It's official — Shay Mitchell and Matte Babel are officially parents. Mitchell took to Instagram Sunday night to announce the news that their first child has arrived and they don't plan to let the little girl out of their sight, at least anytime soon.The first photo of Shay and Matte's baby is a shot of their daughter's tiny hand grasping the finger of her mama, who captioned it, "Never letting go." They revealed no other details but considering Shay hasn't been shy about sharing what her pregnancy has been like so far, we can hopefully expect the journey of motherhood to also be an open book. The
Pretty Little Liars star first announced she was expecting in June
on Instagram, where she posed topless showing off her beautiful belly, and accompanied that glorious pic with the hilarious caption, "Does this mean I'm allowed to drive in the car pool lane at all times now?"Mitchell also posted a video on YouTube around the same time titled "Guess Who's Preggers." In it, Mitchell announced that she and Babel would be sharing their adventure of expecting in a series called
Almost Ready, which premiered a few weeks later. She confessed in the vid that she "didn't want to come out on social media so early on" but after six months of hiding and feeling down and lonely, she couldn't wait to unleash her belly on the world. "Now it's about us and I would never want it to be like, 'I'm not confident of us.' I'm extremely confident right now because i have my baby growing inside of me." She added: "It didn't feel right to just put up a photo and be like, 'I'm pregnant!,' and have people just think that everything is peaches and rainbows. This is real life and I want people to come along with me on this journey in real time."
And what a journey it has been. Subsequent episodes of
Almost Ready include Shay being forced to
wear diapers, that time she made Matte
experience exactly what being pregnant feels like, her
baby shower and learning whether or not she would
need to have a C-section.Shortly after they announced they were expecting, Shay surprised Matte with a
gender reveal that ended up being a surprise for her too. And it was during that epic reveal that they learned they were having a girl.It hasn't always been the best of times. That pink Power Ranger came six months after Mitchell revealed she had lost a baby in 2018. She
opened up about what she and Babel went through on her Instagram stories on January 1st, posting a pic of a sonogram and an emoji of a broken heart. In her lengthy message, she said that what helped get her through those dark days was the "support and affection" she received from her fans, which she found "incredibly humbling and hugely uplifting."It's a new day, however, with many, many, many years to come. As Shay and Matte embark on parenthood, we can't wait to see how they tackle this next phase of their lives. Congrats to the new family!
