Chelsea Freeman/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman is expecting his fourth baby with wife Chelsea
The two announced the news on Instagram, revealing they're expecting another little one via surrogate
The Freemans are already parents to sons Max and Brandon, 5, and Charlie, 9
Los Angeles Dodgers'Freddie Freemanand his wifeChelseaare going to be parents again!
On Sunday, Feb. 22, the MLB star, 36, and his wife, 34, announced they are expecting their fourth baby together in a post onInstagram. The couple, who is already parents to sons Max and Brandon, 5, and Charlie, 9, shared that they are expecting their newest little one via surrogate.
In the family photo, Chelsea could be seen wearing a black turtleneck and posing behind her three boys. Freddie stood next to her and smiled as their oldest, Charlie, held up a sonogram image. His brothers Max and Brandon wore matching white sweaters on either side of him.
"Worth the wait 🤍 Baby#4is on the way and our hearts are already so full," Chelsea and Freddie wrote in their joint caption. "We are incredibly grateful for the amazing woman helping bring our baby into our lives, and we're choosing to honor her privacy as we walk this chapter. What do you think… brother or sister? 🤍💙🩷."
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The couple has been open in the past about wanting to grow their family. In February 2021, Chelsea told ESPN that her husband had always wanted to be a dad.
"As long as I've known [Freddie], he said that since he was a little boy, he always knew he wanted to be a dad," Chelsea toldESPN. "As important as being a baseball player to him is, I think being a dad is even more important."
After getting married in 2014, Freddie and Chelsea welcomed their first child, Frederick Charles II (who goes by Charlie), in 2016. After struggling to get pregnant again, the couple decided to expand their family through surrogacy. Days before the embryo transfer, Chelsea found out she was pregnant, and the MLB star told ESPN that they were happily surprised to go "from one to three."
They welcomed son Brandon John in 2020 and son Maximus Turner two months later in 2021. Chelsea and Freddie lovingly refer to their youngest boys as "twins with a twist."
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In March, Chelsea spoke with PEOPLE abouther son Max's health scareafter she attended the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Texas to support her husband with her three sons. All three boys got sick, but Max ended up needing to be hospitalized. According to Chelsea, those hours were some of the "scariest of my life."
"Max coded at check-in, and all of a sudden we were surrounded by countless doctors and nurses," she said. "At this point, he was paralyzed from the neck down. His breathing was weak, and they were worried about his lungs collapsing, so they immediately needed to sedate him and reinforce his lungs with a ventilator."
The head of the ER was certain that Max had Guillain-Barré syndrome. According to theMayo Clinic, Guillain-Barré is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves, resulting in weakness, numbness or paralysis.
"Max would need a lumbar puncture to confirm the diagnosis," Chelsea said, referring to a technique commonly known as a spinal tap. "The culture would take 48 hours, and Max would need a full-body MRI to rule out tumors, cancer and anything else. All words you never want to hear as a parent."
Both the MRI and the lumbar puncture came back as positive for Guillain-Barré syndrome. "It was the hardest eight days of our lives," Chelsea candidly admitted. "Maximus went from being one of the most critical patients in the PICU to getting discharged eight days later. The first few days were so scary — we were just praying for a miracle."
Later that month, Chelsea shared on her Instagram thather son Max was doing much better. "We had our 9 month neurologist check up for Max today. He is 80% recovered after today's assessment," Chelsea wrote over a sweet photo of Max at the doctor's office. "He had reflexes in both his knees and feet for the first time."
"He is finally above his pre GBS weight. He is still working hard in PT to build strength back in his legs & his feet (dorsiflexon) to improve. I cannot express how thankful I am for these improvements," she went on.
"Life has slowly started to feel more normal. I realize how precious health is now. It is everything. If you are a special needs parent I have no words for how incredible you are."
Read the original article onPeople
