Danielle Bergman and Bobby Dodd have welcomed a little miracle just in time for the holidays! The Married at First Sight couple welcomed their second child together, a son named Robert Elvin Dodd IV, at 12:01 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 14, they announced Wednesday, as first reported by PEOPLE. Baby Robert weighed in at 6 lbs., 5 oz. and measured 18.75 inches long, coming three weeks early after Bergmann developed symptoms of HELLP syndrome.
The new parents said in a statement they “got the birth story of [their] dreams, given the circumstances.” Once symptoms of HELLP — serious complication of high blood pressure during pregnancy — began to set in, Bergman was induced early, but was able to have a “smooth and peaceful birth.” She remains hospitalized with HELLP syndrome for now.
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“We chose to induce on the perfect day, divine intervention,” Bergman continued. “If I was still pregnant today I would have gotten very sick. Only another day or two.” Delivering the baby is the only treatment for HELLP, and the reality TV personality expects to recover soon after her “body functions tanked.”
“[The doctor] said the body response lags behind 12-24 hours, which is why we see numbers tanking the day after [giving birth],” she continued, adding that her son is “happy and healthy.” Big sister Olivia, 22 months, who has been staying with her grandparents has “no clue that things are about to change,” the mother of two joked, and the family “cannot wait to watch them grow up together!”
Bergman and Dodd married after meeting for the first time on Season 7 of Married at First Sight in 2018. The pair welcomed Olivia in February 2019, and announced in June of this year they were adding another member of the family. “It’s official! Olivia has a baby brother or sister coming January of 2021!!” Bergman wrote under a photo of Olivia in a “Big Sis” shirt at the time. Because of her experience with HELLP during her first pregnancy, the Lifetime personality told PEOPLE after the birth of Olivia, “We had planned on starting to try again for a baby as soon as we could to keep our kids close in age, but I have to say, this experience freaked us out so much that we considered keeping Olivia an only child. Luckily she is a happy and healthy little girl who has never had any issues from her rough entrance into the world!”
