Earlier this year, Nicole Phelps was about to begin treatment for headache pain.
“When I told (my doctor) my period was two days late, she was like, ‘Take a pregnancy test just in case, because we can’t start treatment if you’re pregnant,’” Nicole tells TODAY.com. “I remember thinking, ‘There’s no way.’”
Nicole lets out a little laugh.
“And now here we are,” she says.
In Feb. 2024, the former Miss California and her husband, swimming legend Michael Phelps, will be welcoming their fourth child — and it’s a boy. The baby will join brothers Boomer, 7, Beckett, 5, and Maverick, 4.
Nicole announced her pregnancy on Oct. 30.
“I would have loved to have a daughter for Michael so he could have that father-daughter bond that I experienced growing up,” Nicole says. “But I strongly believe you’re given what you’re supposed to have, and I’m really excited to have another boy.
“Sometimes it’s difficult when people say, ‘Oh, you need that girl,’” she continues. “I’m like, ‘No, I really don’t.’”
Nicole says it took her “some time to process” this pregnancy.
“After I took the test, I came out of the bathroom and Michael asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, I looked like I had seen a ghost,” Nicole recalls. “He was ecstatic. Michael has been excited from the start.”
It wasn’t that Nicole wasn’t happy.
“Listen, I’m a mom and I know how much work that it takes,” she explains. “I personally believe in pretty much sacrificing two years of my life to this new baby. But we are so excited. I don’t even want to call him a surprise because he is wanted. He’s the bonus we didn’t know we needed.”
Nicole and Michael, 38, haven’t decided on a name — their kids are keen on Drifter.
“They love the name Drifter. The running joke is that the baby’s name is going to be Drifter,” she says.
Though Nicole had a rough first trimester — “I was very, very sick” — she’s now “feeling great” minus some pelvic pain.
“The sweetest thing is how genuinely excited the boys are to meet their brother,” she says. “Having four boys will be crazy but wonderful.”
