Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa are expecting their first child together: 'It was a huge shock'

• Tarek and Heather El Moussa announced they're expecting their first child.
• The couple shared the news with People and in matching Instagram posts on Wednesday.

Tarek and Heather El Moussa are expecting their first child together.

In an interview published Wednesday with People's Mackenzie Schmidt, Heather, 35, said the couple discovered the happy news a few weeks ago in the middle of in vitro fertilization treatments. They were also filming their new HGTV series, "The Flipping El Moussas."

"It was a huge shock," Heather told People. "We just weren't expecting this. We had just gone through IVF. We had embryos on ice. We had a plan."

Tarek, 40, and Heather also shared the exciting news in matching Instagram posts on Wednesday. The announcement featured a photo carousel of Tarek kissing Heather's stomach and Heather posing with her baby bump on the beach.

"Surprise!!! Baby El Moussa coming early 2023," their captions read.

Tarek and Heather met just over three years ago on the 4th of July in 2019.

Tarek later revealed they moved in together a week after they started dating, and the couple went public with their relationship in August 2019.

Tarek proposed to Heather in July 2020, and they tied the knot in October 2021.

Tarek shares two children with his former wife and "Flip or Flop" co-star, Christina Hall: Taylor, 11, and Brayden, 6.

Representatives for Tarek and Heather confirmed the pregnancy to Insider but declined to comment further.

The couple explained to People that Tarek had a "weird feeling" one day and convinced Heather to take a pregnancy test. Heather took two tests, but both came back "undetected." However, a third pregnancy test later that day sealed the deal, the outlet reported.

"I was organizing my clothes. I was just doing other things, and probably like 20 minutes later, I was like, 'Oh, the pregnancy test.' I went and looked and it said full-on pregnant," she told People.

According to People, Heather told Tarek the big news by hiding the tests in a gift box with confetti and a onesie.

"I think when you least expect it and there's no stress in your life, the world just brought us what was meant to be. I'm so excited that it happened like this," she said.

Heather, who previously starred on Netflix's "Selling Sunset," told the outlet that she and Tarek initially didn't have plans for children.

"When we first started dating three years ago, we went into our relationship not planning on having children together," Heather said. "I really love being a bonus mom to Taylor and Brayden. They're such incredible kids and I love them so much."

Heather explained to People that as her relationship with Tarek strengthened, so did her desire to have children.

"But as your love grows more and more and you fall deeper in love with someone and you build this life together, I started picturing myself having a child with Tarek. I started thinking I just wanted to create something with the man that I'm in love with," she said.

Although Tarek and Heather have completed the test to determine the baby's sex, they plan to be surprised at their gender reveal party in a few weeks.

Heather has also been outspoken about her love of co-parenting Tarek's children from his marriage to Christina, though the relationship between Heather and Christina has not always been smooth.

In May, photos of Heather and Christina appearing to argue at one of Brayden's soccer games were published, with other photos showing Tarek and Christina's husband Josh Hall seeming to argue too.

The photos came after Heather seemingly confirmed Tarek called her a "richer, hotter" version of Christina on the set of "Flip or Flop," which ended in March, reportedly because filming had become "too intimate" for the exes, according to People.

"A personal matter was discussed and has since been resolved. We are focused on co-parenting as a team moving forward," representatives for the El Moussas and Halls said of the incident at the time.

Despite the tension, the co-parents seemed to turn over a new leaf after Brayden had an emergency appendectomy in May, with Christina writing on her Instagram story that "a scary situation can be a good wake up call."

"In the end all the other stuff is just 'noise,' what matters is the kids," she added, tagging Heather, Tarek, and Josh in the post.

Heather posted a similar post to her own Instagram story at the time: "We all pulled together as a family during this stressful time," she captioned a selfie of her, Tarek, and Brayden, tagging her husband and Christina. "The kids will always be the main priority to all of us."