Aly Michalka, singer of Aly & AJ, and her husband, Stephen Ringer, are now proud parents! The couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Jack Francis, on April 21—two weeks before Aly’s expected due date.
“It was a very peaceful and calm birth, which is really what we were hoping for,” Aly shared with People in a June 10 interview. “He’s just a great little guy. He’s got a really special disposition about him.”
Aly opted for a home birth, assisted by a midwife and two doulas, after deciding that a hospital birth wasn’t right for her. Despite the lengthy 50-hour labor, Aly described the experience as “just wonderful” and everything they had envisioned.
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The couple chose the name Jack Francis to honor their family history. Jack was inspired by Aly’s late maternal grandfather, while Francis comes from Stephen’s side. “We just kind of knew immediately like, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a Jack,’” Aly said.
Interestingly, Aly’s water broke while she was at her sister AJ Michalka’s house. The sisters had been working on a new album together just before Jack’s arrival.
Aly first announced her pregnancy in January, sharing that she felt fortunate to have had an easy pregnancy.
“It’s been really smooth sailing so far, and I was lucky I didn’t get any nausea at the beginning,” she said. “I’ve just been trekking away as usual.”
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She discovered she was pregnant after a sold-out concert with AJ at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Aly recalled, “I’m past a week being late, and I should just take the test. And then it was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh. We play this huge show tonight, and now I’m holding in this huge secret.’”
Aly and Stephen met in 2013 on the set of her movie Sequoia and tied the knot two years later. Though they waited almost a decade to start a family, Aly was always confident that Stephen was the perfect partner for this journey.
“I can see Stephen being a really great dad,” she said. “He’ll be very tuned in to their feelings and emotions.”
