Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's wedding night was one of the most dramatic ever for Jesse Palmer.
And for the right reasons, too. As the host watched the Golden Bachelor couple tie the knot in a rosy ceremony, he was tied up in knots over when his wife Emely Fardo was going to give birth to their baby girl Ella Reine.
"It was coming at any moment," Jesse—who rushed straight home after the nuptials to be by the model's side—recalled to E! News in an exclusive interview. "I literally sprinted off set right to the airport, got on a plane and was home. And it was not long after that Ella came. Thank God I made it."
During the Jan. 4 event, the 45-year-old explained to viewers his family may need to steal him for more than just a sec.
"I've never checked my phone more in my life," Jesse admitted. "There was a plane on standby. If I had to leave mid-show, I was gone. Someone else was gonna fill in. I just kept thinking, 'There's no way I can miss Ella's birth.'"
And because he wasn't sure if he would even attend the wedding, he felt, understandably, underprepared for his emceeing journey.
"I had so much going on in my head," he shared. "I didn't get there until literally hours before. We did a very quick, very rough rehearsal. And we literally were flying by the seat of our pants throughout it."
The New York Giants alum is just happy he didn't fumble.
"The whole point of that night was to make it feel live and like it could go off the rails at any moment—and it almost did," he said. "That was literally like a first pass, and it actually turned out OK. That's a night I'll never forget. But that was insane."
While Jesse certainly had quite the journey, he's in paradise now that Ella Reine—whose middle name means queen in French—has arrived.
"It has been magical," Jesse, who announced her birth Jan. 10, told E!. "Every single moment with Ella and with Emely have been so precious and amazing. I don't know where the four weeks have gone."
Even the monotonous tasks—feedings, changing diapers, burping—have a rose-colored tint.
"I feel so accomplished when I do that," he explained. "Certainly as a father who doesn't have any sisters or any nieces, there's a lot of question marks. But when you're in those moments, it's the most rewarding experience. Like changing her diaper? I feel like I just threw a 25-yard touchdown pass."
Swaddling, on the other hand, has proven more difficult. But he had some practice in between breaks filming Joey Graziadei's season of The Bachelor.
Which one day, Ella may be watching—or, competing on?!
"I'll have to be hosting the show though, of course, to really keep dad's eye view on everything," he said, noting he also has no shame about his 2004 season of The Bachelor. "I'd love to show her my season. I don't know if by the time she's old enough to see it if VHS will still be played."
Thankfully, his current play—a partnership with Avocados From Mexico ahead of the 2024 Super Bowl—is an easy way for everyone to win.
"They make the big game day party so much better," he said. "So I'm teaming up with Avocados From Mexico to help everybody build a better bowl and build a better watch party."
Until that dramatic journey kicks off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, read on for the Bachelor Nation couples who've said cheers to their babies.
Nick Viall & Natalie Joy
The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor alum received his best rose yet when his fianceé gave birth to their daughter River Rose Viall Feb. 2.
Sharing a series of sweet images of their baby girl, the couple wrote, "The best part of life starts now."
Amanda Stanton & Michael Fogel
The Bachelor season 20 alum, who won season three of Bachelor in Paradise and also competed on the following season of the spinoff in 2017, welcomed her first baby, Rosie, with her husband Jan. 24, 2024. This is her third daughter, as she is also a mom to Kinsley and Charlie from a previous marriage.
Astrid Loch & Kevin Wendt
The Bachelor in Paradise alums welcomed son Nash Lochland Wendt just before Thanksgiving in Canada. The little one joins brother August.
"Happy Thanksgiving from our now family of 4," Kevin wrote on Instagram Oct. 8. "Everyone meet our son Nash Lochland Wendt 10.7.23. Astrid and baby boy are doing great and ready to come home today. Our new favourite moment in life was watching August meet Nash, smiling the whole time and kissing his new baby brother."
Becca Kufrin & Thomas Jacobs
The Bachelor in Paradise couple found paradise in parenthood when they welcomed son Benson Lee Jacobs Kufrin on Sept. 21, 2023.
Tia Booth & Taylor Mock
Nearly eight months after getting engaged at The Bachelor Live On Stage show, the couple welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Tatum Booth Mock, on Dec. 6, 2022 at 6:13 a.m.
Vanessa Grimaldi & Joshua Wolfe
What a gift! The former Bachelor contestant gave birth to son Winston on her 35th birthday on Sept. 29, 2022.
We're not calling it the most dramatic birth story ever, but "in a wild turn of events," shared the finalist from Nick Viall's season, after 90 minutes of pushing, she and her husband of nine months welcomed their honeymoon baby in an emergency C-section Jan. 18, 2022. "What was life before him???" the Arkansas native pondered of 8-pound, 6-ounce Gates Zev Gottschalk. "I can't recall."
But she is certain she and her Bachelor in Paradise love match aren't done building their family. "We'd like two or three," she told Us Weekly. "But Adam has said, you know, we'll see how I do with two and then go from there."
Ashley Iaconetti & Jared Haibon
The Bachelor in Paradise fan-favorites welcomed son Dawson—named after Leonardo DiCaprio's Titanic character—in January 2022.
Courtney Robertson & Humberto Preciado
Is this winning? Seventeen months after the Bachelor season 16 victor gave birth to her first child, son Joaquin, in June 2020, she and her husband set an extra seat at their Thanksgiving table for the early arrival of daughter Paloma.
A "small, but mighty" 4 pounds, 15 ounces, their newest addition "is the sweetest girl in the whole-wide-world," she raved on Instagram at the time. "Her smile lights up our days & warms my little mama heart."
Consider Nov. 20, 2021 arrival August the couple's final rose at the end of a long journey. Referencing their cycles of intrauterine insemination and IVF—one of which resulted in an ectopic pregnancy—the Canadian-bred firefighter raved of his bride-to-be, "She is my absolute hero for everything she went through the last 2 days in the hospital, and the last 2 years doing everything it took to get this perfect munchkin."
Their plans for a family actually dated back to some early conversations on 2018's Bachelor in Paradise, she shared on Instagram, and yet "even in my wildest dreams I couldn't have imagined how amazing this would all feel."
Arie Luyendyk Jr. & Lauren Burnham
Having raced into the world of parenting—welcoming daughter Alessi four months after their January 2019 vows and her little brother and sister in June 2021—the retired driver is ready to pump the brakes.
"I think we're so happy because we have our boy, we have the two girls," the season 22 lead said in 2022 of twins Senna and Lux completing their family. "And I'm already 40, guys. I can't be having kids any later than this in life. I want to be like an active dad. So, I think three is OK."
Lauren Bushnell & Chris Lane
"Big, Big Plans", they said? On June 8, 2021, Bachelor season 20 final rose recipient and her country singer husband invited all nine pounds of Dutton Walker Lane onto the ranch.
The couple had another run around the rodeo on Oct. 16, 2022, when they welcomed son Baker Weston Lane.
Years after failing to collect a rose in week six of Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s Bachelor season, the health coach grew her own little flower, giving birth to daughter Andara Rose Bowles Mar. 31, 2021 less than a year into her new romance with the San Diego-based entrepreneur.
Though she admitted on pal Scheana Shay's podcast it was "scary" to learn she was pregnant "so soon in a relationship" and while still wed to Bachelor in Paradise love match Chris Randone, she "just knew this was an incredible lesson for me to grow, to lean into love, to have faith in myself and Miles and my future and know that God gives us only what we can handle."
The cutest little stowaway you ever did see. On Feb. 12, 2021, The Road Les Traveled creator and her fiancé invited daughter Nora Blanche Kavanagh along for the ride and she's already proven herself to be a natural adventurer.
"Someone told me not too long ago that traveling with a baby isn't a vacation," The Bachelor and The Bachelor Winter Games alum admitted. "It's a trip. A change of scenery. A relocation of parenting. I feel this in my bones." And yet following jaunts to Hawaii, Miami, New York and Kavanagh's native Australia, "I wouldn't trade a thing if it means I get to show this girl the world."
Three's a crowd? Hardly. Since youngest Reed joined the mix in November 2020, the Bachelor in Paradise OG sweethearts have strongly considered rounding out their family with a fourth.
Tolbert told People he's "10 percent open to the idea," but his bride's baby fever burns much stronger.
Agreed the mom of Emmy and Brooks, "Four would be a great number. They'd have the buddy system! There's just something special about the mother-child bond and I just love it."