Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Baby: What She's Said About Becoming a Mom

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is expanding her family six months after her prison release.

In May 2024, Blanchard and her ex-fiancé-now-boyfriend, Ken Urker, found out they were expecting their first child together, just a month after they reunited. Blanchard was previously married to her husband Ryan Scott Anderson, who she filed for divorce from in April 2024.

The news also came just months after Blanchard was released from prison early following her 10-year sentence for her role in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.

Now, Blanchard and Urker are starting to prepare for their future together, with the baby due in January 2025. A week after the two found out they were expecting, Urker moved to Louisiana to be closer to Blanchard, who lives in her father Rod Blanchard and stepmother Kristy Blanchard’s home.

"I'm not going to say that I think that a baby will help a marriage or a relationship, because obviously there's the added stress. I know that realistically, there's going to be arguments too," Blanchard told PEOPLE in July 2024 after announcing her pregnancy. 

She continued, "But [Ken and I] both come from divorced parents and one thing we absolutely agreed on from day one, even back when we were dating in 2017, is that when we have a child, we will stick together for the long haul. This is a forever thing because we don't want our child to grow up in a broken home."

From how she found out she was expecting to how she wants to learn from her mother’s mistakes, here’s everything Gypsy Rose Blanchard has said about becoming a mother.

She previously said she wasn’t ready to be a mother

While she was with Anderson, Blanchard admitted she wasn’t sure she was ready to have a baby. During a July episode of Lifetime’s Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up, Blanchard told her sister, Mia, that she thought she might be pregnant with Anderson’s child but that she wasn’t prepared for that step.

Mia encouraged Blanchard to take an emergency contraceptive, leading Blanchard to buy Plan B.

"I don't regret taking my sister's advice at all," Blanchard told PEOPLE. "I'm happy I took it. With everything that was going on with Ryan and me and the instability of our marriage, it wasn't the right time for me then."

Kristy agreed, telling PEOPLE that Blanchard “definitely wasn’t ready with Ryan.” “She wouldn't have taken Plan B if she was,” she said. “We all know Gypsy is going to do what she wants at the end of the day. I mean, who doesn't?"

The pregnancy came as a surprise

In April 2024, Blanchard split from Anderson and soon began seeing her ex-fiancé, Urker. On May 24, she took a pregnancy test after previously believing she struggled to ovulate and conceive easily.

After taking the test, Blanchard said she handed it over to Kristy, asking her, “Can you make sure this test says what I think it says?" She took another one and when the second pink line showed up again, she realized she was pregnant.

She and Kristy called Urker soon after to share the happy news — and he was just as surprised as she was.

"His face was priceless," Kristy told PEOPLE. "He just had a big smile on his face. It's such a blessing and it's still unreal. They will be great parents and cherish every minute of it.”

She’s inspired by her stepmother

Though Blanchard didn’t have much of a relationship with her father or stepmother growing up, she now has a close bond with them both — and wants to take notes from Kristy on how to parent her own child.

"I want to be kind, that my kids come to me for any kind of advice, just like my stepmother," she said. "I have seen how she has parented her children — and I think she's a kick-ass mom. She's supportive and not overbearing.”

She continued, “She lets her kids find their dreams while also being able to pick up the pieces when those dreams fall apart sometimes — so that's kind of the mantra I want to live by."

Blanchard wants to do things differently than her mother

Blanchard famously went to prison for her role in the murder of her mom, who was believed to have Munchausen syndrome by proxy and subjected her daughter to painful medical abuse, relegating her to life in a wheelchair and unnecessary procedures.

After experiencing such abuse, Blanchard has been vocal about wanting to do things differently from Dee Dee.

"All the things that I wanted in a mother, I want to give to this baby," she told PEOPLE in her first interview since the baby announcement. "My mother told me I was never going to get married, raise a family, have kids or do any of that. So, to be here, standing on my own two feet and expecting my first baby, that's something I've reached as an achievement and a personal goal.”

She continued, "I thank God every day that I am now having this second chance at life with a kid of my own. The way my mother parented me is definitely not the way I'm going to be. We always say for the next generation, we want to be better than we were raised. And so, for me, I think that couldn't be any more truthful.”

Shortly before she was set to be released from prison, Blanchard told PEOPLE then that she didn’t foresee herself having any concerns relating to her mother with her future children one day.

"Whenever someone says, 'Do you think that because of what you went through, you're going to do that to your kids?' I say, 'You know what? Absolutely not.' " Blanchard said. "I have learned what not to do. I have no concerns about my parenting when it comes to that." 

She doesn’t know the sex of her baby yet

Blanchard spoke to PEOPLE at the 11-week mark, but she has yet to find out the sex of her baby. She revealed that Kristy was so far the only one who knew the sex of the baby and that she and Mia were planning a sex reveal party for Blanchard next month.

"Gypsy did a blood test to know the gender, but neither wanted to know," Kristy said. "They wanted it to be a surprise. So, I'm the only one who knows the baby's sex right now."

Blanchard said she would be happy with either a boy or a girl. "As long as the baby is healthy, I think that's what anybody would want,” she said.

Blanchard has addressed criticism from the public

After announcing her pregnancy news, Blanchard was quickly met with backlash. She addressed the criticism in her YouTube video sharing more details.

"I know that there are going to be people who feel like I'm not ready to be a mother, and I don't know if anyone's really ready to be a mother,” she said.

She added to PEOPLE that while she “understands where the public is coming from,” she paid them no mind.

"I think every parent questions whether they're ready,” Blanchard said. “I'm currently in therapy for my sanity and my mental well-being and I checked all the boxes to make sure I'm stable. All I can say is that I have a strong support system, and Ken and I are in a very good place."

Though she admitted it may be the wrong timing as she’s in the middle of divorce proceedings, Blanchard said she’s looking forward to her impending motherhood.

"All those moments that you look at your life and you're like, 'Oh my God, it's like a flash,' " she said. "I can't wait to have those first steps, the first cry, the first scraped knee, all those firsts. That's the little milestones that I look forward to having. I can't wait to be a mom."