TODAY, where Dreyer co-hosts the program’s third hour, announced the boy’s birth on Wed., Sept. 29. He reportedly arrived early that morning, measuring 18 inches long and weighing five pounds, five ounces. Dreyer, who also works as a meteorologist at TODAY, and husband Brian Fichera named the newborn Russell James Fichera. His middle name is in honor of Dreyer’s father James, while his first name honors Brian’s father, Russell. He joins brothers Calvin, 4, and Oliver, 1. Dreyer had let fans know she was in the hospital earlier in the week in an Instagram post. “Just a little update as you won’t be seeing me on @todayshow or @3rdhourtoday for a while. My water broke Sunday evening and I’ve been hanging at the hospital,” Dreyer, 40, wrote on Instagram. “Our little guy is anxious to get out and meet us! Doctors are closely monitoring both of us and trying to keep him on the inside for a little while longer to get stronger. All is well! I’m in great hands and I have the best person to keep me calm and comfortable.” The TODAY meteorologist added, “Looks like we’ll be getting to meet our littlest boy sometime this week…6 weeks early! Guess he couldn’t handle being left out of all the fun his brothers have been having! We’ll gladly take any extra prayers you have.” Dreyer and husband Brian Fichera, who accompanied her to the hospital, announced in May 2021 that they were expecting their third son, joking that they were running out of boys’ names. “It turns out, we really enjoy having kids, because Calvin and Ollie are just so much fun,” she said at the time. “We’re like, ‘Let’s try for a third,’ and it wasn’t happening. So we said, ‘Let’s forget it, let’s move on.’ And then, surprise!” Dreyer and Fichera had a tough road to conception. Dreyer opened up about her struggles with fertility in 2019 and revealed she suffered a miscarriage between having Calvin and Oliver. Then pregnant with son Oliver, Dreyer opened up about the surgery she underwent to remove scar tissue from her C-section from eldest son Calvin’s birth, without which she was unsure if she’d ever be able to conceive again. She and Fichera were ready to begin in-vitro fertilization when she got the pleasantly surprising news that she was already pregnant with her second child. She told PEOPLE at the time, “By putting my story out there, I feel like the thousands of prayers and good wishes we received really made a difference. I knew it was in God’s hands, and this is certainly an answered prayer.” In April 2019, she wrote in an essay, “If there’s one thing I’ve realized during my short time as a mom, we have very little control of what happens. The only things we can hang our hats on are love, faith, and support. If we are strong in those three things then it helps to accept the things we can’t control. I’ll continue to do my best with what I’m lucky enough to have and appreciate whatever comes my way.” Next, struggling with infertility? These podcasts will validate your experience and make you feel less alone.
