Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), the first female Iraq combat veteran to win a Congressional seat, has publicly announced she is pregnant.
"I am so thrilled that I'm going to be a mother here in just four months," Duckworth, 46, said on a Monday segment of the "Today" show.
Through a form of in-vitro fertilization, Duckworth said she and husband Army Maj. Bryan Bowlsbey are expecting a daughter in December.
The suburban Chicago native lost both her legs and partial use of her right arm in 2004 when the Blackhawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down during a combat mission in Iraq.
Joining Duckworth during the Monday announcement were Dawn Halfaker, Melissa Stockwell and Danielle Green-Byrd, all Chicago-area veterans of the 2003 - 11 Iraq War. Halfaker, who lost an arm in Iraq in 2004, was the first to welcome a child four months ago. Green-Byrd, a former Notre Dame basketball star who lost an arm while deployed in Iraq that same year, welcomed a son in late August. Stockwell, who lost most of her right leg in Iraq, is now expecting a son just one month before Duckworth.
The Congresswoman recalled waking up at The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. , after her accident and subsequent surgeries and hearing her husband tell her that Stockwell, Halfaker and Green-Byrd -- who had already undergone amputations -- had visited to reassure her she would be alright.
"We do share a special bond," Halfaker told "Today." "And then being able to share sort of the war stories of motherhood or of pregnancy. That's kind of the new chapter, I think, for us."
"These women were there for me as the band of sisters when I went through the greatest pain, the greatest trauma in my life," Duckworth said on the show. "And now we get to be together for the time of greatest joy."
Duckworth also said in a partial statement that she looks forward to "continuing my work in Congress to make sure that all my constituents have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream,” per the Chicago Sun-Times.
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"I am so thrilled that I'm going to be a mother here in just four months," Duckworth, 46, said on a Monday segment of the "Today" show.
Through a form of in-vitro fertilization, Duckworth said she and husband Army Maj. Bryan Bowlsbey are expecting a daughter in December.
The suburban Chicago native lost both her legs and partial use of her right arm in 2004 when the Blackhawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down during a combat mission in Iraq.
Joining Duckworth during the Monday announcement were Dawn Halfaker, Melissa Stockwell and Danielle Green-Byrd, all Chicago-area veterans of the 2003 - 11 Iraq War. Halfaker, who lost an arm in Iraq in 2004, was the first to welcome a child four months ago. Green-Byrd, a former Notre Dame basketball star who lost an arm while deployed in Iraq that same year, welcomed a son in late August. Stockwell, who lost most of her right leg in Iraq, is now expecting a son just one month before Duckworth.
The Congresswoman recalled waking up at The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. , after her accident and subsequent surgeries and hearing her husband tell her that Stockwell, Halfaker and Green-Byrd -- who had already undergone amputations -- had visited to reassure her she would be alright.
"We do share a special bond," Halfaker told "Today." "And then being able to share sort of the war stories of motherhood or of pregnancy. That's kind of the new chapter, I think, for us."
"These women were there for me as the band of sisters when I went through the greatest pain, the greatest trauma in my life," Duckworth said on the show. "And now we get to be together for the time of greatest joy."
Duckworth also said in a partial statement that she looks forward to "continuing my work in Congress to make sure that all my constituents have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream,” per the Chicago Sun-Times.
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