Alyssa Bates Webster and her husband, John Webster, are getting ready to welcome their fourth baby! The Bringing Up Bates star shared the happy news with People.
Alyssa confirmed that the due date for the baby is February 2021:
“We’re so excited to add one more little one to our family. After having some health scares and wondering if we would be able to have more children, God gave us a little surprise blessing. One we are grateful for daily!”
The pair also shared that they don’t know the baby’s sex yet but each have their own suspicions:
“We cannot wait to meet our little one arriving in February. Mommy votes girl and Daddy votes boy … we will soon see which it will be. Either way we are happy and very thankful! We can’t wait to be a family of six!”
The update follows a round of health scares that resulted in Alyssa undergoing heart surgery in 2019.
It turns out that Alyssa was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, which is an abnormally fast heart rhythm. She underwent two surgeries in 2019, once in April and again in August. John kept fans of the family updated on Alyssa's condition via her Instagram page.
He wrote, "For the past several months Alyssa has been having some irregular heart beats and we have been in and out of doctors offices and specialist to find the problem. They found that she had superventricular tachycardia (SVT) which can be fixed with an EP (electrophysiology) study procedure."
Doctors were able to take care of the problem during the April surgery, but it returned again in August. The second surgery seems to be the one that helped solve the issue. Last August, Alyssa wrote, "My doctor said I have won the award for the worst case he's seen for SVT AVNRT."
"He really thinks he fixed the problem this time (we just won't know for sure for a few more days) but I am so happy that I might be back to normal soon!"
In December, the pair shared that while Alyssa was experiencing shortness of breath, her doctor still said her heart was healing well.
John and Alyssa got married in May 2014, with her entire 21-member immediate family present. Alyssa is one of the "middle children" in the family, and was only 19 when she and John got married. The family is known for their strict conservative Christian rules, and any partner of the children has to adhere to the same lifestyle.
For example, while John and Alyssa dated for a year before they got married, they had never been alone together before their wedding day.
This newest baby will join big sisters Zoey Joy, 2; Lexi Mae, 3½; and Allie Jane, 5.
Zoey Joy's birth was particularly eventful, and Alyssa shared the details of the "super fast" experience: "I mean it was close to 11:30 p.m. or midnight, and I finally was like 'I feel like these aren't going away.' So by the time that I went in, I had the baby within an hour and a half of going in. It just went so fast once I got here. It was just the baby was here."
"I feel like all that anticipation from nine months of just waiting and wanting to see the baby and hold the baby, and then finally get here … it was so exciting and such a relief. And it's a feeling like — I mean no matter how many kids you have — I feel like … it's a moment that forever you remember and cherish."
Alyssa also credits her mom with helping her stay focused and less stressed while raising her own kids: "It's great when my mom comes in town. She relieves so much stress. We get to do stuff together, and it's just relaxing. She helps out with the kids and does so many things like running errands that just makes it so nice."
Mom Kelly Jo also raised a 2-year-old, a 1-year-old, and an infant at the same time. She says it's all about perspective: "I think a lot of it is perspective. I told myself 'Instead of getting frustrated and instead of looking at the neighbor across the road that was free to go shopping every day or do her nails every day, I would try to remind myself the blessings in front of me and laugh at silly things and not get stressed over the unimportant things.'"
