Culture March 6, 2018

Hilarie Burton reveals 5-year struggle to have baby No. 2

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Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan arrive at the 69th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater, Sept. 17, 2017, in Los Angeles.

Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan welcomed their second child last month, and on Tuesday, he actress shared photos of the baby for the first time.

In a lengthy Instagram post, she also opened up about the struggles she and Morgan faced over the five years that it took them to have the daughter they named George Virginia.

Burton wrote that it took her a year and a half to get pregnant and added that that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

"More losses followed, and as so many couples know, it was heartbreaking. It still is heartbreaking," she wrote. "And every morning of the five years it took us, I'd open my computer at the kitchen table and see the news and I'd grow bitter over the endless parade of celebrities showing off their bumps and babies. I'd weep out of jealousy for how easy it was for them. Didn't they know something could go wrong? Didn't they know that there were other women out there struggling? It pained me to see the corporate sponsored baby showers and magazine covers capitalizing on this human miracle that wasn't happening for us."

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Burton, 35, and Morgan, 51, have been a couple since 2009, and they welcomed their son, Gus, the following year. When they discovered last year that they were expecting, Burton wrote that they were "cautious."

"I didn't want to celebrate for fear of jinxing it. I didn't want a baby shower," she revealed. "I checked her heartbeat every day, up until the day she was born. And now that she is here, I just stare at her in wonder all day. I see her in her daddy's arms and I don't take any of it for granted. She screams bloody murder and I smile because she is so wildly alive."

The actress concluded her post by noting that she hopes her story will inspire other women who are struggling with fertility issues.

"I don't want her birth to cause any other woman to weep at her kitchen table. If anything, my wish is that she would restore hope for others. Fertility is a fickle thing," she wrote. "And for the other couples out there who have had dark days, we want to introduce our miracle baby to you and send you our love and support in finding yours."