It’s been a big week for reality television stars Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson. The couple has revealed the gender of their unborn twins and brought home a puppy in the space of 24 hours.
Throwing the gender reveal wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for the couple who are stuck in Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown. However, both say they are thrilled to find out they will be welcoming two boys – three including Sonny the puppy – into the world this December.
“I’m excited to have two little soccer boys,” says former Canberra radio announcer Bryce. “Liss is excited, too, because we’ve heard from family, friends and even our obstetrician that having two boys is easier than having a boy and a girl in terms of appointments and bringing them up.”
The couple who appeared on reality television show Married at First Sight earlier this year is looking forward to watching the boys from the sideline together, instead of one of them heading off to gymnastics or ballet lessons.
However, they were expecting a boy and a girl right up until their gender reveal.
“We did a Harmony test to check everything was OK with the twins and found out one was a boy, but we were told the male gene for the other twin wasn’t strong so we thought it was a girl,” says Bryce. “We were completely shocked when we did our gender reveal.”
The other difference at their gender reveal was not being able to have family and friends present.
“No-one could be there because of the lockdown so we had to film it ourselves,” says Bryce. “But we were lucky in a way because we didn’t actually know the gender of the twins on the date we’d organised with friends and family because of a mix up with appointments.”
The couple gave the gender details to Melissa’s sister to organise the smoke cannons they let off to camera for a video shared on social media.
Melissa and Bryce also weren’t able to coincide the gender reveal with their engagement party, which had been the plan since Bryce proposed in July.
Bryce says they’ll host an engagement party once friends and family can attend, and he hopes the lockdown restrictions will lift in time for loved ones to visit the twins in hospital.
“It’s a shame because with your first [child], and our only children [the couple isn’t planning on having more], you’d like to have a bit of a celebration,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s just the times we’re living in and you’ve got to respect the rules in place trying to get the world back to normal.”
Getting the pair through lockdown and preparing them for the arrival of their twins has been nine-week-old border collie Sonny.
He’s named after his bright personality and has been keeping the couple on their toes since he came home a few days ago.
“He’s a little bit of a nipper and likes to play a lot,” says Bryce. “He’s also got into the habit of having a big sleep in the afternoon and coming alive at night, but overall he’s been pretty good. He only woke up on the first night we got him.
“I’ve had three border collies in the past and two were from a pup, and Liss has dogs with her parents so we’re accustomed to having dogs and he’s been good for us.”
Critics jumped to social media to warn Bryce and Melissa about the reality of raising newborns and a puppy, but the pair isn’t worried.
“A lot of people have been sharing their opinion on social media, saying the dog will be neglected when the twins arrive, but it definitely won’t be,” he says.
“We’re used to having dogs around all the time so not having a dog has been a bit unusual. This has been a bit of an early preparation to bringing twins into the world, and it’s been good so far.”