Influencers Haley and MonDarius Black are officially parents!

The married couple welcomed their first baby together, daughter Leilani Noel Black, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 7:41 a.m., sharing the news and first photos exclusively with PEOPLE. For Haley, welcoming her newborn, who entered the world weighing 8 lbs., 2 oz. and measuring 20½ inches long, felt “surreal,” especially after enduring two days of labor.

“Honestly, it feels surreal. I’ve been looking at Money [MonDarius] for the last two days, and I’m like, ‘Look. Our daughter is on my hips right now. Can you believe she’s here?’ ” she says. “It’s something that you crave for so long, and after getting pregnant, it’s like, ‘Okay, this is happening.’ But now that she’s here, it almost feels like I’m in a dream, and I’m like, ‘Is this really happening right now?’ I keep looking at her little face and her little toes, and I can’t believe it.”

Echoing his wife’s sentiments, MonDarius tells PEOPLE that welcoming the new addition after all they’ve been through motivates him to achieve everything they’ve been praying and striving for.

“It’s like there’s even more of a push to want to do things that we’ve been talking about and praying for,” he shares.

The journey to welcoming their bundle of joy wasn’t an easy one. Back in 2024, the couple experienced a traumatic ectopic pregnancy, where Haley faced a life-or-death emergency when her fallopian tube ruptured. At her six-week check-up following the loss, her doctor informed her that they had to remove a larger portion of her right tube than they had anticipated since the baby had caused more damage. However, they assured her that she and MonDarius could still conceive naturally.

After a year of trying to conceive again, Haley tells PEOPLE the couple were confused as to why it wasn’t happening for them. In April 2025, after experiencing “excruciating pain,” she made an appointment with her OBGYN, who informed her that her previous doctor had completely removed the right tube, cutting her chances of becoming pregnant in half.

“That’s the reason why pregnancy had been so difficult for us,” she tells PEOPLE, noting that she was unaware that the surgeon had removed her ovary. “At that point, I was very discouraged.”

Knowing that new information, Haley decided to set up an appointment to discuss her fertility options, but had to wait until after her next menstrual cycle. She scheduled the visit for two weeks in the future, but then the unexpected happened.

“Less than a week before my appointment, I realized my period was late,” she recalls, adding that she “freaked out” when she saw the positive result. “I’m calling, trying to change my doctor’s appointment. I’m like, ‘I just need y’all to tell me this is real.’ I’m supposed to be there next week to talk about fertility options. This doesn’t make any sense.”

A vaginal ultrasound determined that the pregnancy tests were correct, and the couple was able to see their little girl just after four weeks of Haley conceiving. MonDarius tells PEOPLE that the best part about their entire journey is that the ultrasound revealed that their newborn was produced from the right ovary, making the news extra special.

“It’s honestly insane just how far we have come from the loss until now,” Haley tells PEOPLE. “I definitely didn’t anticipate some of the feelings that being pregnant would bring on after losing a baby, but I’m so grateful that we’re here now.”

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Following her pregnancy loss, Haley used her platform to create a safe space for other women who were grieving the loss of a baby they never got the chance to meet.

“It’s so crazy how society has conditioned so many women to believe that because so many women go through this, it’s not something to talk about because if it happens earlier in pregnancy, then it’s really not that deep,” she says. “It should be okay to feel this way. It should be okay to understand that this is still a heavy grief that some people carry. When you don’t have an outlet to talk about these things, and you allow it to fester, to sit on your heart, to sit on your mind, that’s where depression comes in.”

“That’s where you sink into a low place, and everybody says, ‘Oh, well, you just need to communicate. You just need to talk about it.’ But when some people talk about it, you’re made to feel like it’s not that deep,” she says. “No, it is that deep. I don’t care how many people went through it before me and got over it. It’s that deep for me, and we’re going to talk about it.”

The couple leaned on each other and their faith to get them through their pregnancy loss. For Haley, it was MonDarius’ optimism from the very beginning of their journey that pushed her to keep going.

“I dipped into a place that I just never anticipated going. It was dark, and it was depressing for a while,” she recalls of the time following the pregnancy loss. “I will say, throughout the process, I kept saying I’m going to trust God through it because there’s a reason for everything. But that didn’t take away the grief.”

“The thing that carried me through to get to going through trying to get pregnant and the disappointments that came with that had everything to do with how optimistic you were the entire time,” she tells her husband. “And I know that you dealt with a lot of grief yourself, but you carried it, and you carried me through that.”

For MonDarius, prayer kept him grounded through all the loss.

“I was reminding her, if you’re going to say you’re going to trust Him, then that doesn’t go hand in hand with also worrying about the bad things,” he says. “If we’re going to say we’re going to trust Him, then we’re thinking of positive outcomes.”

With everything they’ve been through, the newly minted parents are using every moment to love on their new addition. While the doting mom says there’s so many things she’s looking forward to doing, Haley tells PEOPLE that she’s most “excited to see her relationship flourish with her dad.”

“That’s one thing that I know is such an integral part of a little girl growing up, and a lot of their self-worth, their value, how they view themselves really does get impacted in the way that their father pours into them and loves them,” she says. “And one thing I’ve always said when it comes to Money is I know he will be a great father. I’ve always known he will be a wonderful father.”

She says she’s also equally excited to see her own relationship with her daughter grow. Haley tells PEOPLE that she’s ready to break the preexisting negative stereotypes surrounding mother-daughter relationships and explore what a healthy relationship looks like.

“Hearing a lot of negative connotation to mom and daughter relationships, it made me excited to break that mold and explore what it looks like to have a loving and productive relationship with my daughter,” she says. “I’m excited to just see what that’s like pouring into my little girl in a loving way.”

As for MonDarius, the proud girl dad tells PEOPLE he’s just ready to see more of his daughter’s personality.

“I’m just ready to see what … type of person she is, how she reacts to certain things, what type of character she has. I’m ready to see her walk [and] talk,” he says. “Haley’s telling me to slow down, but I’m just like, I’m just ready to see who she acts more like.”

“I’m just ready to see how she grows into herself because I could honestly care less if she wants to be like either us [or] strives to be something that is far off from anything me and Haley ever did,” he adds. “I’m just ready to see how she is as a person and the things that push her to strive to be great.”