One week postpartum, Nicole Franzel is reflecting on her “better” than expected C-section.
“I didn’t have to go through the labor part at all!” the Big Brother alum, 29, exclusively tells Us Weekly on Friday, July 30. “The whole surgery only took 20 minutes, and I was immediately given my baby to do skin-to-skin and breast-feed.”
The Michigan native explained that her husband, Victor Arroyo, “showed up” when the incision was made, gushing, “He definitely calmed me down, rooted me on and cried when he saw our baby. It was magical.”
While the new mom assumed that her surgery would be “long and painful,” she tells Us, “It was surprisingly short, and I couldn’t feel a thing. The spinal really relaxed me, I thought it was just going to numb me and I’d still be freaking out, but it was all a very calm birth. A very relaxing atmosphere, which I wasn’t expecting.”
Arroyo, 30, announced their baby boy’s birth via Instagram on July 23. “[Victor ‘Arrow’] and Nicole are both healthy and doing great,” the new dad wrote. “They are currently cuddling and he latched immediately!!”
Franzel is “still a little sore” but “recovering well,” she tells Us. “I have been feeling a little bit better every day. It’s amazing how our bodies can recover so quickly! Definitely took a week for me to feel like walking around though. The first couple days, I didn’t want to move much at all.”
The Louisiana native has been a huge help, she adds, noting that Arroyo “changes a lot of diapers and already took a newborn sleeping schedule to get [them] on schedule.”
The former CBS personalities wed in March in Florida, three months after their pregnancy announcement. They revealed their baby boy’s name ahead of his arrival.
“Victor wants to continue his family tradition since he is Victor Arroyo III,” Franzel explained to Us in June. “The nickname is something everyone can call him by so he’s not ‘little Vic [or] baby Vic’ his whole life. I’m hoping Arrow sticks like Coco stuck for me! All my closest people in my life call me Coco and I love it. … We also know no one by that name which is another plus.”
The pair previously considered other nicknames but found them too “simple.” Franzel told Us, “Victor liked Cuatro and I liked Four.”
With reporting by Sharon Tharp
