Congratulations to Carlin Bates! The Bringing Up Bates alum and her husband, Evan Stewart, welcomed their second baby on Sunday, March 27.
“Welcome to the world, Baby Boy!” the reality star, 23, captioned an Instagram family photo taken at the hospital. “Thank you all for the many messages and prayers you sent our way! We are in heaven.”
Bates wed the electrician, 26, in May 2019 in Tennessee, eight months after Stewart got down on one knee. In September 2019, the duo announced that they were starting a family.
“We are beyond thrilled to be expecting our first child,” the couple wrote in a statement at the time. “Spending every day with your best friend and building a life together has already exceeded our happiest dreams. We are so happy at the thought of parenting together. Three at the table sounds perfect! God is so good.”
Five months later, the pair exclusively told Us Weekly that Layla, now 2, had arrived.
“How do you describe an experience so emotionally intense and so magically wonderful as welcoming a brand new baby into the world?” the new parents said in a February 2020 statement. “We feel like our lives just became incredibly busy, but unimaginably blessed with little Layla Rae’s arrival! She has already consumed our thoughts and intentions for these past pregnancy months and now, no day will ever be the same without her! Although she came earlier than we expected, this is the best kind of celebration we have ever experienced, and we are so in love with our new role as parents!”
The toddler has experienced breathing issues due to “a small hole in her heart,” Bates told her Instagram followers in May 2020.
“She has gotten so much stronger. We are so proud of her,” the Liberty University grad wrote via Instagram in February of the following year, noting that there hadn’t been any “scares” recently. “She’s doing well, she’s having regular check-ups.”
That same month, Bates exclusively told Us that she wants “a few” kids — not 19 like her mom, Kelly Jo Bates.
Bates and Stewart revealed in August 2021 that baby No. 2 was on the way with maternity shoot photos.
“Let the baby shopping adventures, food cravings, morning (sometimes all day) sickness, and midnight snacks begin!” the then-expectant star captioned an Instagram post at the time. “Every single part of the baby journey is worth it, and being parents is the best part of our story! … Our new addition to the crew is honestly more exciting than we can truly express in words.”
The former UPtv personality was “ready to pop” by Monday, March 21, writing via Instagram that she would “miss [her] bumps and those tiny baby kicks.” She concluded, “I’m soaking up these next few days.”
