Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan welcomed their second child on Feb. 16, but getting to that point didn't come without its share of heartache and tears.
The actress took to Instagram on March 6 to share details of their daughter's birth. In her post, she noted that road to motherhood for the second time was painful, but she wanted to bare her soul to help other women struggling with fertility issues.
"There's something I really want to say to all the women out there who are trying," she said, "it took a long time for Jeffrey and I to have this baby. The first time I got pregnant, it took a year and a half. I surprised him on Christmas with baby Seahawk booties. We cried. We celebrated. We picked out names. And we lost that baby."
She said they tried more, but "more losses followed, and as so many couples know, it was heartbreaking. It still is heartbreaking."
"And every morning of the five years it took us, I'd open my computer at the kitchen table and see the news and I'd grow bitter over the endless parade of celebrities showing off their bumps and babies. I'd weep out of jealousy for how easy it was for them. Didn't they know something could go wrong? Didn't they know that there were other women out there struggling? It pained me to see the corporate sponsored baby showers and magazine covers capitalizing on this human miracle that wasn't happening for us."
Hilarie wed "The Walking Dead" actor in 2014. They already have a 7-year-old son together, Augustus.
When their daughter, George Virginia Morgan, was conceived, they tried to stay calm.
"So when this pregnancy started, we were cautious. I didn't want to celebrate for fear of jinxing it. I didn't want a baby shower. I checked her heartbeat every day, up until the day she was born," she wrote, alongside images of the newborn. "And now that she is here, I just stare at her in wonder all day. I see her in her daddy's arms and I don't take any of it for granted. She screams bloody murder and I smile because she is so wildly alive."
"So now that folks know she's here, I don't want her birth to cause any other woman to weep at her kitchen table. If anything, my wish is that she would restore hope for others. Fertility is a fickle thing," she said. "And for the other couples out there who have had dark days, we want to introduce our miracle baby to you and send you our love and support in finding yours."
In ending her post, Hilarie introduced George by her full name.
"Her daddy delivered her," she said. "We love her very much."