Cynthia Santana
"Cynthia Santana poses with her burgeoning bump. Instagram/cynsantana

Congratulations are in order for hip-hop veteran Joe Budden and former reality TV star Cynthia Santana, who are expecting their first child together.

The couple, who have been dating for over a year, announced the baby news via Instagram on Thursday (10 August) with a string of adorable posts professing their love for one another.

The 36-year-old Slaughterhouse MC surprised his 1 million followers with a stunning black and white image of him and his partner posing in white ensembles as they both admired her burgeoning bump.

He snubbed a typical caption to pay tribute to the love of his life with a poem that included the lines: "I never imagined you would be as beautiful as you are today, it's beautiful to be a part of. Thank you for it all."

Budden followed his online outpouring with two behind-the-scenes videos from their pregnancy shoot.

Santana, 24, who rose to fame by doing parodies of Nicki Minaj, Kat Stacks, and Ray J before joining the cast of Love& Hip Hip New York in 2013, followed suit with a picture of her wearing lacy lingerie and a veil. The caption read: "My biggest blessing... In the name of love. Thank you God!"

In one clip she shares some banter with the father of her unborn child by daring him to refer to her as the derogatory term "baby mama".Knowing better than to mess with a pregnant woman, he responds by saying "You are the best partner that one can have."

He then goes on to proclaim that, "this has easily been the best year of my life," and Santana jokes "And thank you for inserting yourself inside of me".

The couple were soon inundated with congratulatory messages from fans, with one follower writing: "So so happy for you and @cynsantana!! God bless you both and that new bundle of joy that's about to enter this world!"

Back in November Budden, who has a teenage son from a previous relationship, took to Twitter to shut down rumours that they were expecting, writing: "We're not, she just eats like we are."