We’re missing a meatball! Fans were pumped for Season 2 of MTV’s hit reality TV series Jersey Shore: Family Vacation to premiere last week, but they were also kind of sad when they realized that Deena Cortese won’t be on the show. But Deena is currently pregnant, so she had a perfectly good reason for not flying out to Las Vegas with her friends to film the first half of Season 2, and she confirmed in an exclusive interview with Life & Style that she will return later this season when the gang returns to New Jersey.

“I just decided not to go to Vegas because it was my first trimester and that’s like, the most crucial,” the 31-year-old told Life & Style. “And then, between the flight and when they were going, I was going through my main tests and stuff. So it was my choice not to go.”

“It’s also Vegas, nobody pregnant should be there,” her pal Jenni “JWoww” Farley added, not only because of the debauchery that goes on in Sin City, but because of the heat. “It was 108 degrees. I hit her up, I was like, ‘You can’t be here, it’s too [hot].'”

“I was happy I didn’t go, just ’cause I was pregnant, morning sickness, and then having to deal with Ron’s bulls–t? I would’ve been done,” Deena explained.

Deena did get to miss all of the drama that goes down between her co-star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro‘s drama with his baby’s mother Jen Harley, which will eventually play out later this season. But Deena’s absence also allowed room for her co-star Angelina Pivarnick to come in and have some bonding time with the roommates.

As for what fans can expect to see? Deena, Jenni, and Angelina told Life & Style that not much has changed. “It’s gonna be wilder,” Jenni said, and Deena added, “[There’s] a lot of drama — I won’t be drinking. That’s the [only] difference.”

“I take her place in the drinking department, and the entertainment of what happens when I get drunk,” Angelina said. “That’s what happens. I’m drinking for her.”