ABC News' Elizabeth Schulze Welcomes Baby No. 2 with Husband Michael After Having First Contraction 'Live on Air' (Exclusive)

Elizabeth Schulze is officially a mom again!

The ABC News correspondent has welcomed her second baby with husband Michael Kaplan, a rep for Schulze tells PEOPLE exclusively. The couple, who also share 3-year-old son Henry Wayne, welcomed baby daughter Caroline Adele on Thursday, March 20, between 9 and 10 pm. Measuring 19 inches long and weighing 7 lbs., 6 oz., Caroline was born in Washington, D.C.

"There really isn't any way to describe looking into her eyes for the first time. The first feeling I had was enormous relief that she was here, and she was beautiful and she was healthy," Schulze tells PEOPLE of meeting her baby girl.

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"People say you can't really describe how you feel and it's true — I was just overcome with the joy and pride at having my own daughter look back at me," she continues. "She gave my husband and I what looked like a small smile within the first couple of hours after her birth, and our hearts just melted knowing that we brought this life into the world."

Schulze didn't have the easiest labor experience. A few weeks before her daughter was born, the journalist had contractions while on air — which turned out to be a false alarm, but was still a little scary.

"We had a scare earlier than expected with her — I had my first contraction live on the air at 36 weeks, while I was reporting on the jobs numbers for ABC News Live like I do every first Friday of the month," Schulze says. "She wasn't due for 4 weeks, but I realized in that moment that we really needed to get our bags packed to have this baby any day now and that we hadn't figured out a middle name yet!"

"I went down to the newsroom as soon as I got off the air and announced to the DC Bureau that I was having contractions and I needed to leave immediately," she explains. "It turned out to be a false alarm, but I ended up having these contractions on and off until she was born."

When it came to her actual delivery, Schulze developed cholestasis, which is a liver disorder that only occurs during pregnancy and is characterized by elevated bile acids in the patient's blood.

"We were pretty on edge in the final days of being pregnant because of the potential risks involved to the baby," says Schulze.

"I'd already been having contractions for a couple of weeks, and she was measuring pretty big almost like she was ready to come into the world a bit early – so the doctors wanted us to induce at 38 weeks. It was a huge relief when she was healthy, and she was okay."

As she thought about what to name her daughter, Schulze tells PEOPLE they had "no expectations" so they didn't have a list of girl names to reference.

"My husband and I both like the traditional names that translate across languages and withstand the test of time," she says. "As we were brainstorming, Caroline felt like one of those names — it's just so classic. We were sold on Caroline Kaplan."

"We wanted an 'A' middle name to honor my dad's father, Arthur, who passed away over the summer. We really didn't figure it out until we were heading to the hospital, and the name Adele just popped into my head. Henry's middle name, Wayne, is also for my mom's father and so now we have a tribute to both my grandfathers."

For Schulze, one of the most "emotional" moments was watching her toddler son meet his little sister and become a big brother for the first time.

"One of the first things that Henry said to his baby sister in the hospital was, 'I'm going to keep you safe,' and my husband and I just looked at each other, swelling with pride and love for both of them," she shares.

"It was very dear. I think he had been practicing what he was going to say with his grandma, and he came in which a present for her and sat down on the bed next to us both and whispered that in her ear. It was very, very sweet."

While they'd been expecting it to be a bigger adjustment for Henry, Schulze says they've been happy to see that he's taking becoming an older sibling in stride.

"Henry is only 3, so he can't read yet, but he memorizes parts of books to read to her," she says. "We read him Goodnight, Moon when he was a baby, and now he wants to read it to her every night. It's adorable."

"We'd be prepared for him to have an adjustment period to having a new sibling, but he overwhelmingly just wants to be part of the action — to be there when I'm feeding her or when I'm reading to her. He wants to be present. It's very tender and it feels like he already is a protective big brother."

"We'll see what happens when they're both teenagers," adds Schulze with a laugh.

Read the original article on People