Keeping it real. 

As Bachelor Nation fans know, former Bachelor Ben Higgins married the love of his life, Jess Clarke Higgins, in November 2021.

Since then, the two have traveled, moved in together, adopted a puppy named Waylon, and are now expecting their first child together.

Ben recently went on the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” podcast to share with hosts Kathy Swarts and Susan Noles an update on Jess’ pregnancy, their baby, and his key tips for dating long distance. 

When Ben and Jess first started dating, they were long distance for a while and created rules that they found very valuable in helping make their separation feel less challenging.  

Ben shared the first one, saying, “One: the biggest one was we never met up with each other in person without having another time planned that we were going to see each other again.” 

He explained that it helped prevent them from flying to see each other and then not knowing when they were going to see each other next. 

The former Bachelor then shared the second rule that they came up with, which he feels is extremely helpful. 

Ben said, “The second one, which I highly recommend… this was hard. It was we never showed emotion or said out loud that we were sad we were leaving when we were together.” 

He then explained the reasoning behind this rule was inspired by another friend of his.

“This was based on another buddy of mine who married somebody he was dating long distance,” Ben explained. “In what he witnessed and what I witnessed, was every time they would leave each other, there would be so much sadness around the goodbye...And yes, that’s an obvious feeling when you love someone. So what Jess and I decided to do was… say, ‘Hey, I’ll see you in two weeks.’”

Ben revealed how it affected their relationship and said, “What it did was it kept our time together uplifted instead of always surrounded by sadness.”

The soon-to-be-dad also admitted to Susan and Kathy that he’s still feeling freaked out about being a girl dad.

“I’m still in a phase of freakout, in like a healthy way,” Ben revealed, “I’m ready to be a dad… Being a girl dad is something I always grew up, since I was little, saying I never want to be because I know that she’s gonna crush me. I am a very sensitive human… My mind’s always going about worst-case scenario thinking and so I was always like, ‘I can’t have a daughter.’” 

However, Ben and Jess have been working on their baby girl’s nursery and revealed the theme, which has made him excited. 

He shared, “We’re working on the nursery right now… [The color is] like a light pink. It’s really pretty, and then I did like a wainscot below. And it’s ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’-themed because my wife and I love Winnie the Pooh.” 

Listen to the full interview in the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” episode below!