Second Lady Usha Vance and Vice President JD Vance have announced that they are expecting their fourth child later this year and revealed the news in a joint statement posted on social media on Tuesday.
The couple said they are “thrilled” to be welcoming a baby and announced that both mother and child were in good health. The baby is supposed to arrive in late July.
The Vances already are parents to three children, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, who have frequently accompanied them on official travel both within the United States and overseas.
Their rising presence along with the vice president and second lady has made this family a familiar sight at public events.
The announcement is historic because it is the first time that a serving second lady has been pregnant while in office. While unprecedented for the role, there is historical precedent amongst first ladies.
In the White House in 1893 in the second administration of President Grover Cleveland, Frances Cleveland gave birth to their daughter named Esther. Decades later, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave birth to her third child, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, prematurely in 1963; whom died two days later, a moment that had a profound effect on the nation.
Acknowledging the months ahead, the Vances had identified the time both as happy and as difficult. They were grateful for the care and support of military medical teams and their staff as they await the baby’s arrival.
Usha Vance, 40, left her profession as a leading public interest lawyer after her husband became vice president.
During the last season she has occupied an active public station, attending public duties, and organising a small office, meanwhile settling her family in the vice-presidential mansion at the Naval Observatory.
As second lady she has made childhood literacy one of her focus points as she continues her public work, launching last year a nationwide summer reading trend.
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