Matteo Artemovich Chigvintsev and Buddy Dessert Danielson are about to make their Total Bellas debut.
On tonight's all-new episode, fans watched as the clock steadily ticked down to the Bella Twins' due dates, and after Brie Bella's came and went—three days later, to be exact—we heard those magic words: "Oh my god, my water just broke."
However, it was Nikki Bella, not Brie, who was going into labor! The soon-to-be mom and her fiancé Artem Chigvintsev weren't initially set to welcome their baby boy Matteo for another four days, but Nikki, sprawled out on an examination table at her doctor's office during what was supposed to be a check-up appointment, quickly realized that her son was well on his way.
The sisters were equally surprised, and Brie even wound up dropping the camera she had been using to tape Nikki's appointment. "I wish you kept filming, Brie!" Nikki yelled, though any anger she was feeling was quickly replaced with pure excitement. "I can't believe this. He's coming today! Brie, I'm nervous."
"The fact that my water just broke is, one, amazing because I know the baby's coming," Nikki explained in a confessional. "But I would joke about going into labor before Brie, but I honestly never thought that would happen. She was dilated for weeks!"
At that point, Brie had started to show minor signs that she and Daniel Bryan (born Bryan Danielson) would soon be introduced to their son Buddy, but her water hadn't broken and she wasn't feeling contractions. "I think I have another stubborn baby on my hands," she joked, referencing the birth of her daughter Birdie, who was born 10 days late.
We didn't get to see much else about the births on this week's Total Bellas, but that only means that next week's is going to be one for the books. And in case you haven't put two and two together yet, allow us to remind you that Nikki was with her sister when her water broke, so it looks like she'll be giving birth in Phoenix after all!
As fans may recall, Nikki and Artem had initially (and reluctantly) planned to travel to Los Angeles following the news that their California health insurance wouldn't cover a birth in Arizona. However, all that changed at the beginning of tonight's episode when mom Kathy Colace's health took a turn for the worse.
"Her face became more paralyzed, she lost all taste, she's really dizzy...her eye can't shut at all," Brie told Nikki, who, at the time, was actually en route to L.A. with Artem. "They found a lesion the size of a blueberry on her brain stem. And they said she's gonna need surgery."
Upon hearing this, the couple quickly turned the car around. "Even though my maternity insurance won't cover us in Arizona, hearing about my mom that she's gonna have brain surgery, family is first," Nikki expressed in a confessional. "There's no question that I will stay in Phoenix for my family. That's a risk I'm willing to take."
Once she and Artem were back with Brie and Bryan, all they could do was wait for an update from Kathy's husband Johnny since he was the only one allowed to accompany her to the surgery because of coronavirus restrictions.
"I don't think I've ever thought about losing my mom because that's just something that does not seem possible in my life," an emotional Nikki shared. "I could never imagine losing her. Just the thought of that makes my stomach turn."
Thankfully, Bryan and Artem's antics helped ease the tension while the twins waited for news about their mom. "The girls are having a really tough day," Brie's husband explained, "so Artem and I decided to lighten the mood by getting 'empathy bellies' to show the girls that we're with you."
Donning weighted vests that simulated the physical strain of pregnancy, the pair managed to (hilariously!) distract Nikki and Brie for a while. Artem even gave Nikki's breast pump a test run!
Kathy's surgery wound up surpassing the six-hour mark, but before everyone could start to worry, Johnny called with good news: "[The doctor] said he got all the mass out and that he went through five or six different times and feels like he got everything out of her head. She's doing well and it's just gonna take some time to recover."
The twins were able to visit their mom when she returned home from the hospital, and as Nikki put it, "To see my mom laying in bed, like, the weight that's been lifted off me, it makes me so happy."