blogger and autograph hunter. See his exploits at www.claytonmorar.com
Breytenbach and her US businessman husband Ben Steiner have been married since 2008 and welcomed their first child Evangeline in 2009.
They have been planning a second child but were surprised by the recent news of Nicola's second pregnancy.
"Yes it was planned, although it did happen a lot faster than we thought!" she gushes, merely two months after her most recent visit to SA with her little family.
Nicola says she "found out some weeks ago already" but decided to wait until she was in her second trimester to announce the news to the world that she was expecting again.
"Things become a lot more safe and sure then. I was at home in Florida, and I had a little sixth sense telling me that maybe I was already pregnant. I took a home pregnancy test to be sure and I was thrilled!"
When Nicola took the pregnancy test, her husband Ben was away on a trip and she waited for his return before sharing the news.
Phone home
"I didn't want to tell Ben on the phone and the only person I knew would be awake in SA was my dad. It was about 5:30 in the morning but thank goodness he picked up. I was so happy to be able to share it with him. I waited for Ben to come home the next day before I told him," says Nicola.
The SA-born model, who is signed to Trump Models in New York, is planning on giving birth in the US. "I'm going to give birth in the US in New York. I would like to have the same doctor that I had for Evangeline and my house and friends are all here. I have a great support system here with my family being so spread out and far away. Hopefully they will all be able to come for the birth."
Exhausted
Being pregnant a second time around has already provided some challenges for Nicola. "I am much more exhausted as I already have a toddler to run after! And she really is a bundle of energy now. With my previous pregnancy, I could take a lot more time to rest and relax but there isn't much time for that this time."
So does she want to be surprised by the baby's gender? "I don't have patience at all to wait! We will find out as soon as we possibly can," admits Nicola.
Charity work
Nicola, who has modelled for Versace and Revlon, is also an ambassador for the Diamond Empowerment Fund – headed up by Russell Simmons - and heads up the Africa Angels programme. This section of the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) is dedicated to having celebrities utilise their ability to leverage their influence, contacts and status to raise awareness and funds in support of the organisation's vision to help Africans help Africa through education that empowers and provides tangible skills to help build lives.
She says that work won't slow down just yet and she's going to be very active with DEF projects this year.
"I'm taking acting classes in New York right now which is obviously fine to do while I'm pregnant and my charity The Diamond Empowerment fund has a lot of events globally this year that I'll be working on a lot. I won't really slow down that much but I am going to travel less towards the end of course."
Healthy pregnancy
Until then, Nicola plans to stick to her exercise regime throughout her pregnancy. "I will take it a little easier but still continue with my power yoga and training. I'll probably start swimming again too. That's great exercise when you're pregnant," she says.
Has she learnt any lessons learnt from the first pregnancy? "There really isn't much to take from the first one. As I can see already every pregnancy is different and having a baby already makes all the other rules go out the window," says Nicola.
Clayton Morar is a celebrity blogger and autograph hunter. See his exploits at www.claytonmorar.com
