Monica Garcia is expecting her fifth child.
Just under a year after suffering a tragic miscarriage, the 41-year-old Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum confirmed that she is pregnant with the first child of boyfriend Braxton Knight, sharing her first baby bump photos and confirming when she’s due.
In images taken by Jesús Rodríguez and shared with PEOPLE on March 4, Monica was seen cradling her bare baby bump in a black blazer after getting her makeup done by Andy Truong and having her hair styled by Mariah Ergovich.
In another photo, Braxton was seen kissing Monica’s stomach as she posed in a black bra.
As RHOSLC fans may know, Monica, who appeared on the show for its fourth season, shares four older daughters, including Bri, 19, Jaidyn, 14, West, 8, and Kendall, 7, with her ex-husband, Mike Fowler. But when it comes to baby number five, she’s keeping the sex a secret until birth and hasn’t yet decided on a name.
“We have no names!” Monica confirmed. “We are really struggling in the name department.”
As for how she revealed her baby news to Braxton, Monica said she told him during a pre-planned trip to Disneyland.
“My best friend, Koa, helped me pull it all off,” she shared. “Koa had picked out the infant ears hat at the Mad Hatter and had ‘Aries Baby’ embroidered on them while I distracted Braxton with churros and getting my cotton candy. I told him while we were on Peter Pan, flying over NeverLand.”
While her pregnancy has been rough so far, keeping her “so sick” throughout, Monica noted that her new baby has been “such an eye opener” and caused a “complete mind shift.”
“It was difficult coming off such a tumultuous whirlwind with RHOSLC and all the love and hate I received from all of that,” she admitted. “Old friends turned on me, I was iced out by the cast, I lost my job, my relationship with my mother has never recovered, my world was crumbling. Then I had an unexpected pregnancy and miscarriage at 40.”
“The entire time I was going through all of that, the world chose to spit on me and continue to kick me while I was down,” she continued. “The accusations of me lying about a pregnancy and miscarriage that I received daily while dealing with such an unexpected loss was a pain that I will never forget. I was losing a baby while being shredded apart by some of the most awful comments I’ve ever had said to and about me.”
Because of her experience on RHOSLC, Monica, who is due in April, chose to keep her pregnancy a secret until now.
“Being able to protect my peace was so important to me this pregnancy,” she reasoned. “I’m grateful for those that have stood beside me, to the amazing fans, and loved ones I do have in my life, but that miscarriage was my lowest point with being in the public eye and I wasn’t going to put myself through that again, for the sake of the pregnancy and the baby.”
“God has been there for me every single step of the way. I have been so blessed and been silent about all of it. I just hope someone reads this and it resonates with them on some level. Reminds them that no matter what people do to you, say about you, or try to take from you, they can NEVER take what God has for you,” she added.
