The secret is out and Hoda Kotb fans can't help but feel the joy.
Monday morning was a big morning for the Today show co-anchor who returned to work after a maternity leave. Before she could get back to the daily segments, however, there was one topic that had to be discussed.
We want to know even more about her daughter Haley Joy.
"I started the application process in the fall and they said, ‘We can't make any promises. We wish you good luck. Wait wisely,'" Hoda recalled to E! News from Studio 1A. "I lived my life but in my journal every night I scribbled ‘Please God, if you can…'"
As morning show viewers know today, Hoda received her wish when she met Haley on Valentine's Day.
While the love was immediately, telling people was another story. In fact, the Where We Belong author tried her very best to let only a handful of people know including her family and Kathie Lee Gifford.
So how was she able to keep it under everyone's radar? In the words of Kathie Lee, she thought things through!
"I'm in my office and I'm FaceTiming somebody for some story about God only knows what. My phone has the word project on it as a contact and I use the word project so I wouldn't slip up and say adoption because I was trying to keep it very private. Kath, my family and a couple friends knew," she explained. "I saw the word project and I stopped the FaceTime and I stopped everything. I took out a yellow pad and I wrote 11:54 a.m. This is the moment it all changed."
Hoda added, "The woman on the other end said, ‘She's here' and that was it."
The morning show veteran didn't leave her apartment for almost a month minus a doctor appointment here or there. When packages came that were baby-related, Hoda told the door man that she was having a shower.
"It's a crib. Yay, it's a rocker. Yay, Pampers arrived," Hoda joked. "There was a point when the cat had to be brought out of the bag and that's when I revealed here on the show."
Today, Hoda has received an abundance of love from her co-workers and viewers alike. And no matter where she goes, the new mom is filled with gratitude for the joy around her.
"I have the best man and the best baby," she shared with us when referencing longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman. "What more does a girl need, come on."
(E! and NBC are part of the NBCUniversal family)