Laura Benanti 2016 Tony Awards

Laura Benantihas expanded her brood!

“Please welcome to the world Louisa Georgia Benanti-Brown,” she wrote in a post that shows the girl’s big sister bonding with her.

“On July 9th at 2:43am we were blessed with the arrival of our second daughter.”

Benanti also told her followers that they brought Louisa into the world via surrogate.

“Specifically, our remarkable surrogate (an angel-on-earth) who carried our precious girl and delivered her into our arms.”

Benanti said it was “an other-worldly generosity of spirit, body, and kindness that can never be repaid” before finishing off with “Ella and Louisa 🌈 Rainbow babies. Rainbow sisters.”

Last year, Benanti wrote the bookM is for MAMA (and also Merlot): A Modern Mom’s ABCs, with her friend and fellow performerKate Mangiamelito provide comic relief for moms in the form of a board book that runs through the alphabet.

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“[Kate and I] bothhad postpartum depression afterour children were born,” Benanti told PEOPLE. “I was not able to see the humor in things in a way that I usually am, and so it was important to me that we be able to bring some levity to a situation that can often feel like life or death.”

“You’re keeping a human alive and that can be a lot of pressure, so I think any opportunity that we have to laugh is a positive one,” she continued.

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TheMy Fair Ladyactress also shared her experience of dealing with “mommy shamers” talking to her about her decision to go back to work, sharing opinions on what school she should send her child to and discussingbreastfeeding. Her daughter Ella Rose was allergic to breast milk.

“There are so many different ways to raise your child, and those ways should be up to you as an individual,” Benanti said. “And the fact that people feel like it is appropriate, at any point, to shame you or say their way is better, it’s really astonishing,”

Leah Simpson

source: people.com