Jenna Bush Is Coming Back to 'The Today Show' But Not For Long

The two hosts of the fourth hour of The Today Show have been missing all summer long, both with the same very good reason: they're both welcoming babies into their family! 

First, Hoda Kotb took maternity leave to spend time with her newly adopted daughter from April to September. Jenna Bush and her husband Henry Hagar had their baby, their third child and first son Henry Harold 'Hal' Hagar, on Aug. 2 and announced her maternity leave the same day, via a prerecorded segment.

And while Hoda has already come back to work, Jenna is taking her time, focusing on being a mom first. So just when is Jenna coming back to The Today Show? She called into Today to let her work family know what the plan is. 

Jenna has decided to take more time on her maternity leave then she did with her previous two children. With her last daughter, Poppy, she gave birth on Aug. 14, 2015, and was back at work on October 2. Instead of following the precedent that she established, she's following Hoda's lead. Hoda took off four months after adopting her daughter. 

With Jenna being set for a December return, she'll be taking about four months off herself to focus on taking care of her family and recovering. Perhaps she is taking Hoda's advice. Hoda called into The Today Show back in August, while she was still on maternity leave, to share the advice she gave to Jenna about taking maternity leave. 

"All this time off that you take, all this time that you are enjoying with your children, will be reflected the minute you come back on the show,” Hoda recalled telling Jenna.  "Just enjoy it. And know that this is like a moment in time and you get to live it, so don’t spend it looking around worrying about what’s ahead."

Jenna called into The Today Show herself in October with more news about her maternity leave and her future plans. While she does still plan for a December return, she won't be back for very long as she's joining former first lady Michelle Obama on a trip to Vietnam to shine a spotlight on the educators helping young girls stay in school throughout the country.

There have already been quite a few co-hosts who have filled in for Jenna since she left for maternity leave. So far we've seen some pretty big presences taking over the seat, like Meredith Vieira, Maria Shiver, and Andy Cohen. We may see a few returning names throughout the next few months. Considering Maria and Andy have already been asked to return, we can probably expect to see them a few more times.

Throughout both Hoda and Jenna's maternity leaves, we've also seen a lot of NBC alum take over as co-host so we'll likely continue to see this as well until Jenna returns full time.