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Alexa PenaVega and Newborn Daughter Rio Leave NICU 1 Week After ‘Adventurous’ Birth

Heading home! Alexa PenaVega and Carlos PenaVega’s 1-week-old daughter, Rio, left the hospital on Sunday, May 16.

Related: PenaVega Party of 5! See Alexa and Carlos' Family Photos Over the Years

“AND just like that … we’re a family of five!” the Big Time Rush member, 31, captioned an Instagram selfie with his wife, 32, and their two sons — Ocean, 4, and Kingston, 22 months. “Thank you all for your prayers! Everyone is finally back home, safe and healthy.”

Alexa PenaVega and Newborn Daughter Rio Leave NICU
Alexa PenaVega Broadimage/Shutterstock

The family photo came one week after the couple announced Rio’s arrival, posting a black-and-white photo of her hand via Instagram.

Related: BiP's Krystal Nielson and More Celeb Moms Share Breast-Feeding Pictures

“SO we’ve been MIA these last few days,” the Missouri native captioned the May 10 social media upload. “Let’s just say we learned once again that God is always in control. You may have a PLAN for your life, but all that really matters is HIS plan. Little Rio could not wait to come out and play with her brothers! Momma is feeling good and baby girl is kicking some serious booty in the NICU. Praying we can all be home together very soon! What a wave of emotions. Much love and thanks to all the Nurses, Doctors from Maui to Oahu — who brought little Rio safely into this world.”

Alexa PenaVega and Newborn Daughter Rio Leave NICU 2
Rio Rey PenaVega Courtesy of Rio Rey PenaVega/Instagram

Alexa opened up about her baby girl’s “adventurous” birth on Sunday, thanking the “incredible team of people … surrounding” her family during their transition.

“From the team at labor and delivery to the NICU team THANK YOU for keeping Rio safe and for helping her hit all her milestones to coming home!” the Spy Kids star captioned an Instagram slideshow of herself breast-feeding the infant. “This wasn’t how I pictured Rio’s entrance into this world … (who knew she would be THIS adventurous!!??) but we were both in great hands and we felt God’s peace the ENTIRE time! One of the most important things in the NICU is that skin to skin time (kangaroo time) and mama’s milk!!!”

Alexa Vega Carlos PenaVega Alexa PenaVega and Newborn Daughter Rio Leave NICU
Alexa Vega and Carlos PenaVega Broadimage/Shutterstock

While the Florida native “normally [doesn’t] post photos” nursing, she wrote, “This was so powerful to me. We were running on no sleep … just feeding and waiting for any moment to be with her and to be there in any way we could. There were cords everywhere. We were both taped up with all sorts of stuff, but I was so thankful for any time with her outside of her incubator. And now I am just SO happy to be home with our sweet little girl! #NICUmama.”

Related: Celebrity Babies of 2021: See Which Stars Gave Birth

The actress announced in December 2020 that she and Carlos had baby No. 3 on the way. Alexa documented her baby bump progress via Instagram, describing the “two sides of pregnancy” in March.

“One side is beautiful and awesome and exciting,” the Ruby & the Rockits alum captioned mirror selfies at the time. “The other side has been painful, exhausting and rough. That’s the crazy beautiful thing about bringing a life into this world. It isn’t always smooth sailing but boy is that blessing in the end worth every vein that’s decided to pop up, all the sciatic nerve pain, all the morning sickness. Honestly, you kinda just forget about it all because the GOOD really does outweigh the bad. I’m just gonna say God made us warrior mamas! And we are rad.”

She and Carlos tied the knot in January 2014 in Mexico, five months after their engagement.

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