Kanye West and Kim Kardashian announce birth of third child

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have announced the birth of a third child via a surrogate mother.

The as-yet-unnamed baby girl arrived on Monday and weighed 7lb 6oz. In a statement released on Kardashian’s official site, the star expressed gratitude and happiness.

“Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl,” she wrote. “We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care. North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister.”

The decision to use a surrogate was spurred by a condition called placenta accreta which led to complications during the birth of the pair’s second child, Saint.

“Anyone that says or thinks it is just the easy way out is just completely wrong,” Kardashian said on Entertainment Tonight last year. “I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control.”

West has been out of the spotlight since the end of his Saint Pablo tour, while Kardashian continues to star in the reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.