If you're a regular viewer of TODAY, chances are you know all about Savannah Guthrie's two beautiful children — daughter Vale, 4, and son Charley, 2.
In a cover story for the new issue of Health magazine, Savannah shares a little more about them, opening up about her decision to start a family in her 40s and how in vitro fertilization helped bring her little boy into the world.
"I knew it was the winning lottery ticket to have one child — I was 42 when I had her," Savannah said of having Vale, who was born in 2014. "So I never dreamed that I would have two."
But thanks to IVF, a second child soon became a reality for her and her husband, Michael Feldman.
"I would say Vale was a miracle, and Charley was a medical miracle," Savannah explained. "When making that decision about whether to go through IVF, my husband and I talked about it a lot. I didn’t want to start a process where we spent all of our present searching after some future ... when our present was so lovely and beautiful and enough."
Still, the potential to have another child — and especially to give Vale a sibling — became impossible to ignore.
"Because we are older," the 47-year-old anchor said, "it was important to me for her to have a sibling, somebody to do life with."
So, even though IVF wasn't an easy journey, it proved to be the right one for them.
"My husband and I, we decided, 'OK, let’s give it a shot,' you know? But it ended up taking more than one attempt. It took a few," she said. "But we were lucky. I always say, Charley was, like, the last egg out. He really was. And we’re so blessed."
But Charley brought more than another life and light to the family — his arrival brought a new understanding about the difficult road to parenthood others face.
"Going through what we did, it makes you realize that everything has to go just right to have a healthy baby," Savannah continued. "I really feel for so many women who are struggling and wishing and wondering, 'When’s it gonna be my turn?' I know. And I understand."
That's why, when her family was finally complete, she felt gratitude for every part of it.
"In your 40s, and now my mid-to-late 40s, you have the difference in attitude where you can figure out what matters and what doesn’t," she said. "And guess what? What matters is your family. Full stop."