Nick Viall Explains How He Connected with His Unborn Baby After Wife Natalie Joy's First Miscarriage

Nick Viall is opening up about how he felt after learning that his wife Natalie Joy had miscarried.

On an episode of the podcast Second Wind, the former Bachelor, 44, spoke about discovering that his wife had miscarried for the first time. As he recounted his experience, which included having to retrieve the fetus from a toilet, Viall said he connected more with his unborn baby after his wife miscarried.

After Joy miscarried, Viall said he went into their bathroom alone for a few moments. "I went in there with my hands and was able to recover our baby and save it, which was, I'm very grateful for that," he added.

He went on to share that the reason he brings the story up is because he didn't initially feel a connection with his baby, since he wasn't the one who was pregnant.

"I think the only reason I brought that story — as graphic as it was for me and as hard as it was for me — as a mother, you connect with your child, at least I've heard this from my wife," Viall began. "As soon as you find out you're pregnant, your body's changing, it is a tangible thing."

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"For fathers it’s a little different. Natalie surprised me letting me know that, she was pregnant with River…I didn't know what was going on and I don't think I have the response it's supposed to have and I was very meta and I was kind of awkward at first, but once River showed up, once River came into our lives, I think about that moment all the time," he continued.

The former reality star explained that now when he thinks about different moments throughout his daughter's life, he's able to "almost kind of go back as a father, I've been able to go back and River's been with us since those moments."

"I think about the drawer I opened where the pregnancy test was all the time. So River's been in my life since that moment and so as a father losing a child through miscarriage, I hadn't had a chance to connect with our child in that way, but that moment was a way, as sad as it was, to connect because it was harder," he continued. "I knew Natalie has been so connected and I think it allowed us to grieve more evenly, if that makes sense.”

Back in January, Joy spoke about her miscarriage with Viall on an episode of their podcast The Viall Files, where the two recounted when they learned the difficult news.

"I think I knew from the jump," Joy admitted at the time. "But I didn't wanna accept that. And then it just got heavier and heavier. I'm just so thankful that we were home and not traveling and not in a hotel or on an airplane, but we got home and I went to go pee. And it was like I gave birth."

She said she began screaming and crying, which prompted Viall to come into the bathroom.

"And you know, you just think like, 'How are you supposed to stand up and flush this baby down the toilet? Like how do you do that?' " Joy asked, sharing that she was unable to flush the toilet.

Viall shared that after he discovered what happened, he took Joy out of the bathroom and went in by himself, recalling the "traumatic" experience of being able to "retrieve" what was in the toilet.

"That was definitely the hardest night of my life," Joy said. "Just experiencing that is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone. And unfortunately, I know a lot of women do experience it, and I just feel for these people so much because I was so mad at my body for letting it go. You know? I was like, 'Why couldn't you just hold on to it?'"