Dancing with the Stars pro Jenna Johnson has revealed that her road to pregnancy wasn’t a smooth one and she actually tried to conceive a baby with husband Val Chmerkovskiy for two years.
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Jenna, 28, took to Instagram on Tuesday and posted a sweet video of the moment she took an at-home pregnancy test and received a positive result, discovering that she’s pregnant.
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“The moment my whole world changed. We had actually stopped trying to conceive for about 6 months to mentally/emotionally give ourselves a break… so the shock, disbelief, and sheer joy in this moment is a memory I will never forget,” Jenna captioned the video, which showed her celebrating and crying tears of joy.
In the video, Jenna apparently took four at-home pregnancy tests to confirm the news. She also shared footage of her first ultrasound.
“I want to keep this moment very positive because there is so much to celebrate and my heart is overflowing with gratitude, BUT our journey getting to this point wasn’t an easy one,” Jenna revealed.
“I remember watching people share these videos and aching because I wished so badly I could experience that joy. After two years of infertility, and hundreds of negative tests after negative tests, it was heart wrenching at times to stay optimistic and made me question whether I would ever have this opportunity.”
Jenna told fans that she will “go into more depth” about her fertility journey with Val a little later on.
“But if any of you out there are struggling to get pregnant, suffering from infertility, or mourning a pregnancy loss… don’t lose HOPE,” Jenna insisted.
“It may not happen on your timeline and the journey may rip your heart open at times, but don’t give up on yourself and your precious baby! It will happen.”
Jenna uploaded this video just days after she and Val announced they are expecting their first child together.
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Jenna is heading into her second trimester, and the baby is due to arrive in January 2023.
“Everybody tells you, ‘When you just relax and you don’t put the stress on yourself, it happens for you.’ That’s exactly what happened,” Jenna explained to her followers last week.
Jenna said her pregnancy and the timing of it was exactly “meant to be.”
“Our little baby was created with a lot of love. It all seems so magical,” Jenna gushed.
Jenna admitted the beginning of her pregnancy was “a scary time” and there are “so many things that can go wrong” but she’s trying to remain positive.
“I just have taken this time to really relax and try to stay calm and keep my body healthy — which has been hard, because I’m a really active person. I love to work out. I love to dance… I think I’m just giving my body the necessary rest,” Jenna said.
Jenna also gushed about how Val is loving her pregnant body and makes her feel “so beautiful.”
“If he is anything like he is as a husband, he’s going to be the best dad in the world,” Jenna boasted. “He is so selfless and loving. Between the two of us, is by far the more patient one. So I think, all of these little attributes are going to just make him an incredible dad.'”
Jenna’s disclosure of her two-year battle with infertility follows a June interview in which she had been critical of fans asking her when she was going to have a baby or why she wasn’t expanding her family.
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“I think it’s a really insensitive question, actually, because… you never know what somebody is going through,” the dancer and choreographer told Us Weekly a few weeks before announcing her pregnancy.
“And the amount of DMs and comments — you know, ‘babies on the brain’ and ‘when are you going to have a baby?’ — it adds pressure but also it’s nobody’s business,” she complained.
Jenna said although she is in the public eye, people have “no idea what [she’s] gone through.”
“[People don’t know] what we want in the future,” Jenna explained, speaking on behalf of Val as well.
Meanwhile, Jenna’s sister-in-law Peta Murgatroyd, who is married to Val’s brother and Dancing with the Stars alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy, has been trying to conceive Baby No. 2.
Peta, who has served as a professional partner on Dancing with the Stars on and off since 2011, recently broke the news to People that she had three miscarriages in two years while trying to give her five-year-old son Shai a sibling.
Jenna and Val began dating in 2015 and the Ukrainian native proposed marriage in Venice, Italy, in 2018.
Val and Jenna tied the knot on April 13, 2019 in a romantic ceremony overlooking the ocean at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palo Verdes, CA.
“Mr. & Mrs. Chmerkovskiy 04~13~2019,” Jenna captioned a wedding photo that she shared on Instagram.
RELATED LINK: ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS’ PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO’S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)
Prior to joining Dancing with the Stars as a Troupe member and then being promoted to a pro partner for Season 23, Jenna competed as a contestant and All-Star partner on separate seasons of So You Think You Can Dance.
Jenna won Dancing with the Stars’ 26th season with Adam Rippon and placed second on the show twice before with Nev Schulman and JoJo Siwa on Seasons 29 and 30, respectively.
Jenna said Val hopes to return to Dancing with the Stars on Disney+ this Fall but she plans to continue to focus on her health and the well-being of her baby.
About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.