Abby Howard was back in a hospital bed, this time with a newborn son tucked against her.

In the photo she and husband Matt Howard shared on Aug. 17, Abby, 27, smiled while holding the baby close, his face covered by a heart emoji. The couple had spent the previous week largely away from their followers.

Now they were ready to share why.

“He’s here!!!!” they wrote.

Nearly a year after losing their daughter Emerson Nicole midway through pregnancy, Matt and Abby were bringing another child home.

The social media couple are also parents to sons Griffin, 4, and August, 3. Their newborn, whose name they had not yet announced, makes them a family of five.

This Announcement Came After a Very Different One

For the Howards, the new photograph followed a year that had held two very different pregnancy announcements.

Their Aug. 17 caption was brief. They said they had been “soaking up every bit of this beautiful new chapter as a family of 5” and would gradually tell followers about their past week.

Even the timing of the birth carried a family connection.

Before delivering, Abby had told followers that her due date was Aug. 11, the same day as her father’s birthday. In a TikTok about surprising him with magician Stephen Bargatze, she later hinted that she had been too busy on his birthday to post when she planned.

She called the reason his “greatest birthday present yet.”

The couple had not confirmed as of their announcement whether their baby actually arrived on Aug. 11.

What was clear was how different this August looked from the September before it.

At 17 Weeks, a Routine Appointment Changed Everything

In September 2025, Abby was about 17 weeks pregnant with a baby girl.

She and Matt went into what they described as a routine pregnancy appointment. During that visit, their doctor couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat.

They named their daughter Emerson Nicole.

Later, the couple learned that Emerson had what they described as a genetic condition that had taken her life. When they told followers about the loss, they shared a photograph of themselves holding hands.

“The news felt unimaginable,” they wrote.

Their post did not try to soften what followed.

“The grief is absolutely devastating,” Matt and Abby said.

At the same time, they wrote about feeling thankful for the period in which Emerson had been part of their family and about holding onto hope after losing her.

“But we feel so much gratitude for the time that we did get to have with her,” they wrote.

Emerson remained part of the way they counted their family.

That became especially clear six months later.

Their Next Pregnancy Announcement Included a Rainbow

On March 24, Matt and Abby shared another set of news.

A photograph showed the couple kissing while holding sonogram images. Their caption contained only a few words, but one detail connected the new pregnancy directly to the loss that had come before it.

“baby #4 🌈. grateful beyond measure,” they wrote.

The number included Emerson.

A month later, in April, the couple revealed they were expecting another boy. He would join older brothers Griffin and August.

The pregnancy continued toward Abby’s August due date, bringing the family close to the first anniversary of Emerson’s death.

Then the public updates stopped for a few days.

When Abby resurfaced in the Aug. 17 photograph, she wasn’t holding sonograms.

She was holding her son.

For Now, They Are Keeping Some Details to Themselves

Matt and Abby did not use the birth announcement to tell followers everything.

They haven’t publicly shared their newborn’s name, and they obscured his face in the first hospital photograph. Their caption suggested more of the story would come when they were ready.

For the moment, the update stayed focused on what had changed inside their home.

There were now three boys to raise: Griffin, August and their newborn son.

There was also a daughter whose name remained part of the family’s story.

When Matt and Abby announced the new pregnancy in March, they called the baby “#4.” When they announced his arrival in August, they described themselves as a family of five.

Those two ways of counting held both parts of the past year.

One included Emerson.

The other described the five people now sharing daily life at home.

Less than a year earlier, Matt and Abby had posted a picture of two hands clasped together while telling followers that their daughter’s heartbeat was gone. Six months later came sonogram pictures and a rainbow emoji.

On Aug. 17, the image changed again.

Abby was smiling from a hospital bed with her newborn pressed against her chest.

“He’s here!!!!” the couple wrote. “We have been soaking up every bit of this beautiful new chapter as a family of 5.”