Bringing Up Bates star Josie Bates welcomed her third baby with husband Kelton Balka.
“We waited 9 months for the surprise of our lives,” Bates, 24, captioned an Instagram video on Thursday, February 22, as screams emitted from her hospital room. Bates had given birth to a baby boy.
“Meet the newest love of our lives 🫶,” Bates captioned a second Instagram post, which featured photos of the newborn on her chest. The couple, who already share daughters Willow, 4, and Hazel, 2, waited until their baby was born to find out the sex.
“I cannot believe that we have a little boy,” Bates shared in a video posted to her Instagram Stories on Friday, February 23. “It’s so crazy. We’ve been in a little newborn bubbly and is my favorite. The first few days with a new baby is heaven on earth.”
She went on to share her birth story, revealing that they had gone into the hospital on Tuesday, February 20, the day before their newborn arrived.
The couple announced in August 2023 that they were gearing up for baby No. 3. “Balka, Party of Five!! 🫶,” the couple announced via Instagram at the time.
Bates rose to fame alongside her 18 siblings on Bringing Up Bates, which aired on Up TV for 10 seasons from 2015 to 2021. Previously, the Bates family were on TLC’s United Bates of America, which aired from 2012 to 2014.
Fans watched Bares and Balka fall in love on Bringing Up Bates, and their October 2018 wedding aired on the show. The couple welcomed their first daughter, Willow, in July 2019.
In September 2020, Bates announced that she and Balka had experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy.
“Kelton and I were over the moon excited to be expecting a sweet baby in March, 2021! We were filled with anticipation as we began to dream of what it would be like as a family of four and for [daughter] Willow to have a little playmate,” Bates revealed via Instagram at the time. “We surprised our family and friends with the news at Willow’s one year old birthday party! Already, my heart felt an unexplainable amount of excitement! Sadly, when I went for a recent ultrasound, we were heartbroken to hear our precious baby had gone to be with Jesus.”
Following the pregnancy loss, Bates and Balka welcomed a second daughter, Hazel, in June 2021.
“After so many months of dreaming about what it would be like as a family of four and anticipating our baby’s arrival, Kelton and I are absolutely thrilled to welcome our little baby girl, Hazel Sloane Balka, into the world,” the couple told Us Weekly exclusively at the time. “This pregnancy was much more complex than our first due to complications we had from a previous miscarriage in August 2020, so we were a little nervous, but delivery went so smoothly.”
