Ashanti and Nelly reportedly expecting first child together

Ashanti and Nelly are reportedly expecting their first child together.

Ashanti, 43, and her R&B sensation partner — who already has daughter Chanelle, 29, and son Cornell Haynes III, 24, with his ex Channetta Valentine — sparked pregnancy rumours over the weekend while at Nelly's Black and White Ball in St Louis.

A source has now told UsWeekly: "Nelly and Ashanti are welcoming their first baby together."

While on stage together in St Louis, she rested her hands on her stomach in a heart shape, with Nelly, 49, immediately doing the same and rubbing his on-off girlfriend's belly.

After realising they had potentially revealed they were expecting a child, he pulled Ashanti close as they burst into laughter.

An emcee then made a comment about "sealing the deal", with Nelly pointing at Ashanti's belly before he and his girlfriend both started laughing again.

Ashanti and Nelly met in 2003 while at a Grammys Awards press conference, but called it quits after a decade together.

In April, the twosome sparked talk they had reconciled while sitting ringside at a boxing match in Las Vegas.

And after widespread rumours the pair had secretly been dating for a few months, Nelly revealed in September that the pair was officially back together.

He said about Ashanti, who has no other children, in an interview with Love and Hip Hop stars Rasheeda and Kirk Frost: "Yeah, we cool again. I think it surprised both of us though. It wasn't anything that I don't think was planned."

Nelly added he and the singer needed time apart in order to make their relationship work, saying: "I think we both were pretty much doing what we do, but sometimes being separate you understand one another more.

"You be like, 'Yo, let me see exactly what they see'. You know, because we all can be defensive sometimes in our own relationships.

"We know we are wrong but we are going to stand on it. But we are all a victim to that."

In October, Nelly gave Ashanti a huge diamond necklace with heart accents as well as a diamond-crusted watch for her birthday.

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