Party of four! Peta Murgatroyd is expecting her and husband Maksim Chmerkovskiy ’s second child following multiple miscarriages.
“It brings me immense joy to finally announce that @maksimc and I are expecting our Chmerkovskiy #2 ,” Murgatroyd, 36, wrote via Instagram on Friday, January 13, showing off her baby bump. “After 2 years of constant struggle and heartache, 3 miscarriages and a failed embryo transfer … we have a healthy bun in the oven.”
The New Zealand native revealed that it was a “shock” to her and her husband, 42, that she got pregnant “right before” she planned to start her second round of IVF.
“I want to thank ALL OF YOU who’ve been on this fertility journey with me from the beginning. It feels like I’m sharing this news with my extended family,” she continued. “This news has brought extraordinary bliss to our family and we have so much to be grateful for … coming June 2023.”
The Dancing With the Stars pros, who tied the knot in 2017, are already parents to son Shai, who turned 6 years old earlier this month.
Murgatroyd’s happy news comes six months after she first spoke out about her pregnancy losses in June 2022. One month later, she exclusively told Us Weekly how she and her family have coped in the aftermath of the sad news.
“It’s traumatizing, and [Maks] is the one that’s closest to me,” she said in July 2022. “It did bring us closer together. When you go through something like that, it’s just an ultimate bonding session. … When you come to those crossroads and those big decisions, making them together and moving forward together as a family unit is so important, and I feel like we did that.”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd Matt Baron/Shutterstock
The professional dancer also detailed her journey with IVF.
“I’m very hopeful,” she told Us at the time. “I really want a girl … and [Maks is] very much just wanting that bond with one baby [as opposed to twins]. I think we’re both nervous about trying to balance two, with how to kind of share the love and be there for each baby.”
The couple have come a long way since Murgatroyd told Us of her initial reaction to her romance with the Ukraine native. The two met on Broadway in 2009 and connected romantically on DWTS in 2012.
“I never thought that we were going to be together,” she divulged in February 2019, adding that dating Chmerkovskiy “wasn’t even a thought that crossed my mind.”
Despite Murgatroyd’s preliminary uncertainty, the pair’s relationship flourished — and Chmerkovskiy popped the question on the dance competition series in December 2015. Just over one year later, the two welcomed son Shai on January 14, 2017 a rep for the couple confirmed to Us at the time. The dancers tied the knot later that year.
The pair previously spoke to Us about their desire to have more children. In February 2018, one year after Shai’s birth, Chmerkovskiy revealed that he “can’t wait for more” kids. For her part, Murgatroyd joked, “He would have a baby a year if he could! That means I would be constantly fat. I think three is a good number.”