Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kristen Welker and Hubby Expecting Baby Girl. Their Arduous Pregnancy Journey Leaves ‘Today’ Co-Hosts in Tears. (Watch)

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Kristen Welker and husband John Hughes

*NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker and her husband, John Hughes, announced on “Today” Friday that they’re expecting their first child together in June, following a long, emotional fertility journey that tested the couple’s resilience.

“After years and years of trying, I’m having a baby girl with John and we are so excited,” Welker, 44, told the “Today” hosts. “It’s with the help of a surrogate.”

Welker and her husband found out the surrogate was pregnant before Kristen moderated the final presidential debate of 2020. Thinking of her baby, she says, helped keep her calm during the high-stakes debate.

The Weekend TODAY co-host and Hughes, a marketing executive, shared their news during Infertility Awareness Week in hopes that their story will give others hope.

“I was 40 years old when I married John in March 2017. And we immediately started to try to have a baby,” Welker revealed. “It didn’t work immediately. So we thought, ‘Let’s just go to a doctor as a precaution.’”

Welker’s fertility specialist recommended in vitro fertilization, and Welker just knew she would be pregnant within the next few months. When it didn’t happen, Welker was devastated to discover that the lining of her uterus was too thin to carry a child.

In her attempt to “fix” the problem, “I was going into the doctor in between live shots at work and just feeling like … a failure, frankly,” Welker shared. After a heartbreaking two years, Welker finally accepted that she would not be able to carry a child.

But the couple refused to give up on their dream of becoming parents. After researching their options, they decided to use a surrogate. The first transfer did not work, but the surrogate was pregnant when Welker masterfully moderated the final 2020 presidential debate.

“I wasn’t expecting to feel such a strong connection to her already, just from seeing her in a monitor,” she said. “All of the tears and the sadness and the setbacks were worth it because she’s worth it. And we cannot wait for that day when we can actually meet her and hug her and hold her.”

Welker said that she and Hughes considered every option, including adoption and surrogacy, and would like to possibly have more children.

Surrogacy “felt like the right first step,” Welker said, “but we want to hopefully expand our family even further. We’re open to all of the possibilities.”

Watch the inspiring video of Welker’s journey below, followed by the emotional reaction of “Today” co-hosts Savanah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin.

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