Exclusive Days Of Our Lives Preview: Chanel And Johnny Make Their Pregnancy Decision
Bringing Up Baby: Chanel (Raven Bowens) and Johnny (Carson Boatman) make a big decision about their future little one.
Chanel reaches a pivotal decision about her pregnancy: Despite the fact that her unborn child is at risk and could suffer complications from being exposed to radiation, she tells Johnny she wants to have their baby.
Explains Raven Bowens (Chanel), “Yes, it’s scary, because you never know how severe [the effects could be], it’s a lifetime commitment, and you want the best for your child at the end of the day. But Chanel has experience with having a close relationship with someone who has Down syndrome,” referring to Felicity, the Sweet Bits patron who viewers have heard discussed, and will meet for the first time on May 22. “[Chanel] really loves her and kind of looks at Felicity as the model and example of what her child can turn out to be. She sees that Felicity is her own person. She has a boyfriend. She loves to bake and has all these things that she loves to do. Her life has not [been] stopped by something she was born with. It doesn’t define her. A lot of people fear the unknown, but because Chanel has an example of it in front of her, she doesn’t have that same fear.”
When Felicity drops by Sweet Bits with Tate and her brother, Aaron, Johnny meets her for the first time. “Johnny gets to spend a moment with Felicity, and see her with her brother,” recounts Bowens. “He sees that she’s just so full of life, and she’s so much fun, too. It makes him feel conflicted [about their pregnancy dilemma].” Then, Johnny takes a call regarding a new job opportunity in Hollywood, but puts off giving an answer. After Aaron, Tate and Felicity leave, Chanel tells Johnny she wants to have their baby — but only if Johnny’s on board.
“Chanel feels completely certain,” asserts Bowens. “She’s very much wrapped up in her own feelings and her own emotions, and she kind of talks ahead of herself. So it’s more of a, ‘I’m really excited about this, but is that okay? Are you, too?’ Because she realizes that a), she’s speaking ahead of herself; and b), that she can’t read him. Usually she’s good at reading Johnny, but right now he seems a little closed off. She doesn’t know that it’s because he’s holding back this job opportunity that he has and isn’t sharing everything with her.”
Johnny promptly assures his wife that he is on board. However, it’s clear he’s worried. “He has a lot of things that he’s going through,” notes Bowens. “At this point, he’s had some conversations with his father that have put some more worries in him. And then he also has this job opportunity that he may not be able to take, because of [Chanel’s pregnancy]. So he has layers and layers of why it’s a more complicated choice for him, whereas Chanel is just like, ‘Look, I love you. This is a little soon for us, but at the same time, I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you, and we obviously want a family at some point. We just didn’t expect it to be so soon, and we didn’t expect this to be the circumstances, but what if this is our only opportunity?’ ”
Together, the couple decides to forge forward with the pregnancy despite not knowing what’s ahead of them. “They haven’t been told anything by the doctor yet,” points out Bowens. “I feel like Chanel is optimistic on the one hand, but on the other hand, she doesn’t care either way. It’s like she wants the best, but she’s not like, ‘Oh, I just want to have a child who doesn’t have any type of disabilities.’ She’s like, ‘No, I’m going to have a child. I’m going to love the child. I’m going to make the best of the situation, and it will be what it will be.’ ”
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