Tessa and Nate prepare for their special arrival

Wrapping their arms around one another with beaming smiles as they splash in the waves, pregnant Tessa James and husband Nate Myles are a picture of happiness.

Proudly displaying her gorgeous bikini bump body, the former Home And Away star was positively glowing last week as she enjoyed the Gold Coast sun on a secluded beach with her husband of six years.

‘Tessa has never looked more beautiful,’ one onlooker tells New Idea. ‘She’s even more gorgeous pregnant, and she and Nate seemed so in love. They were hugging and laughing in the water, holding hands to and from the shore. Such a lovely couple.’

The couple’s amazing beach day out comes as friends of the pair reveal the immense joy their first pregnancy has brought them. Tessa and Nate, who announced their pregnancy in August, have made no secret of their desire to start a family.

‘Tessa has always wanted to have kids... she doesn’t want to leave things too late,’ NRL star Nate recently told the Gold Coast Bulletin. ‘She is worried about the size of my melon, but we are both ready for the next period of our relationship.’

And while 26-year-old Tessa – who has said that she ‘can’t wait’ to be a mum – has worried that her battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer in 2014 would affect her plans to conceive, she was always hopeful her baby dream would come true.

‘There are high stats of people my age having had treatment who have children, so I hope that is in the future for us,’ she told The Sunday Telegraph. ‘I guess if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.’

But since she fell pregnant, friends of the actress reveal that Tessa and Nate, 32, have had a huge weight lifted off their shoulders and are ‘over the moon’ to be expecting a baby.

‘In many ways, this baby has saved them,’ a source tells New Idea. ‘They were both so keen to have children and start a family and were determined to do everything they could to make it happen. But if it didn’t happen, then it would’ve left a big hole in their lives.

‘Now they have everything they’ve ever wanted – Tessa is healthy, they’re madly in love, Nate’s career is going from strength to strength and they have the baby they’ve both always wanted.’

Tessa, who’s believed to be seven months pregnant, has been open about the positive changes that her battle with illness has brought to her life.

‘I’m just so much more content, more patient and more aware of the world in general,’ she told The Daily Telegraph. ‘My main goal now is to be happy.

‘I can still work hard and achieve things, but I don’t need to be stressed out about it and in a rush. I believe being consistently stressed creates bad health...’

The adored Aussie couple enjoy a day at the beach as they prepare for a very special arrival