'Speechless': Surfer Alana Blanchard's 'mind-blowing' baby news
American surfer Alana Blanchard and her Aussie partner Jack Freestone have taken to social media to celebrate the birth of their second child.
Blanchard - who last year revealed an ugly fallout with sponsor Rip Curl following her first pregnancy - gave birth to a son named Koda Riley over the weekend.
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The American and her husband are also the proud parents to another son named Banks.
The 31-year-old shared the couple's latest baby news with her 1.8 million Instagram followers, revealing that the latest addition to the family took a little longer to arrive than expected.
Blanchard posted a number of beautiful shots with her new bundle of joy and her Aussie surfer fiancee, before thanking fans for their lovely messages.
“Welcome to the world Koda Riley Freestone,” she captioned the post.
“Born at home yesterday weighing 10lb 6oz (4.7kg). I still can’t believe I did that! Going to almost 43 weeks was such a mental game for me but I knew Koda would choose his divine timing. Women’s bodies are so incredible don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Thank you everyone for messaging me and checking in.”
In a separate Instagram post, Freestone hailed his fiancee's strength and said her love and determination throughout the pregnancy had left him "speechless".
“Watching @alanarblanchard go through such intense pain to create a way to get Koda out yesterday safe and sound was nothing short of mind blowing," Freestone posted.
“I’m left speechless at her strength, love and determination. Once again proving that she and all mums are real life superheroes.”
Aussie surfing legend Mick Fanning was among those to congratulate the pair on the exciting news after commenting: “Wow huge congrats. Glad everyone is safe. Much love.”
Blanchard and Freestone had been dating for six years before announcing their engagement in June.
Alana Blanchard fell out with sponsor Rip Curl
The 31-year-old sparked uproar last year when she claimed Rip Curl had ended their long-running sponsorship with her because she fell pregnant with her first son, Banks.
The American had been sponsored by Rip Curl for more than a decade, seen at surfing events all around the world wearing the company's apparel.
She even helped design a swimwear range that included wetsuits she wore during competition.
"Things ended OK with them, they pretty much stopped using me after I had (her son) Banks, or found out that I was pregnant. They really didn’t like that I had a kid," Blanchard said on a YouTube video uploaded to her page.
“I kind of just decided, we kind of both decided to go our separate ways.
“They no longer really wanted to use me anymore and I kind of want to be with a company that really supports me, who I am today and that just wasn’t Rip Curl at the time.”
Rip Curl hit back at Blanchard in comments to Stab magazine, where the company insisted it wanted to renew the sponsorship deal with Blanchard.
“Rip Curl has supported Alana Blanchard for the past 12 years and she has been a legend within our brand and a huge influence in our sport. When Alana stepped into the next phase of her life as a mother, we went to great lengths to support her throughout her pregnancy and months after,” the statement read.
“Rip Curl wanted to re-sign Alana and continue her relationship on our surf team, and made an offer to do so, but unfortunately could not agree to terms.
“We are a little surprised by the comments (in the video), but can empathise with her disappointment in leaving the brand. We did some great things together.
“We wish her all the best; we value her contribution and legacy at the brand and we are sad to see her go.”
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