Adrienne Bailon-Houghton has welcomed her first child with husband Israel Houghton. The former co-host of The Real revealed earlier today on Instagram that she welcomed a baby boy via surrogate.

“Ever James ♾ / For this child we have prayed / Just to hear our baby cry / Skin to skin and face to face / Heart to heart and eye to eye…,” Bailon wrote in a post.

She continued, “Our baby boy is here & we are so in love! If you have followed our love story… you know that our journey to baby has been very challenging – But God is true to His word and His promises. We have quietly prayed while sitting on this most magnificent secret for the last 9 months.”

Adding, “He is worth every tear, every disappointment, every delayed prayer, every IVF cycle, every miscarriage. Everything. All we feel is joy and overwhelming love & gratitude. Grateful to God, to our angel surrogate and to all of our friends and family who have stood with us for over 5 years on this journey. He’s here and we have never been happier to lose sleep!#HappilyEverHoughton”

Bailon–Houghton has been open about her fertility struggles. In 2018, the former talk show host shared that it wasn’t easy for her to get pregnant.

“I think so many people are very insensitive to that, in the sense [that] I know you guys are like, ‘Is she pregnant?’ ‘Her face is fuller’— FYI I’ve always had a really chubby face so that’s not what it is.”

“I think that as an audience we should be sensitive to the fact that everybody doesn’t get pregnant right away,” Bailon continued. “I think for myself I thought it would happen so easily for me and it just hasn’t happened that way.”

“I’ve had to come to peace with that it’ll happen when it’s God’s timing and I believe in that and I have faith in all of that,” she said. “But it can be really discouraging and it can be really frustrating.”

Adrienne married gospel singer Israel Hougton in December 2019. Houghton has four children from a previous relationship.