Hope Solo announces arrival of twins Vittorio and Lozen and thanks medical staff who cared for them

It’s a boy… and it’s a girl! 

Former Team USA goalkeeper Hope Solo announced Thursday via social media that she and husband Jerramy Stevens have welcomed their twins.

She shared an adorable photo of the newborns along with their birth date, which was March 4, and their names: Vittorio Genghis Stevens and Lozen Orianna Judith Stevens.

The 38-year-old soccer star and former football pro Jerramy, 40, had revealed in December that they were expecting a double bundle of joy. 

In an accompanying video posted on the @Uniterrupted Instagram account, Hope explained that the babies had initially required a stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit or NICU and that giving birth during the coronavirus pandemic had made it a very stressful experience.

In the clip, the athlete is seen holding a sleeping infant in each arm and she began: ‘What have we been doing during our time in quarantine? Well, as you can see we’ve been incredibly busy.’

She went on: ‘Please meet Vittorio and Lozen Stevens, both born in the middle of a pandemic on March 4. It has been incredibly stressful times for us.’

Hope shared that the babies’ arrival had meant she and Jerramy had had to be ‘out in public more than we wanted to be’ as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, then expressed her gratitude for the frontline healthcare workers who had helped them through the challenging time.

‘We would like to thank all of the incredible nurses and doctors who helped take care of our babies during our time in NICU,’ she said. ‘We’d also like to thank all of the healthcare workers who have been on the front lines fighting this pandemic day in and day out.’

‘From the Stevens family and the new additions to the Stevens family, we would like to wish everybody health, happiness and safety.’

Hope was a member of the United States women’s national soccer team from 2000 to 2016.

She won gold at the Summer Olympics in 2008 and 2012 and was part of the triumphant team that took home the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup after beating Japan 5-2. 

She and Jerramy married on November 13, 202, about two months after starting dating.

In June last year, she revealed during an interview with Elle magazine that she had suffered a miscarriage in 2018.

She had been unaware that she was pregnant and later learned she’d been carrying twins, one of which was an ectopic pregnancy. 

 ‘The doctor said I was hours from dying,’ Hope told Elle. ‘They ended up having to remove my fallopian tube.’

She subsequently became pregnant again late last year after undergoing IVF treatment.