Pregnant Nikki Bella's Fiancé Artem Chigvintsev Cradles Her Bump as She Shows Off Bare Belly

Nikki Bella also teased "our baby's golden gender reveal ticket" on Instagram Thursday

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Published on January 31, 2020 01:30 PM

Nikki Bella is bumping along!

In a sweet Instagram post on Friday, the first-time mom-to-be, 36, shared a series of photos of herself with fiancé Artem Chigvintsev, where she sat on his lap and he had his hand placed on her belly.

Around the same time as the post (which she captioned, “Baby Daddy” with a red heart emoji), Nikki shared multiple video clips to her Instagram Story and showed off her bare baby bump in two mirror selfies. For the photo ops, she wore only black underwear and a matching bandeau-style bra top.

“Still have some abs, but my bump is gettin’ bigger,” she told the camera in video footage posted before the selfies, showing her bare belly from the side. “How cute. It’s like right here at the bottom. I love it.”

“My placenta is right at the top, right in the front, not in the back. But yeah, it’s so crazy to watch it grow,” Nikki continued. “And the scale, which I’m getting used to, I’m embracing it, I love it, because my baby’s in there.”

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Nikki Bella Pregnancy — Nikki Bella/Instagram

Earlier in the day, Nikki and Chigvintsev, 37, teased the big reveal of their baby on the way’s sex, with the dad-to-be holding up an envelope in a selfie on Nikki’s Instagram Story.

“Our baby’s golden gender reveal ticket!” the Total Bellas star wrote on top of the photo, tagging Chigvintsev.

Nikki and her twin sister Brie Bella revealed their pregnancy news exclusively to PEOPLE on Wednesday, further sharing that they’re due within just a week and a half of each other.

“[It was] a total surprise,” Nikki said of the news, while Brie said them getting pregnant around the same time wasn’t planned. “It took even me a good week to come to terms with like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant.’ I’m not ready for it.”

Brie and Nikki Bella — Nikki and Brie Bella. James White

RELATED VIDEO: Brie Bella Didn’t Talk to Nikki for a Week After Finding Out They Were Both Pregnant

And Brie’s initial reaction to her sister’s pregnancy news was less than thrilled. As she told PEOPLE, “I had to digest. Her and Artem had just gotten engaged. She was shocked by the engagement. She was shocked he proposed. I just think everything did feel fast for her.”

Brie didn’t talk to Nikki for a week after learning about the pregnancy (which she almost thought “was a joke” at first). “It was just too much and to think I was also pregnant and my hormones are going crazy,” said Brie, who’s also mom to 2½-year-old daughter Birdie Joe with husband Daniel Bryan. “I think that’s why that came out.”

Also on Wednesday, Nikki was photographed for the first time since her pregnancy announcement out and about in Los Angeles, on her way to pay a friend a visit.

For the outing, the mom-to-be wore a pair of high-waisted black leggings and black sports bra under a sheer mesh red tank top. Nikki wore her long dark hair down straight over her shoulders, and accessorized in large sunglasses and gray sneakers with pink laces. At one point, she placed her hand on her belly.