Pregnant Francesca Farago Reveals How Snapchat Saved Her Babies' Lives
Fifteen weeks into her pregnancy, reality TV alum Francesca Farago is learning it really does take a village to raise a child. Or children, in the case of her and fiancé Jesse Sullivan's twins.
Her rapidly expanding tribe, of course, includes her ultra-supportive husband-to-be, his 15-year-old child Arlo, the team at the fertility clinic that oversaw their IVF process and the roughly six OB-GYNs they've consulted since.
Plus one particularly astute Internet diagnostician.
While the Too Hot to Handle alum's Instagram and TikTok DMs have been filled with the usual variety of trolls, "there's something wrong with my uterus and my cervix, and I would not have learned that if it wasn't for Snapchat," she revealed in an exclusive interview with E! News. "Someone messaged me and said, 'Hey, I lost my twins at 21 weeks. You should go get your cervix checked.'"
The advice admittedly sent Francesca into a bit of a spiral.
"It opened up a whole world of anxiety and stress and doctor's appointments and specialists," the TikToker said, sharing that she discovered she did, in fact, have a short cervix. "But it also opened up, potentially, me being able to save the babies in the future, me avoiding a miscarriage."
So put that in social media's plus column.
Now that she's in her second trimester, Francesca plans to get a cervical cerclage—temporary stitches that can help the cervix hold a pregnancy in the uterus. Though that hasn't fully assuaged the 30-year-old's pregnancy-related nerves.
"I hear every day, honestly, horror stories from other mothers of things that went wrong and it does put a lot of fear in me," she explained. "And I'm already a fearful person in regards to the pregnancy, because of how hard it was to get to this point."
So she's grown to accept that worrying about your kids is part of what to expect when you're expecting.
"I am so nervous of something going wrong," Francesca admitted. "I thought getting out of the first trimester, I would feel like, 'OK, we're in the no-danger zone.' But I'm not out of the danger zone until the babies are in my arms, and even then I have to keep them alive. So I feel like you're not out of the danger zone until they're, like, 18. But even then, you're still worried. So for the rest of your life, you're worried forever."
Good thing babies are so cute.
"Buying baby clothes is how I wake up in the morning," Francesca shared of leaning into the fun side of prep. "Literally, Jesse rolls over, and I have my phone out, and I'm like, 'But look at this teddy bear onesie, look at this little knit jumper.' I am obsessed with baby clothes."
Even more so with the idea of little Peaches and Garfinkle—the pet names she and Jesse have adopted for their future offspring—actually wearing the teeny tiny duds.
"When I see them in my hands, I can't believe we're going to have an actual child in this onesie in the fall," said Francesca. "It makes me so happy."
Though, to be clear: Peaches and Garfinkle are not the monikers she and Jesse, 34, landed on after rejecting the likes of Heart, Lovely, Afternoon and Baby. While she revealed they "pretty much" locked in their winners, going back to the same picks they've been bandying about for the past two years, "I'm just scared to use their name names as of right now."
While the duo's still-under-construction home is bursting with onesies, Mom's wardrobe is still a work in progress.
"I've been living in the same four outfits," Francesca admitted, "because either my clothes don't fit or it's so uncomfortable. And I think you're already so uncomfortable, just being alive, that you really need your clothes to be comfortable. So maybe I'll launch some maternity bodysuits or sweatpants and stuff like that in the future, because I will be having more babies."
A maternity line for her sustainable, ecologically-sensitive swimwear brand Farago the Label is also in the works. But it means finding another manufacturer as her current "small, vegan, cruelty-free, ethical" partner requires about a year to launch new designs. "The babies will be, like, one by the time the bikinis are launched," lamented Francesca. Though, for now, she's just relying on the adjustable nature of her go-to suits.
And she knows a willingness to be flexible is a requirement for her new gig as a mom of three.
Eager to add to her and Jesse's brood, she said she's most excited about "just holding them. Literally touching their bodies and looking at their little feet and little hands and seeing what eye color they have and if their hair is curly or straight. It's mind-blowing to me."
Two years into her romance with Jesse, "It feels crazy that this is actually happening, because I talked about it and I thought about it for so long," Francesca marveled. "So the fact that there's going to be two children in front of me, it's crazy."
It will be another sweet milestone for the pair who have already enjoyed quite the courtship. Keep reading to relive their passionate romance.
Though Francesca Farago tried her luck with love on a few reality dating shows, including Too Hot to Handle, she met her perfect match in Jesse Sullivan while hosting an event online.
“TikTok hired me to host an event for Pride Month,” Francesca told Elite Daily in 2023. “It was over Zoom. It was a TikTok live event with Willow Smith and the app’s LGBTQ+ Trailblazers. I interviewed three people and Jesse was one of them. We met on Zoom and just fell in love very quickly.”
And though her time on season one of Netflix’s Perfect Match (which aired in 2023) didn’t work out, Francesca knew that fate had bigger plans in store.
In fact, as the reality star shared in a TikTok, “Literally the minute I left that villa, I texted Jesse, and I was like, 'Hey, are you still single? I'm traumatized and do you want to hang out?'"
And the rest is history. Since then, the pair have shared insight into their romance on social media. “We’re just so in love, and I feel that’s obvious with what we post,” she told Elite Daily. “Some couples share a filtered version of the happy times, but they don’t post anything negative. We actually don’t have any negative times. It’s all positive.”
Two years after they first met, Francesca and Jesse were ecstatic to start a brand new chapter together.
“WE’RE ENGAGED,” Francesca shared in a May 2023 Instagram post, “a glimpse into the most magical night ever, obsessed with our family… what is life!!” Fast forward to early 2024, and the couple made it clear that they were keen on starting a family, even before their nuptials.
"We want a huge wedding, but I think it would be so cute if we had a little baby in our arms or two babies in our arms at the wedding," Francesca exclusively told Live From E! host Laverne Cox at the People’s Choice Awards that February. "So, hopefully we can have a baby first and then do the wedding after."
And as predicted, Francesca and Jesse—who is dad to teenager Arlo from a previous relationship—announced they were expanding their family.
"We wanted to take this special day to celebrate this amazing milestone with all of you," Francesca wrote on Instagram March 31. "We've brought you with us through the loss, so we couldn't wait to bring you along for the win. I am still pretty newly pregnant, and there's so much more to come, but we are so excited to be growing our family with Arlo as the coolest older sibling! AHH IM PREGNANT!"
As for Jesse, he was more than excited to share the news. "We're pregnant!" the influencer, who came out as transgender in 2019, captioned a clip. "Its been such a struggle to get here, but we felt like TDOV was the perfect day to let you all in on our celebration. Im so proud of @Francesca Farago for fighting her way to get here, and I fall more in love with her every day. Thank you for following our journey, and heres to more trans joy!"
A week after the pair confirmed Francesca is pregnant, Jesse shared they'll be adding not one but two more members to their family.
"We're having twins," Jesse wrote under his April 7 TikTok. "We know it's early but we're preparing for the best."
