Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski has welcomed a daughter named Georgie Winter, with her husband Todd Kapostasy, Lipinski announced on TODAY.
“I have really incredible news to share!” Lipinski, 41, told TODAY contributing correspondent Kaylee Hartung. “Todd and I have a baby girl, Georgie Winter, that arrived into our arms by the most beautiful surrogate.”
Lipinski, who faced infertility for years, was in the delivery room when her daughter was born.
“My doctor had me playing my favorite song and I’m bawling because I think there was just so much relief of, ‘Is this five-year journey over?’” said Lipinski. “And then immediately, the baby is out, screaming, and on my chest and we’re doing skin-to-skin and it was one of those moments like, ‘How did my life just change so quickly and is this a dream? Because it feels like it.’”
Lipinski and Kapostasy run a podcast titled “Tara Lipinski: Unexpecting” about their pregnancy battles, which they shoot in the basement of their home.
Their pregnancy history includes repeated rounds of IVF, four miscarriages and a diagnosis of endometriosis, when cells in the uterus grow elsewhere in the body, which can make getting pregnant hard.
The athlete and NBC Sports Group figure skating analyst is nothing but grateful to have her first baby.
“I feel so much gratitude — it just didn’t happen for so long — and we’re just very, very lucky that this happened for us,” Lipinski told TODAY through her tears.
Lipinski said she can’t lose sight of other people battling infertility.
“I deal with this feeling of, a little guilt for all the people still in that wait, still hearing this news and thinking what I thought for those five years of, ‘When is it going to be my time?’ (and) ‘Why me?’” she said.
Starting a video podcast about infertility brought her and Todd closer together, Lipinski said, and also introduced her to a new community.
“Not only do I feel more bonded to Todd and we’ve had these conversations that I think we would have never had,” she told TODAY, “but I also have now connected with this entire community, which is by far the most meaningful thing I’ve ever been able to be a part of.”
Mom has a message for little Georgie.
“I just want her to know that she was so wanted,” said Lipinski. “That Todd and I thought about her for five years and that we can’t wait to hopefully be the best parents to her and give her a beautiful life.”