Kim and Kanye welcomed their fourth child via surrogacy on May 9.
Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West are a family of six!
The couple welcomed their fourth child, a baby boy, via surrogacy on May 9. Kim's rep told ET that their son weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz. A source also told ET that Kim and Kanye were both present for the delivery of their youngest son.
"Kim and Kanye welcomed their son, and are over the moon with excitement," the source said. "Both Kim and Kanye were there for the delivery, and some of the family was at the hospital for support. The couple is enjoying this special moment and is so happy to have this perfect addition to their family."
Kim and Kanye's latest addition to the family joins their three kids -- daughters North, 5, and Chicago, 1, as well as 3-year-old brother, Saint. The new baby marked the second of their four children to be born with a surrogate. With the West clan opting to go the same route again, it begs the question of how deciding to use a surrogate affects the child's parents. For Kim, surrogacy was initially a "harder experience" than she anticipated.
"You know, it is really different. Anyone that says or thinks it is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way because you are not really in control," Kim told ET back in November 2017. "And, you know, obviously you pick someone that you completely trust and that you have a good bond and relationship with, but it is still ... knowing that I was able to carry my first two babies and not, you know, my baby now, it's hard for me. So, it's definitely a harder experience than I anticipated just in the control area."
Despite admittedly "hating being pregnant," Kim still found it challenging to see someone else carry her child.
"I thought this was going to be so easy, but you know, even in how much I hated it, if I could do it myself I would have preferred that," Kim said of pregnancy. "So, that inner struggle is kind of hard, but I am just rolling with it and it is what it is."
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star went on to call herself "blessed," but still expressed concern about not being ready for when baby Chicago arrived.
"I think it is definitely a different experience and I am blessed that I am able to do this, and technology is the way that it is that we can do this, but it is still a process that you need to digest," she said. "Even the fact that it is happening -- and you do forget sometimes -- because I think when you are pregnant, by the time you have the baby, you are so prepared and so ready, and now I am just like, 'Oh my god, I am going to freak out because I'm not ready and I'm not prepared,' but it'll just all come into place."
In a February 2018 episode of KUWTK, which aired just over a month after Chicago was born, Kim reiterated her concern that without the act of being pregnant herself, she wouldn't be fully prepared or invested in her new baby.
"I so would have rather done it on my own," the 37-year-old admitted. "I'd just rather feel connected. I just hope I care as much."
That connection turned out not to be a problem at all, as Kim explained to Ashley Graham on her podcast, Pretty Big Deal, back in October, calling surrogacy the "best thing" she ever did and "the greatest experience."
"I think I was so nervous to have a surrogate and to have that connection that God was like, 'I'm going to make her look just like you,'" Kim said of Chicago.
The mother-daughter twinning wasn't always a given because when Kim and Kanye opted to go the surrogacy route, they had to decide the sex of their baby. For the parents, though, it was an easy choice.
"It’s a really tricky thing," Kim told Elle in March of 2018 of choosing the baby's sex. "What sex do you put in? I just said, 'Which one is the healthiest? Pick the healthiest one,' and that was a girl."
In the same interview, Kim described how she and Kanye selected their surrogate and revealed the involvement they had with the woman's day-to-day life.
"It was a feeling," she told the magazine of selecting a surrogate. “"You know when you can trust someone."
During the pregnancy, Kim and Kanye requested that their surrogate use their doctor, deliver the baby in Los Angeles, California, and eat as organically as possible, though the last wasn't a firm rule.
"I straight-up told her, 'Look, I ate doughnuts every single day. If you want doughnuts and ice cream, go for it. Do whatever you feel. I’m not going to be picky like that. That’s just ridiculous,'" Kim said.
Despite recommending surrogacy "for anybody" and calling it "the best experience" -- at least after she learned to "let go [of control]" -- Kim was unsure if she'd ever do it again.
"My home and my heart feel really full right now, in the best way," she said at the time, before revealing four children to be her max. "I don’t think I could handle more than that. My time is spread really thin. And I think it’s important that in all couples, the mom gives the husband as much attention as the kids."
Then in January of this year, a source told ET that the couple was expecting their fourth child later this year via surrogacy. Later that month, another source told ET that Kim and Kanye decided to use a different surrogate than the woman who carried Chicago.
"Kim and Kanye weighed their options heavily, took time to think everything through," the source said of their decision to have another child. "Ultimately they decided to see, if they implanted the embryo, if it would take and left the rest up to fate. Family to Kim and Kanye is everything, and they are ecstatic they are expanding their family."
ET then spoke with Kim in April, where she talked about how her experience with a surrogate was different the second time around.
"I love my surrogate, we have a really good relationship," she said. "I really trust her and I definitely see, like, the first time that I went through it, I was a little bit more anxious, and texting more and calling more, and I feel like my surrogate this time around, really is such a protecting person and I really trust that in her."
"So, I feel really calm and at ease," she continued. "I don't know if it's a fourth kid thing or, we've been through the surrogacy before, you just get a little bit more calm as they go."
Hear more of Kim's comments in the video below.
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