Emmy Russell, Loretta Lynn’s Granddaughter, Announces She’s Expecting Baby No. 2

Emmy Russell, granddaughter of the late Loretta Lynn, is expecting her second child.

The former American Idol standout shared the exciting news on her official social media accounts Thursday (Feb. 26), writing, “Secret’s out!! Baby #2.”

In the announcement video, Emmy looks at the camera while holding a positive pregnancy test and whispers, “I have a surprise.” She then walks over to her daughter, Taylor Raydiant Ward, and hands her the test.

Moments later, she calls in her husband, Tyler Ward, announcing, “Dada! We’ve got a surprise.” As Tyler approaches, he asks, “What does she have?” When he realizes the news, he bursts with excitement, scoops up their daughter, and rushes to embrace Emmy.

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A post shared by Emmy Russell (@emmyroserussell)

The video closes with a sweet family photo, showing the little family smiling alongside the positive pregnancy test, celebrating the joyful announcement.

Emmy and Tyler welcomed their daughter, Taylor, on January 31, 2025 after a turbulent 36 hour labor. Following the birth, Emmy learned she had lost 1.6 liters of blood in the process, but thankfully she and baby Taylor were okay. 

“I was really out of it because I was losing so much blood, and so I wasn’t really able to lift her my entire time at the hospital,” she shared at the time. “But every time that I did get the chance to…that’s your child, it just melts your heart. I didn’t really know that kind of love existed.”

Months later, the new parents took to social media to ask for prays for Taylor as she had been experiencing a bout of infantile spasms  and had to be hospitalized. Doctors kept her for monitoring and an electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that tracks the brain’s electrical activity to help detect epilepsy or other neurological conditions.  

“She’s been having these spasms, kind of just like she’s falling almost,” Emmy explained. “And yeah, they were just really concerned about it and wanting to do some, just checking how her brain is and everything. So pray for answers because we really want answers.”

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A post shared by Emmy Russell (@emmyroserussell)

Emmy later offered fans an update on her daughter, writing, “Lots of people have been asking.. haven’t posted much about it.. we have Taylor’s checkup soon, she is looking amazing! I pray she will just grow out of this completely! It really does have to do with the underlying cause. We did genetics there were a couple variants but nothing that would be a reason for this. ‘No known cause.’ It’s developmental, so it’s one of those things just to keep an eye on. She has been without medicine (steroid) for a while now! She is responding!! smiling, sticking out her tongue, babbling, still not crawling, no spasms, great eye contact, laughing, smiling. A lot of things she wasn’t doing is back! Thank you for your continued prayers.” 

It appears Taylor is now thriving according to Emmy’s latest updates. 

Along with announcing Taylor’s birth in early 2025, Emmy and Tyler revealed that they had secretly tied the knot in a small, last-minute ceremony in the comfort of a living room, and kept all planning on the “down-low.”

“Emmy and I had been together for a while, and her heart was just like, ‘I want to be married.’ And then I’m like, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be married,’” Ward admitted to People. “And then you think about losing someone that you become best friends with and tight with and you’re like, ‘Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe that’s what marriage is. It’s just like, I don’t want this person out of my life.’”

Fans can keep up with the growing family on Instagram.