Now here’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time: Da Brat is pregnant with her first child at age 48. She and her wife of one year, Judy Harris-Dupart, first joked they were adding to their family as part of some product marketing, but then decided they wanted to actually add a human baby. (Judy already has three children). After some health struggles for both women, Da Brat is 18 weeks pregnant and they revealed her bump with a pretty cool gangster-style photoshoot, complete with fedora, pinstripes, feathers, and a cool car.

Da Brat is ready to reveal Da Bump!

The hit “Funkdafied” rapper and wife Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart are expecting a baby, the couple tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s issue.

“It’s been quite a journey,” says Da Brat, who admits that at 48, “there’s a lot of stuff we learned about women over the age of 40.”

“It started as a joke, we were like, ‘We’re extending our family!’ ” she says of the tongue-in-cheek marketing tagline for their collaboration. “But then we got a huge response. It was like, ‘Oh my God do we want to actually have kids, and if we do, girl, we better hurry up!’ ”

Harris-Dupart is already a mother of three prior to their relationship. For Da Brat, kids weren’t ever really a part of the plan. “I never thought I was going to have kids,” she says. “I just thought it wasn’t in the cards for me. I’ve had a great career, a full life. I felt like, because I didn’t get pregnant earlier on, then it just wasn’t going to happen for me.”

That is, until she met and fell for Harris-Dupart. “I started looking at life so differently,” says Da Brat. “I was like, I want a little me with you. Something special from the both of us that we can share and raise and love unconditionally.”

Still, she wasn’t keen on the idea of carrying a child. “I was like, nothing’s gonna come out of me!” Harris-Dupart was able to convince her otherwise. “We had a little tug-o-war in the beginning…but I felt like she should have the experience,” says her wife. “She is so nurturing.”

The decision for Da Brat to carry worked out for the best, given Harris-Dupart suffered major health complications following her egg retrieval procedure. But the rapper faced difficult health issues of her own, including having to undergo surgery to remove fibroids and polyps prior to her embryo transfer procedure.

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

“Luckily,” she says, “we still had quite a few of her eggs left.” The couple, who chose an anonymous donor described as “an eager entrepreneur” from their cryo bank, is now 18 weeks pregnant. Firmly into her second trimester, Da Brat says, “It’s just a blessing. I’m excited!” She’s also exhausted. “I don’t have any cravings or nausea,” she adds, “but I’m always sleepy. It’s crazy!”

Reflecting on her tough persona in hip hop coupled with her happy news and bump reveal, “I think people are going to be shocked,” she says with a laugh. That said, she chose to embrace the dichotomy with a gangster-inspired pregnancy photoshoot. “I loved it,” she says.

[From People]

It’s interesting that Da Brat talks about kids never being part of the plan until she met and fell for Judy. She doesn’t specifically say whether she wanted them or not, but does say she felt she had a career and full life and it just wasn’t in the cards, until she met Judy. It’s nice to hear another perspective because I think so often for female celebs a major interview talking point is how much they’ve always wanted to be a mom. And half the time it seems like they’re only saying that because that’s what’s expected. I did side-eye a bit the idea of Judy convincing Da Brat to carry the baby because Judy felt Da Brat should have the experience. It’s up to people to decide that for themselves! But it does sound like they both really wanted this and it’s wonderful that it’s working out for them after the health issues and miscarriage. From the article it sounds like it’s Judy’s egg and Da Brat is carrying the baby. Da Brat has a lot going on — she’s working on new music, cohosting a couple of shots, and the couple has a hair product line and a reality show. Anyway, congratulations to the soon-to-be parents!