Just six weeks after Fixer Upper stars Joanna and Chip Gaines decided that season 5 would be their last, the couple received some surprising news. Joanna was pregnant with their fifth child.
Joanna, who was 40 when she gave birth to their son Crew on June 21, revealed that this pregnancy “was different” from her others.
“I have always really enjoyed being because pregnant — I tend to feel my best during those nine months,” she told the fall issue of The Magnolia Journal. “This time I felt a little more worn out than usual. I heard the phrase ‘geriatric pregnancy’ for the first time when I was about six weeks in, and I laughed until I realized that’s actually what it’s called at my age.”
Joanna, who shares Drake, 13, Ella, 11, Duke, 9, Emmie, 8, and 6-week-old Crew with Chip, admitted she never expected to be back in maternity jeans. “As much as Chip and I joked about the possibility of having another child, I truly believed I was done,” she wrote. “And yet, after eight years, here I am with a newborn in my arms. I feel like I’m a first-time mom all over again.”
The Magnolia Table cookbook author noted that she had her first four children close together. ”Time and money and sleep were all scare, and I remember greeting each of those babies with a mix of excitement, uncertainty, exhaustion, and awe,” she recalled the in the essay. This time around, the HGTV personality is “more comfortable” in her own skin.
She is also learning to accept the help of others. “Part of being capable is surrounding myself with people who are strong where I am weak and willing to lend a hand when I am in need of help,” she mused. “Since Crew’s birth, I have a new understanding of the reality of the phrase ‘it takes a village.’”
The fall issue of The Magnolia Journal hits newsstands early next week.
