What To Know
- NBC News’ Emilie Ikeda filled in for Al Roker during the third hour of Today‘s Monday, August 31, episode.
- Ikeda surprised her cohosts on-air by revealing she is pregnant with her first child.
- Ikeda opened up about her pregnancy so far and received a special surprise from the Today team.
The hosts of the third hour of Today kicked off the week with exciting news from a member of the NBC News family.
“Now, we wanted to take a minute to catch up on this Monday morning after a busy weekend,” Dylan Dreyer told Craig Melvin and NBC News’ Emilie Ikeda, who was filling in for Al Roker, on the show’s Monday, August 31, episode. “Emilie, we like to do this around here on Mondays. We talk about our weekend and what all we did.”
Noting that her weekend is “best encapsulated in pictures,” Ikeda went on to share photos of herself and her husband, Pat, holding sonogram photos. “Oh, my god! You’re having a baby!” Melvin exclaimed as his and Dreyer’s jaws dropped over the pregnancy news.
“For those at home, they legitimately don’t know,” Ikeda quipped as Dreyer asked, “Wait, are you serious?” Ikeda replied, “Yeah. I’m five months pregnant. I’m due in January.”
Both Dreyer and Melvin got up from their seats to hug Ikeda. “This is so exciting,” Melvin said, adding that he was suspicious that the hosts didn’t do their weekend catch-up at the top of the show. Ikeda, meanwhile, said she’s already gotten plenty of parenting advice courtesy of Dreyer’s The Parent Chat podcast.
“I’m so excited. And now, I’m in the stage where I can feel the baby kicking,” said Ikeda. Dreyer gushed, “Which is the most amazing phase to be in. Now, you’re not waiting for every doctor’s appointment to make sure everything’s okay.”
Ikeda continued, “I might be in a bad mood, I might be preoccupied, I might be locked into a script, and then I feel this baby kick, and I’m like, ‘Aww. It’s my buddy!’”
Melvin followed up Ikeda’s surprise with one from the Today crew, as a staff member brought out a gift basket filled with snacks, children’s books by Roker and Dreyer, and a Today logo onesie.
“Everyone has been so supportive and sweet, and thank you,” Ikeda said at the end of the conversation.
Ikeda joined NBC News in 2021 and frequently appears as a contributor and fill-in host on Today. She and her husband, Pat, have been married since 2022.
NBC
Ikeda further opened up about her pregnancy in an interview with Today.com. “My first trimester was really difficult,” she shared. “I was incredibly nauseous, which can get complicated in a spontaneous job that has me chasing breaking news regularly.”
Ikeda also revealed that she and her husband are waiting to find out the sex of their baby. “I think in a world filled with instant information, there are few genuine surprises, and this feels like the ultimate surprise,” she explained. “I can only imagine the euphoria in the delivery room when someone reveals, ‘It’s a … BOY/GIRL!’”
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