“Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker and her husband, John Hughes, are expecting their second child together in the coming weeks with the help of a surrogate.
The baby boy will join big sister Margot, who turns 3 on June 12.
“Margot has told all of her schoolmates that her parents are getting her a baby brother for her birthday!” Welker, 47, tells TODAY.com.
While Welker and Hughes are still working on a name — “We have our top contenders” — Margot has decided that she wants her brother to be called Lolo.
“So we refer to him as Lolo in our household,” Welker says, with a laugh.
Welker, who is unable to carry a child, welcomed Margot via surrogacy in 2021, after struggling with infertility for two years.
“The gratitude that I feel for her every day and that I felt for her in the moment that Margot was born is indescribable,” Welker told “TODAY” co-anchor Hoda Kotb that year.
Welker and Hughes are working with a different surrogate this time because Margot’s surrogate just had her second child.
“She’s still very much a part of our lives and even reached out to our new surrogate Angelica,” Welker says. “We’ve become like this little family.
Angelica is a “literal angel on earth,” according to Welker.
Recently, Welker has been talking to Margot about her ”incredibly special journey to this earth.”
“I’ve explained to Margot that most mommies get to carry their babies in their tummy, but Mama has a boo-boo, so she has a special friend who carried you, and is now carrying your baby brother,” Welker says.
Welker and Hughes were determined to give Margot a sibling, and started “working on a second baby,” in 2022.
“We had setbacks — there was more heartbreak — there were days when I asked myself, ‘Why is this so hard for us?’ but we kept pushing forward,” she reveals. “We did lose another embryo in this process, and we had to deal with the loss of that and the setback and wondering again, was this going to work for us?”
“What I’m proud of is that John and I didn’t give up,” Welker says. “He has always been my rock and I credit our love with getting us through those tough times.”
In March, Welker and sportscaster Erin Andrews opened up about their surrogacy journeys on “TODAY.” During the segment Andrews surprised a couple who’ve been struggling with infertility with a $20,000 grant to help them pursue their dream of having a child.
“Surrogacy and fertility treatments are out of reach for so many people across this country,” Welker says. “I have really tried to put my energy now into both shining a light on these services and also trying to make them more accessible to people.”
“I want to pay it forward,” she adds.
