Da Brat announces pregnancy, expecting first baby with wife Jesseca Harris-Dupart

Congratulations are officially in order for Atlanta-based rapper Da Brat and her wife, as they announced they are expecting their first child together.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Da Brat told PEOPLE, adding, “There’s a lot of stuff we learned about women over the age of 40.”

The “Funkdafied” rapper posted the exciting news on her social media accounts.

This moment is a long time coming for Da Brat and her wife, Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart. When starting out on their pregnancy journey, Harris-Dupart suffered major health complications following her egg retrieval procedure. In addition to that heartbreaking moment, Da Brat had health issues of her own, including having to undergo surgery to remove fibroids and polyps prior to her embryo transfer procedure. Soon after came an unfortunate miscarriage.

“I had never been so excited about something that I didn’t even know I wanted,” Da Brat said. “I fell in love with the idea and then it was all snatched away from me.”

After so many trials, the couple began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Luckily,” Da Brat said, “we still had quite a few of her eggs left.” Now, they’re 18 weeks pregnant!

While Harris-Dupart was already a mother of three prior to this relationship, kids weren’t part of the plan for Da Brat.

“I never thought I was going to have kids,” Da Brat said. “I just thought it wasn’t in the cards for me. I’ve had a great career and a full life. I felt like, because I didn’t get pregnant earlier on, it just wasn’t going to happen for me.”

The new bundle of joy won’t slow the parents down anytime soon. Da Brat is still appearing on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show and Dish Nation, as well as co-starring with her wife on their WE TV reality show “Brat Loves Judy.” She is also working on new music.