Bethany Hamilton, "Soul Surfer" and shark attack survivor, welcomed her first child with husband Adam Dirks earlier this month — a son named Tobias.
Their son, whose name means “the goodness of God,” was named after his
great-grandfather, according to Life News. Born June 1, the baby weighed in at 7.9 pounds and measured 21 inches long.
Hamilton, 25, publicly announced the joyous news on social media.
In February, Hamilton and Dirks announced they were expecting via a YouTube video interspersed with clips of them
surfing together, according to The Huffington Post. Although Hamilton paused the filming of her upcoming surfing biographical documentary to accommodate her pregnancy, she continued surfing as long as possible before “putting the short board away for a while” near the end of her pregnancy.
Hamilton rose to fame after she published her autobiography entitled “Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board,” which relayed the story of how she returned to competitive surfing after losing her left arm in a shark attack off the island of Kauai, Hawaii, in 2003. Her story also came to the silver screen in the 2011 movie "Soul Surfer," in which she was portrayed by actress AnnaSophia Robb.
"For me, 'soul surfing' is just being passionate about the ocean and surfing," Hamilton has said of the term.
Hamilton discussed the potential obstacles of being a
one-armed mom with People magazine in February.
“I often forget that I have one arm . . . I think that, how I live life now, I adjust and adapt to different things . . . I think there's going to be things that will be very challenging with one arm, but I'll just have to find my own way to take care of the baby," he said. "I'll have to figure it out and be creative.”
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.