The Olympic gymnast, who is 26 years old, recently had her first baby, a daughter, with her husband Jonas Harmer. This happened on Thursday, September 21, at 12:42 p.m. The baby weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.
They happily shared the news on Instagram by posting pictures of themselves with their newborn daughter in the hospital. In one picture, Skinner and Harmer are looking at each other while touching their baby girl. In another photo, you can see a close-up of their daughter, who is holding her dad’s hands.
They wrote, “Everyone, meet Lottie!” in their caption. “Charlotte Jane Harmer arrived safely yesterday afternoon. Mom and baby are both doing well. We couldn’t ask for more.”
Many people left kind messages in the comments, including fellow Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who said, “Congratulations, mama.” Skinner and her husband got married in 2019, a month after getting engaged and two years after they started dating.
In August, she had a photo shoot with PEOPLE magazine to celebrate her pregnancy. She talked about how it was a chance to capture the beauty of the journey and appreciate the hard work and sacrifices she had made to become a mom.
“We are so excited to have this little girl as part of our family,” she told PEOPLE at the time.
Skinner also mentioned that pregnancy had been quite tough for her, and she developed a lot of respect for moms and soon-to-be moms. She said, “Sometimes I feel like pregnancy is harder than being an Olympian.”
She had always wanted to be a mom, but as a competitive gymnast, it wasn’t possible. So, after retiring following the Tokyo Olympics, she and her husband Jonas decided to start trying for a baby. They announced the pregnancy in March on their Instagram accounts, sharing their excitement about becoming parents.
After the announcement, Skinner talked about how she hoped to tell her children about her experience at the Tokyo Games, regardless of the outcome. She wanted to be that “cool” mom who could share her Olympic journey with her kids one day.