Kristen Welker Welcomes Second Baby via Surrogate

Kristen Welker is officially a mom of two!

The Meet the Press moderator, 47, and her husband, John Hughes, have welcomed son John Zachary Welker Hughes to the world.

Their son was born on Thursday, May 30 via surrogate — weighing in at 7 lbs. and measuring almost 20 inches long.⁠ He joins big sister Margot Lane, who turns 3 this month.

⁠”The Meet the Press family officially has a new member,” said NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Peter Alexander said on the Sunday, June 2 episode of the show, which he hosted in Welker’s absence. “Look at the nugget!”

“John Zachary’s big sister Margot, as you can imagine, she is extremely proud, welcoming home her baby brother yesterday,” Alexander, 47, continued. “Kristen shares her surrogate, who she calls her ‘angel on earth,’ is doing great.”

“From all of us here at Meet the Press, a huge congratulations to Kristen and John and Margo and all the grandparents,” added Alexander. “And to John Zachary, we know you’re watching, we can’t wait to meet you.”

PEOPLE helped break the news that Welker and Hughes were expanding their family.

“This is an extraordinary moment, there’s no doubt about that,” said Welker, who made history as the first Black journalist to moderate a Sunday public affairs program when she became host of NBC’s Meet the Press last September.

The couple first became first-time parents in June 2021, when they welcomed daughter Margot Lane via surrogate. The pair struggled with infertility for three years before pursuing surrogacy, a process she told PEOPLE filled her with uncertainty the first time around.

“I think when you’re embarking on a surrogacy journey for the first time, it is a huge leap of faith,” Welker recalled, adding that she wondered, “Would I bond with Margot immediately? Would she feel any differently toward me?”

Those questions vanished when Margot arrived. “We bonded immediately,” said Welker, “She looked up at me, I looked down at her and told her that I love her more than the entire world and all of the fears I had immediately disappeared. [So] I really have been able to enjoy this second surrogacy journey. This experience has been very different.”

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As for Margot, she’s been ready for John Zachary’s arrival.

“Margot has been telling her classmates that Mama and Dada are getting her a baby brother for her birthday,” Welker laughed. “She’s very proud of the fact that her baby brother will be sleeping in her old crib.”

Welker added that while she and Hughes had some names in mind for their then baby-to-be, Margot had come up with a name for him that they’d adopted in their household: “Lolo.”

Meet the Press airs Sundays on NBC.