Gretchen Rossi And Slade Smiley Welcome Their First Child Together, Daughter Skylar Gray!

Gretchen Rossi is officially a mom! On Wednesday, July 10, The former Real Housewives of Orange County star became a mom, giving birth to her first child with fiancé Slade Smiley. “Skylar is born and mama and baby are doing well,” Rossi’s rep told PEOPLE.

A day prior to her giving birth, Rossi explained the difficult decision to have a C-section instead of a vaginal birth like she had been planning. "I had a really really tough day yesterday because of having to make a super hard decision after my doctors appt. but after a lot of contemplation, crying, struggling, (and based on the medical pros and cons) the Doctor, Slade and I have decided a c-section is going to be the safest thing for me and baby tomorrow," she wrote on Instagram.

"Doctor said I am only dilated 1cm and I guess I have a “cervix of steel” 😜 so it’s not really cooperating at this point and just my pelvic exam yesterday was so beyond painful that I almost passed out, then started to hyperventilate because of that, which then lead to a panic attack! Needless to say I was a hot mess! 🙈🥴 Statistics show that if you aren’t dilated past 3cm then being induced is a lot harder on your body and one has a lower success of a vaginal birth, and a lot of times leads to a c-section anyways. So I either labor for potentially days and go through this balloon like procedure to try and open my cervix (which may or may not work) and possibly put myself and the baby in a lot of duress during that process (because I can’t have an epidural for that part yet) and then end up potentially in a c-section anyways, or I just do the scheduled c-section, which will be a lot less stress on myself and the baby," she contined.

"When you have this vision of how you want your labor and delivery to go and it doesn’t turn out they way you imagined, there is this sadness and internal struggle with “why isn’t my body cooperating” or am I making the right decision etc. So after crying it out, and being sad about not having a “vaginal birth” yesterday, I asked God to give me a sign that this is the best decision, and he did! 🙌🏻 He literally had so many of my friends reach out to me yesterday and put me at ease about a potential c-section (and they didn’t even know what had happened at the appt.)"

She added: "So I am scheduled for the c-section tomorrow and am going to embrace it with as much confidence as I can, and know that having her in my arms safely is all that matters."

The couple’s newborn daughter joins Gavin and Grayson, Smiley’s two sons from previous relationships.

Photo Credit: Oxana Alex Photography via PEOPLE