This episode of Total Bellas shows what life is like for one of the Bella Twins after the birth of her son.

While Brie seems to be handling her second foray into motherhood easily, even with her toddler daughter Birdie in tow, brand-new mom Nicole seems to be having a more difficult time. Even her doctors have noticed something is amiss, and have even suggested medication for postpartum depression may help the struggling new mom.

Adding to Nicole’s stresses, her fiancé, Artem, is on the road constantly due to his job as a professional dancer on the hit TV show, Dancing with the Stars. This means that Nicole doesn’t have much respite from her duties as new mom, which leaves her energy depleted, and her nights sleepless. What is even more disturbing to fans of Total Bellas is that after encouraging Artem to return to Dancing with the Stars, Nicole seemed to be angry at Artem for being so happy at work. And it doesn’t help that Artem’s work puts him in extremely close contact with one beautiful woman for weeks on end as he and his partner rehearse different dance numbers for the show.

To add insult to injury, Nicole and Artem first met and fell in love while Nicole was a contestant on the show. Naturally, this would lead someone who is already in a fragile emotional state to question whether Artem’s chemistry with his new partner was merely due to dance numbers or something more. I understand that Nikki needed someone to confide her fears to, but you would think that she would have learned by now that once she tells her sister, Brie something Brie feels she has no choice but to try to fix it.

Brie’s original advice was for Nicole to tell Artem what she was feeling and ask him to be sensitive to her new feelings, but, of course, that would simply be too easy for a Bella to contemplate. While I understand that Nicole wanted Artem to remain focused on dancing for the remainder of the show, I feel that to truly have a great relationship with one’s future spouse one must be honest always. This is particularly true when dealing with health concerns as Nicole was with her postpartum depression.

However, Nicole’s choosing to omit telling Artem about her health, is no excuse for what Brie chose to do next.

I understand that the Bellas are closer than most siblings partially due to the fact that there being twins, and partially because they have spent most of their lives working and traveling together. Having a sister myself, I also understand that it is sometimes one’s instinct to try to protect one’s sibling from heartache however, being a loving sibling does not give a person an excuse to interfere with that siblings personal relationships.

This is why I am appalled, though not surprised by the fact that Brie chose to inform Artem of Nicole’s health issues without her consent. However, I do applaud Artem for coming home in order to settle things with his fiancée when Brie called him. This shows that Artem takes his duties as a future spouse seriously, and will probably be a good husband to Nicole. He also did a wonderful job making Nicole calm down and assuring her of his continued love and devotion.

I don’t blame Nicole for being upset with her sister, though I do think calling her a bitch was a bit harsh. However, these sisters really do need to get their own lives. Am I the only one who thinks that it’s just a tad creepy that whatever one of them moves the other one has to move to?

Speaking of which, the ladies and their spouses are now settled in Napa, California. They say that this is the last time that they will move but I doubt it. Yhey are content to be California girls, at least for right now. Enjoy your new lives ladies, try to stay settled for more than a month.