Pregnant Olympic Gymnast MyKayla Skinner Poses for Maternity Photos: 'Can't Wait' (Exclusive)
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MyKayla Skinner and Jonas Harmer tied the knot in 2019 and announced their exciting baby news in March 2023
Beka Price Photography
MyKayla Skinner is celebrating a pregnancy that hasn't always been easy.
Sharing her maternity photos with PEOPLE exclusively, the mom-to-be opens up about the opportunity to "capture the beauty in the journey and appreciate the hard work and sacrifice that it has taken" to welcome her first baby into the world.
"We are so excited to finally have this little girl as a part of our family," the mom-to-be tells PEOPLE.
"Pregnancy has been super rough, which I was not prepared for! Sometimes I feel like pregnancy is harder than being an Olympian," Skinner says, noting she's developed "so much respect for all the moms and soon-to-be moms out there."
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Beka Price Photography
Related: Who's Due Next? Celebs Who Are Expecting
"Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a mom. Obviously, that was never an option as a competitive gymnast, so as soon as I retired after the Tokyo Olympics, I wanted to start having babies!" she shares. "My husband Jonas wasn’t quite as ready for kids, so we waited a year after my retirement before we started trying."
The journey to welcoming their first baby was "a lot harder and more stressful than anyone had told me," Skinner admits.
"We spent six months tracking my ovulations and trying to time everything right and then around Christmas of last year, we came to terms with the fact that for some people, it takes longer to get pregnant. We realized we might just have to wait a while for our baby to arrive, so I stopped tracking everything so religiously and stressing so much, only for my period to be late at the end of January."
After confirming the news with a pregnancy test, the Olympian surprised her husband with a shoebox containing the positive tests.
Beka Price Photography
"It's one of my favorite memories to this day," she shares.
Skinner's early pregnancy was difficult as she "got horribly sick and spent the next two months throwing up every day."
"I lost 11 lbs. and had to go to the ER a few times to get an IV and nausea medicine in a shot. Nothing tasted good and I had no energy to do anything besides sleep," she recalls. "We tried to keep the pregnancy a secret as long as we could, but our podcast listeners could tell something was up and most of my fans were not surprised when we finally announced!"
While the second trimester was "a lot better," she's been struggling again in the home stretch.
"I’ve popped and am uncomfortable all the time having such a big belly. Sleeping is really hard, even with a pregnancy pillow. The baby seems to always be pushing on my bladder which makes things like going to the movies annoying because I have to pee every 20 minutes," she admits.
"The one positive about having popped is we were able to take the coolest maternity photos ever," she says of the photos shared exclusively with PEOPLE. "Our photographer Beka Price did magic with her camera, capturing my 'pregnancy glow' and making me look a lot better than I feel. I connected with Beka around 24 weeks and we met together at her studio to start planning the sessions. The maternity session happened around 28-29 weeks which was perfect timing."
The pair are preparing for the arrival of their baby girl by spending time with family and friends.
"Our nursery has been so much fun to put together and I was blessed to have a baby shower in each of my homes, Arizona and Utah," she shares.
Joking about the size different between the 5'0" athlete and her 6'7" husband, Skinner admits "I might have to give birth to a big baby! But we couldn't be more excited."
After baby arrives, Skinner plans to get back to her sports broadcasting dreams, after taking some time to enjoy mom life.
"Right now, I’m just focused on being the best mom I can be when baby comes! Even with my pregnancy I’ve still been coaching at gymnastics camps and going to clinics and doing a little bit of public speaking here and there," she notes.
"I’m currently working on a book that tells the story of my gymnastics career and how I got my silver medal. We’re hoping to have that published by summer of 2024, followed by a children’s version. I can’t wait to read it and tell my story to our little one!"
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Read the original article on People.
