Joanna Gaines is due to give birth to her fifth child with husband Chip this summer, but the Fixer Upper star and Magnolia Table cookbook author says her pregnancy came as a total surprise.
“I had been feeling a little emotional and crazy and thought, ‘Wow, this isn’t me,’ ” she says in the latest issue of PEOPLE. “Then all of a sudden I realized, ‘Hey, I remember this.’ When I saw the results of the test, my jaw dropped. Chip was in the driveway about to leave when I called him back and said, ‘We’re pregnant!’ He was so excited. We’re both just so excited.”
The happy news, which came on the heels of the couple’s announcement that they were leaving their HGTV show to focus on their business and family, was perfect timing.
“We had a lot on our plates, and at some point you have to call those shots when you feel like you need a break,” Joanna says of ending the show.
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Still, she admits a new baby was not part of that particular equation.
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“When we were done, we had no plan like, ‘Let’s have baby No. 5,’ ” Joanna says. “It was a total surprise. But when we found out, it solidified that it was the right decision to leave when we did.”
Already mom to sons Duke, 9, and Drake, 13, plus daughters Emmie, 8, and Ella, 11, Joanna says the couple’s children can’t wait to meet their new sibling.
“Every single time they see my belly they have to rub it,” she says. “I think it’s sweet because they’re older now, and I can see them wanting to be a part of this. We’re all rallying around this baby, which I feel is a sweet gift to our family.”
For more on Chip and Joanna Gaines’ baby joy and her new cookbook, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.