Tammy Duckworth to become the first sitting senator to have baby in office

Only 10 women have given birth while serving in Congress - all while serving in the House of Representatives

Democrat Tammy Duckworth will become the first sitting US senator to give birth while in office. (Getty Images )

Democrat Tammy Duckworth will become the first sitting US senator to give birth while in office.

The 49-year-old Iraq war veteran has announced she is expecting a baby girl shortly after she turns 50 in April.

Ms Duckworth previously gave birth to her daughter Abigail in November 2014 while serving in the House of Representatives. Only nine other women have given birth while serving in Congress.

“Bryan and I are thrilled that our family is getting a little bit bigger, and Abigail is ecstatic to welcome her baby sister home this spring,” Ms. Duckworth said in a statement that referred to her husband and daughter. “We are all so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, and I want to thank the wonderful staff at both Northwestern Medicine and GW for everything they’ve done to help us in our decades-long journey to complete our family.”

She told the Chicago Sun-Times that she and her husband tried various fertilization methods before Abigail was conceived through a form of in vitro fertilization.

After Abigail’s cesarean birth, Ms Duckworth told the newspaper, she had to wait 18 months to try again; she also revealed that she had a miscarriage during her ultimately successful 2016 Senate campaign.

The Illinois lawmaker said it was “about damn time” a female senator gave birth while serving.

“I can't believe it took until 2018. It says something about the inequality of representation that exists in our country,” she said.

Ms Duckworth was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2012, serving two terms before running for the Senate.

Along with being a senator, wife and mother, she is also a veteran of the Iraq war who lost both of her legs when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2004 during a tour.