EXCLUSIVE: Bachelor star Tara Pavlovic on finding out she was pregnant and her tough first trimester

Bachelor star, Tara Pavlovic found her love story when she married the love of her life Nick Shepherdson back in September.

And the adorable couple are already on track for their happy-ever-after since they shared the news that they’re expecting their first child together – a baby boy due in May 2021.

We first met Tara three years ago on Matty J’s season of The Bachelor, where she came third. Tara then went on to appear in Bachelor in Paradise, where her love interest Sam Cochrane famously proposed in the finale episode but the couple later split in August 2018.

What a difference a couple of years can make as the 30-year-old is now married to her long-term friend Nick Shepherdson, who she has known for over ten years, and has a baby on the way.

While 2020 has been a hard year for some, for many, including Tara and Nick, it has been one of the most exciting years of their lives.

“It’s been pretty tough but it has been a good year,” Tara tells Bounty Parents from her home on the Gold Coast.

“Planning a wedding was really hard and not having my family at the wedding was really hard because they’re all in New South Wales – and so are all my friends. My sisters are up here but apart them there was no one there for me, so that was really tough. There has been a lot of exciting things but I haven’t really been able to share it with those closest to me,” she says.

Tara will also be able to finally celebrate her baby news with her loved ones. Recalling the moment she found out she was pregnant, Tara explains she was unsure at first if she was actually expecting.

“My period was a bit late and I took a test and I got a really faint line,” she explains.

“I thought it was a dud test but I told Nick, ‘I think I might be pregnant as a faint line came up’ and we were a bit excited but thought we can’t get ahead of ourselves. A week later I tested again and got another faint line so I went to the doctor but there was no line on their test,” she explains.

“Then, I did a test every day and the line got darker and I knew that everything was tracking well and we started to get excited. It wasn’t one of those, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant moments!’ it was like, ‘Am I pregnant?’. It was so early that I wasn’t feeling any symptoms, well I had sore boobs, but not crazy sore.”

Like many women, Tara also struggled through the first trimester with feelings of nausea.

“It’s awful and it’s really hard. I don’t know how people think it’s fun. I wasn’t sick-sick but I was feeling nauseous 24 hours a day,” she says.

“There wasn’t a time where I wasn’t feeling nauseous. I was so tired and I went off food and I didn’t really know what I wanted to eat because everything was just gross to me.

“Now, in the second trimester, I’m feeling so much better and I’m not nauseous. I’m still tired but I can eat normal things again, like I went completely off meat, and now I’m starting to eat meat again. I’m loving fresh fruit and veggies. I feel my diet is better now than it was before.”

Growing a small human is physically tough and it can be a strain on your body and Tara wholeheartedly agrees saying some days even walking is hard.

“I’m definitely experiencing some back aches and sore joints. I lifted something heavy the other day and I damaged my chest area and it was hurting to breathe,” she says.

“When I go for walks, my hip goes out and I have to limp for a few days after. So, I’m just trying to stretch, and I’m trying to get Nick to massage me when he can as it does help. I can’t actually do too much as even walking is hard at the moment. My body doesn’t enjoy this.”

When it comes to self-care and looking after herself, Tara is making sure she’s looking after her skin.

“In the first trimester I had a lot of breakouts but my skin has been a lot better. I’ve been massaging oil on my little bump and all over my body because I feel everywhere is stretching at the moment,” she says.

Tara explains that she and husband Nick were always going to find out if they were having a boy or a girl.

“Yeah, we’re not people who like to wait and there was no chance I wasn’t going to find out I don’t know how people do that but good on them. It’s the ultimate surprise but I just needed to know,” she says.

“I’m happy either way, as long as I have a healthy baby but I’m such a girl and so it scares me a little bit as I think I would be a better mum to a girl because I know more stuff,” she admits.

“When I got pregnant and my friend was like, ‘You’ve just got to put whatever you want out there into the world and you’ll, you’ll get it. So I was like, ‘I’m having a girl’. And we did a little gender reveal and we cut the cake and it was blue. Deep down I knew it was a boy and Nick was always like, ‘It’s a boy’.”

Come delivery day, Tara does have a birth plan in mind but she’s also happy to go with the flow.

“I just want what’s best for the baby and I but I’m planning to have a natural birth with an epidural because I don’t want to feel that pain and I’ll enjoy the experience a lot more,” she says.

“That’s my plan but if I need to have a caesarean I’m fine with it. Whatever happens, you know, whatever is meant to be will be.

With border restrictions easing, the soon-to-be parents are planning to be reunited with some of their friends and family for the festive season.

“We’re going to spend Christmas with my dad and my grandma in Sydney and we will catch up with all my friends who live there too. I’m so excited. I nearly cried, hearing the news (that borders were open) as it’s such a relief that I can finally see my family and friends again.”

For all of their family who they’ve been missing, Nick and Tara have created a special personalised gift.

“I’ve teamed up with Vistaprint to create some personalised Christmas cards with our little family of soon-to-be three,” explains the reality TV star.

“I thought it was a really great idea because I have been so far away and disconnected from my family and friends, this is a way I could manage to get in their house and spend Christmas with them without actually being there. Nick and I took some cute little photos and Vistaprint turn them into these amazing Christmas cards which I’m just obsessed with. I’m so excited to send them out to our family and friends. It’s a nice way to reconnect after not being able to see each other for so long.”