Dania Ramirez: I'm Expecting the 'Perfect Couple'

Dania Ramirez Expecting Twins Baby Shower

Michael Simon/Startraks

Dania Ramirez has reason to celebrate: she’s expecting a boy and a girl!

The Devious Maids star made the big reveal during her Sept. 21 baby shower at Pearl’s in West Hollywood, where family and friends gathered to honor the pending arrival of her double bundle of joy.

Guests — among them costars Ana Ortiz, Roselyn Sánchez, Judy Reyes and Edy Ganem and show creator Marc Cherry — noshed on brunch bites including mini French toast, eggs benedict and an assortment of quiches.

After playing games and decorating a laundry line of onesies, everyone joined Ramirez outside to release monarch butterflies before she announced the sex of her babies. While enjoying Crumbs red velvet cupcakes, a toast was made to the mom-to-be with ZING Vodka cocktails and Caraccioli Cellars sparkling rosé.

PEOPLE: You made the big announcement. Congratulations!

Dania: Thank you! I’m excited. I get the perfect couple. I’m calling them the perfect couple and they’re not even out yet.

PEOPLE: And you thought it was going to be two daughters because of all of the girls on your side?

Dania: Well, it’s a lot of girls in my family. But my sister actually has two boys — all of the girls were from our generation. I’m excited to get both because I’m such a girl’s girl, so I get to have a little me. And then a boy me — I love it.

PEOPLE: Why did you decide to wait and announce the sex of the babies at the shower? Was it just easier to tell everyone at once?

Dania: Yeah, it was just easier to have all of my friends and family there. I always get nervous revealing anything because you just never know and I like to keep things private.

PEOPLE: What do you mean by “you never know”?

Dania: You’re bringing life and things can go wrong sometimes. It was already nerve-wracking to announce that I was pregnant — I waited until I was three months. Then it took me a while to find out what they were — I was really debating whether I wanted to find out now or wait until I gave birth. It was just my own nerves.

PEOPLE: When you did find out, what was that moment like for you and your husband?

Dania: It was perfect. Honestly, it was so funny because my husband and I played these games and he was always like, “Okay, so prediction right now: what do you think they are?” At the beginning it was like, “They’re identical.” Then we found out they weren’t identical.

He loves it. He has a son already, Kai. He’s done the boy thing; he’s like, “I know how to do that.” I think the girl makes him a little nervous, but he was like, “We have the best of both worlds.” He’s excited to give Kai siblings.

PEOPLE: How did you make the actual announcement? Did you do a toast?

Dania: My friend had this great idea to get these butterflies and release them as I told everyone what sex the babies were. I know, it’s crazy. The butterflies are linked with nature, so it all symbolizes birth and life. She got me 100 butterflies to release. They were in a box and when I opened it and the butterflies flew away, everyone could see that the lid of the box said, “Boy and girl.” So everybody saw it at that time — it was pretty cool!

PEOPLE: How did people react to the news?

Dania: Oh, it was great. It was all my friends and all of the girls from the cast — we’re all really close — and everybody was like, “Oh my God, that’s perfect!” It was great.

Everybody wanted to know the names — and then I said, “No.” [laughs] I knew that everybody was going to want to know, “What names are you thinking of?” and I don’t want anybody’s opinion.

Michael Simon/Startraks

PEOPLE: As you’re heading into these last few months, how are you feeling overall?

Dania: I feel good now. The first three months I was really sick. People always say that you’re glowing after the first trimester since you’re finally not nauseated.

It’s just tiring because we’re getting ready to leave for the second season [of Devious Maids] and I want to head to Georgia [where we film] early enough to have time to get settled in before having the babies and going back to work. So I just have a lot to do.

I gotta be honest with you, though. This is the hardest — and I’m sure the most rewarding — thing of my life and I’m pretty tough. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

PEOPLE: How so?

Dania: I feel like they’re always having a party in there. I think because I’m a small person, there’s not a lot of room for them. They’re moving around, trying to get adjusted. It’s not painful. It’s just more uncomfortable because sometimes the boy moves more than the girl. It makes it hard to breathe and my back has been hurting me a lot. Honestly, you don’t think about that after a while, you’re like, “Okay, I’m ready to keep going.”

I was shooting this week with a writer from The Departed and I had to do so much dialogue. I’m playing a detective and I’m sitting down the whole time. I’m delivering all of this dialogue and it’s supposed to be calm and smooth — and the babies were going nuts in there!

PEOPLE: It will all be worth it once they arrive!

Dania: I can’t wait to meet them. That’s what I’m most excited about — I just cannot wait for them to come out.

That’s another reason why I don’t want to share the names yet. We have these really beautiful and powerful names for them and I want to say them out loud once I see them for the first time, just to make sure that it all feels right.

My babies will be named right then and there. I want to make sure that nothing gets switched over — I’m probably going to have my mom and my mother-in-law follow the babies and make sure!

PEOPLE: When do you start shooting and when are you due? What is the timeline?

Dania: It’s going to be really tight. I’m due in January and because it’s twins, my doctor thinks that they could possibly come early — somewhere between December and January. I go back to work in mid-January.

PEOPLE: Ana, Roselyn and Judy are all moms. Have they given you any advice on giving birth or motherhood?

Dania: All of them are great mothers. They’re really supportive. Ana even came to my house recently and she worked on my registry because I was like, “I don’t know what I need!”

They all sent me little notes of things I might want to be aware of. And Roselyn has been absolutely amazing throughout the whole thing. She was such a sweetheart — she told me, ‘You’re very lucky, you’re very blessed.” She’s gone through everything with her daughter Sebella and she’s been fantastic. She’s been giving me some motherly tips.

PEOPLE: What was your favorite gift from the baby shower?

Dania: I love everything. Honestly, my favorite gift was that everybody came!