“Bryan, Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement Monday. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Sen. Duckworth gives birth to daughter

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) delivered her second daughter on Monday — making history as the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office.

Duckworth named her daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, after her husband Bryan Bowlsbey’s great aunt, who was an army officer and a nurse who served during World War II, the senator said in a statement. The Illinois senator has one other daughter, Abigail.


“Bryan, Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family,” Duckworth said in the statement.

“We’re also so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, as well as our wonderful medical teams for everything they’ve done to help us in our decades-long journey to complete our family,” she continued.

Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2016, Duckworth served two terms in the House of Representatives.

Duckworth, 50, served in the Illinois and U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs, and retired from the Army in 2014 as a lieutenant colonel. While serving in Iraq in 2004 as a helicopter pilot, she lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm when her aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

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Duckworth also noted in her statement that being a working mother has led her to advocate on behalf of working families.

“Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic issue and one that affects all parents — men and women alike,” she said in the statement. “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a Senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent, and my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere.”

