Ali Fedotowsky-Manno could give birth to her second child at any moment. When we spoke last week, right before Mother’s Day, she had just returned from a prenatal doctor’s appointment where the doctor told her the baby was “ready to come out.” But Fedotowsky-Manno needed him to stay put, at least until after her brother-in-law’s wedding.
“I’m like, ‘He can’t come this weekend! I’m a bridesmaid in a wedding!’ And the thing is, if I have to miss it, okay, I have to miss it,” the AliLuvs.com blogger told Brit + Co. “But it’s my husband’s brother. He’s the best man! He can’t miss it, but he also can’t miss the birth of our child. So it’s really hysterical right now. We’re doing everything we can — I’m taking small steps, I’m trying not to move around too much, because we don’t want this baby to come. But as soon as the wedding’s over, I’m going to start bouncing on a pregnancy ball and eating spicy food and doing all of the old wives’ tales.”
Whenever the baby does come, Fedotowsky-Manno will have her hands full, not just with two kids — she and husband Kevin Manno already have a daughter, Molly — but also with the new season of The Bachelorette, which the season 6 alum plans to watch and write about in her blog. Scroll down for her thoughts on season 14 star Becca Kufrin, how she’s preparing for baby number two, and the reality show she wants to do next.
Brit + Co: You’ve been busy! Are you ready for the baby?
Ali Fedotowsky-Manno: We are trying to get there! We just moved into a house three months ago, and we knew we wanted to redesign the whole house — get new furniture and all that stuff — but we also knew we had a baby coming. So we were going to start with the nursery, but I was like, ‘That’s not even the most important thing when you have a baby.’ I think the most important thing that you have to get when you have a baby is a washer and dryer, because you’re going to be doing so much laundry. So, we went ahead and did a bunch of research and ended up getting the Maytag front-load washer and dryer, because it has all of these incredible features that are so important for a new mom. Any new parent knows you do a thousand loads of laundry when you have a newborn. I’m going to be doing baby clothes, Molly’s clothes, Kevin’s clothes, my clothes, and whatever Owen, our dog, gets dirty, which is a lot of things these days. So that was the very first thing we bought when we moved into our new house.
And then after that, we did the nursery. The nursery was the first room that we finished in the house. And luckily, that’s totally done. But the thing is, when the baby comes home, the baby stays in our room for the first six months. So it’s like, okay, it’s done, but the baby’s not even going to go in there.
Kevin also installed a car seat in my car a couple of days ago, so now I have a toddler car seat and a newborn car seat, and there’s no other room in my car. Basically, one person can sit in the front with me and that’s it.
So life is about to change a lot, for sure. Mentally, do I feel ready? Yes and no. It’s so funny — at my prenatal appointment that Kevin and I were just at, I said to him, “When I was 37-and-a-half weeks pregnant with Molly, I remember going to the doctor and being like, ‘Oh, doctor, I’m in so much pain. Get this baby out.’ And now that I’m a mom and I’m so much tougher, I’m like, ‘Hey, doctor, I’m cool. He can stay in. We’re good!'” I’m so much stronger mentally and physically this time. It’s just funny how you handle it differently.
B+C: Molly is still so young. Does she have any idea what’s going on?
AFM: She kisses my belly goodnight every single night. Like, we’ll say, “Okay, give mommy a kiss,” and she’ll kiss me. “Give Owen a kiss,” and she kisses Owen. “Okay, give baby brother a kiss,” and she’ll kiss my belly. But I don’t think there’s any way possible that she could understand that he is coming out and is going to be a part of our lives forever. But she’s so loving and she’s so sweet. I just think she’s going to be the best big sister.
B+C: You’ll obviously have your hands full with the baby, but there’s a new season of The Bachelorette coming up. Do you plan to blog about it?
AFM: Oh, if I was in the hospital, going into labor when the season premiered, I would be blogging about it. Like, I’d be watching it and blogging in between contractions. That’s how dedicated I am to my Bachelorette blog. But yeah, I’m definitely going to be watching, I’m definitely going to be blogging. I love the show, and I love sharing little insider info with my followers about what really goes on behind the scenes. And I just think Becca’s so cool. I think, in general, when they cast for The Bachelorette, they try to pick girls that are down-to-earth, cool girls. And I love every girl that’s ever been the Bachelorette. But Becca is like a whole other level of down-to-earth. I’m really excited to watch her.
B+C: Same! Especially after all the drama with Arie last season.
AFM: You feel for her so much! We watched this guy totally break her heart. And like, every season we watch somebody break somebody’s heart. But it’s so different because they were engaged. They actually spent time together off camera.
I would say, when you get engaged to someone on the show, you don’t know them. You’ve only known them for 72 hours, pretty much, because that’s the amount of time you’ve spent with the person you get engaged to. It’s kind of insane when you really think about it. But she got to know him! They spent couple’s weekends behind the scenes. For him to say, “You know what, I’ve gotten to know you and I want the other girl,” that’s just heartbreaking. So I’m so happy she’s the Bachelorette so she can have her moment.
B+C: Becca has already filmed most, if not all, of her season, but what advice would you give her and any future Bachelorettes?
AFM: Look out for who you’re immediately attracted to and who you immediately like, and then ignore them. Know who you like right off the bat — because you will, she’ll know right away — but once she figures that out, she needs to put them on the back-burner, because they’re going to be there the following week, they’re going to be there two weeks later. Instead, [she should] really focus on the guys that maybe she didn’t have a huge initial attraction to but she’s intrigued by. Because I didn’t do that — my very first night, I was like, “I like that guy and I like that guy,” and I never even gave another guy a chance. And I really regret that. I feel like I could have gotten to know some of the guys so much better, and maybe I sent somebody home the first week or two that I shouldn’t have. So that would be my advice to her on night one. Figure out who you like and then ignore them for a couple of weeks.
B+C: If you could be on any other reality show, what would it be?
AFM: Ooh, man. Is Chopped a reality show? I’m so obsessed with Chopped. Kevin and I pretend when we’re cooking in the kitchen that we’re on Chopped. We’ll be like, “All right, guys, 3, 2, 1, hands up!” I love just grabbing random ingredients out of my kitchen cupboard and trying to make something. I would love to be on that show. That’s my next goal in life, to figure out how to get on Chopped.
(photos via David Livingston/Getty Images + Amanda Edwards/Getty Images + ABC/Craig Sjodin)
