Shay Mitchell is pregnant with her second child.
But this blessed piece of news only tells half the story.
The former You and Pretty Little Liars actress revealed on Monday that she’s expecting her second baby with longtime partner Matte Babel, doing so while also touching on the recent death of her grandmother.
"Saying goodbye to a loved one while simultaneously experiencing the joy of welcoming another into this world is the great cycle of life," Mitchell wrote as a caption to the following snapshot of her baby bump, adding:
"It is also my most challenging season to date."
Back on January 30, Mitchell told her followers that her "gram" had passed away, writing in sad detail:
She was and will forever be my best friend.
From the imaginary games she would play with me when I was little to picking me up from high school because I was being bullied, to keeping scrapbooks of every article and magazine cover I have ever been in, she was my # 1 cheerleader.
Mitchell added late last month, in complete candor: "My heart is broken."
Babel and Mitchell are already parents to two-year-old daughter Atlas Noa.
Continued Shay on Monday:
"I can’t help but think this was the universe’s plan all along, knowing I would need other worldly joy to cushion the blow of losing one of the most important people in my life."
Continuing to take the long view, Mitchell wrote:
"Yet, this is proof that love, life and loss can profoundly exist all at the same time.
"Gram, I miss you every day. Little one, we are so excited to meet you.
"I breathe a sigh of peace knowing you two are already connected in such a cosmic way."
Simply beautiful, right?
In August, Mitchell told E! News that she and Babel were interested in expanding their immediate family.
The Pretty Little Liars joked at the time that she "should have had a baby" during COVID-19 quarantine, adding that she’d "love to" have more kids "when the time is right."
Earlier that same summer, Mitchell told People Magazine that she finds it pretty easy to ignore all the haters and parent-shamers out there.
"I just have to do what feels right for me, as I think any parents should, and focus on that," said Mitchell.
"Life is too short to be worried about what this person and that person is saying. And I definitely don’t have time for it.
"There’s way better things that I could be doing, and everybody else should be as well."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoaalpKmsvLCwxqiqrKGgY7CwuY5rZ2tqX2V%2FcL%2FHmrBmpZmpsKmxy6VkqZ2eqHqjscCuq6KepaF6pr%2FSmrBmmZKkwrV5y6KdnmWcpMC0edOoZJqmnqTCr6%2FEZqpo