This article was originally published on Crafting Your Home. A human contributor also wrote and edited the post.
Matt Howard and Abby Howard have a brand-new reason to celebrate, and it comes with an extra layer of joy their fans have been rooting for all year.
The TikTok stars and podcast hosts welcomed their third son on Sunday, August 17, officially making them a family of five.
They shared the happy news on Instagram with a tender photo of Abby cradling her newborn in her hospital bed, though true to their recent habit of keeping their kids’ faces off social media, they covered his face with a heart emoji. The couple has not yet revealed their new son’s name.
For longtime followers of the Howards, this birth means something bigger than just another baby announcement. Less than a year ago, Matt and Abby were The baby’s birth comes nearly a year after Abby experienced pregnancy loss at 17 weeks with a baby girl in September 2025 at 17 weeks, a loss they spoke about with striking openness at the time.
Their new baby boy is what many parents in similar situations call a rainbow baby, a child born after pregnancy loss, and the timing of his arrival includes a detail that has fans equal parts laughing and reaching for the tissues.
From Devastating Loss to “Baby #4”
Matt and Abby, who met in high school and married in 2019, already have two older sons, Griffin, 4, and August, 3.
In August of last year, the couple exclusively told PEOPLE they were expecting their third child, with Matt sharing at the time that going for baby number three felt “almost more exciting than ever because now we truly know just how good it is.”
Abby, for her part, described the pregnancy as feeling different from her previous two, admitting there were days she had to remind herself she was even pregnant.
That excitement turned to heartbreak just a month later. On September 27, 2025, the couple shared devastating news with their millions of followers. “It is with very heavy hearts that we share about the loss of our baby girl born far too soon,” they wrote on Instagram at the time.
They explained that at a routine appointment, doctors could not find a heartbeat, and a follow-up ultrasound confirmed the worst. “That is when we got the gender reveal we never hoped for and also the news that our baby had a genetic condition that took her life around 17 weeks gestation,” they wrote.
Despite the grief, the couple made a point of expressing gratitude for the time they did have with her. “The grief is absolutely devastating,” they wrote. “But we feel so much gratitude for the time that we did get to have with her. And we still have hope.”
They later revealed their daughter’s name was Emerson Nicole, and in the months that followed, they continued to honor her publicly. On what would have been her due date, February 28, the couple shared another emotional tribute.
“In another version of today maybe we were holding you for the very first time,” they wrote. “But that’s not today. Today we are grieving you: our daughter and baby sister.”
They closed the post with a line that captured the complicated nature of their grief: “We grieve because we love (so so much) and for the rest of our lives we will carry your love with us. Happy due date sweet Emerson Nicole.”
Just weeks later, on March 24, Matt and Abby shared a very different kind of pregnancy announcement, one that carried both hope and hesitation. “Baby #4,” they captioned an Instagram carousel of sonogram photos, adding, “grateful beyond measure.”
Abby later opened up on the couple’s “Unplanned Podcast” about how complicated it felt to be public with something so fragile so soon after such a public loss.
“We were so public with our miscarriage, and gosh, I’m just a human, right?” she said. “It just feels like we were so candid about everything and authentic, and just like certain pressures with being public-facing with something that’s so fragile.”
A Sweet Surprise, a Sister-Hoping Toddler, and a Very Public Journey
As the pregnancy progressed, the Howards eventually revealed they were expecting another boy, a moment that came with its own emotional complexity.
On their podcast, Abby admitted to briefly feeling what she called “gender disappointment,” though she clarified she never had a strong preference for a daughter.
Matt was candid about his own reaction too, saying he had initially hoped his wife would get the experience of raising a girl. Once the dust settled, though, he embraced the news wholeheartedly. “I’m so excited to have three boys,” Matt said. “I am one of three boys. We talked about how fun it is to have your boys.”
Their eldest son, Griffin, had reportedly been hoping for a sister during the pregnancy announcement for their third child the year before, adding a bittersweet layer to a family that has now welcomed three sons in a row.
Throughout both the loss and the pregnancy that followed, the Howards leaned on their online community, which numbers more than five million followers across their platforms.
Fellow influencers and even reality TV personalities showed up in their comments with support along the way.
When the couple announced they were expecting again in March, “Little People, Big World” star Tori Roloff commented, “Congratulations friends!!! What a blessed sweet babe!”
Months earlier, when they announced Emerson’s due date tribute, “19 Kids and Counting” alum Jill Duggar wrote, “So so sorry for your loss. Your Emerson Nicole is so loved,” while “Married at First Sight” star Jamie Otis added her own message of comfort.
The Detail That Has Everyone Smiling Through Tears
Perhaps the most talked-about part of this week’s announcement has nothing to do with grief at all, and everything to do with timing. Abby’s due date had been set for August 11, which happens to be her own father’s birthday.
Knowing that a newborn was likely to steal the spotlight, Abby got ahead of it months in advance, moving her dad’s birthday celebration up to June 27 and throwing him a surprise party.
In a lighthearted twist, she arranged for comedian Nate Bargatze’s own father to perform in their living room, since her dad is a huge fan of the comedian, and the family got to see Nate and his father, Stephen, perform live in front of a crowd of 20,000 the night before the surprise party.
When the baby ultimately arrived close to that original due date, Abby couldn’t resist a joke about the timing in her announcement. She noted that she had meant to post a birthday tribute to her dad on his actual birthday but got sidetracked.
“P.S. I meant to post this yesterday to wish him a happy birthday,” she wrote, “but I was a little busy working on his greatest birthday present yet.” It’s the kind of line that only makes sense once you know the full story, a joke that only lands because of everything the family went through to get here.
For a couple who built their platform on sharing life’s highs and lows with unusual candor, from a pregnancy loss to a rainbow pregnancy to now a newborn son, this latest chapter feels like the payoff to a story their followers have been walking through with them for nearly a year.
Matt and Abby haven’t shared their new son’s name yet, and there’s no word on when they plan to reveal it. But for now, the family of five is settling in: two big brothers, two grateful parents, and a baby boy who arrived carrying more meaning than his tiny frame probably realizes.
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