Shawn Johnson East and Andrew East have a new gold medal–worthy addition to their family after welcoming their third baby on Tuesday, December 12.
“Our baby is healthy and that’s all we can ask for,” Johnson East, 31, wrote in the Thursday, December 14, issue of her “FamilyMade” newsletter, confirming she had a C-section.
The baby’s birth date has a special meaning for East, 32. “Life is so good and we are feeling really blessed to have a third healthy baby join our family. My dad was born on December 9 and passed away unexpectedly on December 27 of last year, so December is a really impactful month for us,” he added in the newsletter. “Having our baby born so close to my dad’s birthday feels really special and I know he would be smiling down and so proud of us.”
The retired Olympic gymnast and East revealed in July that they were expecting baby No. 3.
“We definitely waited a lot longer to tell you guys and, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little bittersweet,” Johnson East said during an episode of their joint “Couple Things” podcast. “I’ve kind of loved having it to be ours. This has been so fun to have between us.”
Several hours later, Johnson East dressed her 17-week baby bump in a teal gown for the annual ESPY Awards before sharing further pregnancy updates via her social media.
“I’m so much more distracted [this time around] because we have two littles,” she said during a candid Instagram Story Q&A session on July 13, referring to daughter Drew and son Jett. “[And] I was so nauseous in the first trimester that I couldn’t function. Never threw up, just nauseous. Feeling better now [and] trying to get back into working out. It seems similar to Drew’s pregnancy [and] I’m showing a lot faster.”
Johnson East and East, who wed in April 2016, welcomed daughter Drew in October 2019 after suffering previous miscarriages. Their son, Jett, followed in July 2021.
“I think that’s the one thing people never really talk about is babies [being] a huge stress on your partnership and your marriage and your spouse,” Johnson East exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2021 of how their relationship shifted after the kids’ arrivals. “Just because you’re now sharing your spouse with someone else … and you have someone who consumes all of your time.”
She added at the time: “We really struggled with feeling disconnected from each other. I didn’t know who he was as a dad. He didn’t know who I was as a mom. It just changes who you are.”
While they are now adjusting to life as parents of three along with prioritizing their romance, they remain on the fence about welcoming another baby.
“I did kind of say this would be the last go-around,” Johnson East confessed during the July podcast episode, speaking directly to East. “Because you give me very large babies that take a large toll on my body. If we are wanting more children after this, I’m so down, but I’m down for, like, adopting and going down different routes. … [It’s] taken a very large toll and I think in preserving my body as a mom, being able to run around after my kids and stay healthy, I think even my OB would be [saying], ‘Three is a good number.’”
