What you need to know
Annika Perry Gustin is officially a mom!
Annika and her husband Sean gave birth to their first child, daughter Grace Emily, on September 28th, a source exclusively revealed. The content creator’s baby was born weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 20 inches long.
“‘Thrill’ is the word for me,” Sean tells PEOPLE of how he’s been feeling over the past week and a half since his baby was born. “It’s a combination of anxiety and excitement and gratitude. It’s just a lot of different emotions.”
The big news for new parents and content creators comes just 10 weeks after Anikka’s mother, Mika Wright Perry (sister of Ballerina Farm founder Hannah Neeleman), gave birth to her 11th child, daughter Lottie, in July.
After about 10 hours of labor at home and several more hours at the hospital, Annika gave birth to baby Grace, who has black hair and long eyelashes, around 5pm. (Annika says she was also born with black hair, but it fell out after a few months and returned to her signature blonde hair.)
As for Grace’s name, they actually decided on it long before she got pregnant. After getting engaged in Hawaii, Annika said they made plans for the rest of their trip together, including naming their children.
Zanna Perry
“I especially remember the day after we got engaged, sitting under a waterfall, talking about our favorite baby names, and realizing that we both really liked Grace,” she says. “So when I actually got pregnant, it was really easy because it was a name we decided on before we got married.”
“We’ve always loved Biblical names, old English classic names, things that are timeless,” continues Sean. “We wanted to give her something beautiful for the rest of her life.”
Regarding the list of baby names, she jokes, “Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are already lined up.”
Reminiscing about Annika’s final weeks before giving birth to her baby, admittedly in the midst of childbirth a lifetime ago, they quickly think back to Micca’s own birth.
“My mom let me and my sister attend the birth, and I think it was a really cool and educational experience,” Annika said, adding that she was “relieved” to know that her birth would likely be similar to her mother’s, right down to which parking lot at the hospital she would park in.
Sean added that although he wasn’t planning on having a baby himself, Micah’s birth was like a “preview” of what to expect in 10 weeks. When he was finally taken to the hospital, Mika answered all of his questions as a new father, and he says, “It was such a relief for me.” ”
But after giving birth, they hope Annika’s sister, who is only 10 weeks older than their daughter, will continue to help them navigate the early stages of parenthood.
Zanna Perry
“It’s like, ‘Okay, our little baby is growing so fast in 10 weeks,'” Sean says. “And that only excites us.”
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The couple is also in the final stages of moving next door to Micah’s home in Utah County. Annika said it was exciting for all of Grace’s siblings, who will be uncles and aunts to baby Grace, and for her and Sean, who will be witnessing the bond between their extended family.
“I grew up surrounded by a lot of cousins, and they were always my best friends, and it was always so much fun,” she tells PEOPLE. “It would be fun for Grace to have a lot of close aunts and uncles around her age.”
The news that Annika and Sean welcomed their daughter caps off an exciting chapter in their pregnancy, which was unique in that Annika shared much of it with her expectant mother. In May, the young mother-to-be posted a video expressing her gratitude for sharing such a valuable experience alongside Mika.
“Thank you for being there for me, listening to all my questions, sharing my fears, and preparing for the birth with me,” Annika wrote in the caption. “She has always been my rock and my guide.”
The pair recreated the iconic scene from the 1995 Father of the Bride sequel, in which a mother-daughter pair played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Diane Keaton become pregnant at the same time, with synchronized dance training that included deep breathing and squats. (“We had so much fun being pregnant at the same time,” the pair wrote on Instagram at the time.)
Annika, who is preparing to share Grace’s birth with the world, admits that posting about their family life online has led to “a fair amount of hate” and questions about whether children in large families “are getting enough love,” but says she and Sean’s belief in the strength of extended families is what motivates them to keep going.
Zanna Perry
“You can have a big, truly happy, loving, successful, beautiful family,” she says. “A lot of people may not know that.”
“We’re going to stay authentic to what we love,” Sean added about his social media presence. “It’s definitely a fun opportunity to share some insight into what we care about and what’s important to us. Whether you like it or hate it is completely up to you.”
