(IN)FERTILITY FRIDAY - 5 Month Bumpdate

How far along are you: 20 weeks and 3 days (halfway there!)

Size of baby: Mango. 10 inches (now the length is measured from head to toe not just crown to rump) & 10.5 oz. He is getting so big!

Gender/Name: It's a boy! Can't wait to meet our boy Samuel in 4ish months!

Cravings: I calmed down a little on my out of control eating this month. My current obsession though is sub sandwiches. Jimmy Johns Italian to be exact. Yes I know you aren't supposed to eat deli meat, but my Dr has had one person with listeria in his 35 years of practice and the places I go slice it fresh daily. I wouldn't go to subway per say or even eat it out of my own fridge unless it was a brand new package. I am loving bagels and have gotten back into decaf coffee just cause I enjoy the taste and a cup early in the morning during my quiet time.

Weight gained: 13 total lbs. I am going off of my own scale at home and not the doctors haha

Sleep: I'm sleeping good. Haven't been doing my naps lately so I am out like a light by 10 which is super early for me, but I am sleeping good. As long as I don't drink too much water I can make it through the night without going to the bathroom which is lovely!

Baby Movement: I feel little Bubs all the time. The girls call him bubba and they are so sweet. They talk to him and rub him. Usually when I sit down still for a few minutes he will wake up and give me some kicks to let me know he is in there having a good old time. I love feeling him.

How Mom is feeling: I am feeling great! I am definitely in the honeymoon stage of pregnancy. 15 - 30 weeks for me is usually great. I am not too tired, I feel good and can move around well. I am super excited that school is back and excited for all the fun fall activities coming up! It is my most favorite time of year! I want to just slow down and cherish it all though. I feel like this past month flew! I can't believe I am already doing a 5 month bump date!

Miss Anything: Still Working out. So 2 weeks ago I couldn't handle my lack of definition in my booty and legs. I had to go to the gym to just do some leg and arm machines. It actually felt very good. I can do some basic machines and stay in a little bit of shape. I have stayed away though until the girls are in school because I don't need them getting sick in the nasty kids zone. So hopefully I will go back a few days a week while Blakey is in school.

Nursery Progress: I pretty much have everything I need or have ordered it and just need to assemble it all. I am waiting on a bookcase which is being made for me. Once I have that I can really see the room layout and then finalize where I want to hang things. Hopefully I will have it in a couple weeks and we can finish that up!

Best moment this month: Having a great anatomy scan. The ultrasound tech Gail is amazing and she is so thorough and explains everything. Grammy came with me and thought is was so cool. All looked good with Sam, praise the Lord and my blood tests came back fine so we are looking great! I wish I could have an ultrasound every time just to see him, but I know that is not realistic. I don't think I will get one again for a while. I also loved reading all the sweet words and comments when everyone found out that we were having a boy and his name would be Samuel David!

Looking forward to next month: I am looking forward to it officially being fall next week, decorating my house, football season, and the weather cooling down (wishful thinking). D starts up soccer next week and both girls have joined gymnastics once a week. The real great part about fall is that BSF and my Mom2Mom group starts in 2 weeks. I am ready to get back into a routine with some bible studies. We are nice and busy over here in the McLaughlin house!

Hope everyone had a good first few days back in school! This Mama is loving some free time! XOXO

(IN)FERTILITY FRIDAY - Gender/Name Reveal

It's a boy!!! Honestly I am still shocked to say we are going to be having a baby boy! Even though I have know for 17 weeks now it still doesn't seem real! We are all so happy and it is just icing on the cake to know that he will have 2 boy cousins within 6 months of his birthday. Caleb is 6 months older and Rush will be 5 months older.

It is crazy to see how God works and how truly perfect his timing is! How boring would it have been if I had a boy 2 years ago with no one to grow up with. He would have been the lone ranger. God has planned this perfectly to be best friends with his cousins since myself and Kelli are done after these sweet little angels. So they can basically be brothers with each other. So that makes 8 grandkids 6 and under for Grammy & Pops and we have evened out the numbers. 4 girls and 4 boys! :)

So rewind to about 5 months ago when I had done my egg retrieval and I knew that only 2 embryos had made it to day 5 and been tested. I was devastated. I knew the odds were 50% of the embryos would be normal and the other wouldn't. Well if that was true only 1 would be normal. But who knows maybe 2 would be normal or maybe they would call and say sorry both are abnormal and we would be back to square one. It was the longest 2 weeks of my life waiting for the results to come back in. Finally the day arrived when my Doctor called and gave me the news. "You have one normal embryo. The other one was abnormal." So I breathed a sigh of relief to know that I at least had one shot at a baby. Then he said would you like to know the gender. Well all along I had been saying no I don't want to know just pick the healthiest baby and God will give us what we need. But I didn't have any picking and choosing now. The gender of that one healthy one was what it was going to be. I said um ok sure tell me the gender. He said it is a male. I about wrecked my car! I said excuse me could you tell me that again. He said it is a male and the abnormal was a male too. I about died. I only wanted a healthy baby but that made it even that much sweeter knowing my sister and sister-in-law were already pregnant with boys! So I decided to keep it a secret from everyone until I made it to the 2nd trimester. David was fine with that and my little secret was locked away for a few months.

To be honest, the main reason I did it was to save everyone else from the extreme heartbreak if it didn't work. We had already lost 2 babies at 10 and 12 weeks and that was difficult enough. But to know the gender and really truly view the few dividing cells as a human with a name made it that much harder and more difficult. Yes losing any baby is devastating, but to know the gender and know how perfect having a boy would be to complete our family was that much harder. In hindsight I think I would have said no to finding out until I made it to the 2nd trimester, but you live and you learn. I did however love having a specific name to pray for from day 1 when implanting the embryo.

Which brings me to his name. His name is going to be Samuel David McLaughlin. And we chose Samuel for 2 reasons. Number 1 it is my grandfather's name (Bumpa for those of you who know me well). I know you aren't supposed to pick favorites, but he was my absolute favorite grandparent! He was a good old Italian boy who had the softest hands and earlobes (yes I loved rubbing his ears) and he loved us like we were his own. He taught me how to drive a car, he would walk me to the bus stop and on cold days let me and my friend Holly hide under his jacket to stay warm while waiting for the bus. He made the best Italian spaghetti and meatballs and I have clearly gotten my love of pasta from him. He was just so amazing and I have so many great memories of him that I want to carry on his name and keep his legacy in the family.

The 2nd reason is because of Samuel in the Bible. (You can read the story in 1 Samuel 1) Several years ago when infertility really struck, I drew near to God and started reading the Bible and books about people who had to wait from the Bible. I quickly learned about the story of Hannah who was a barren woman. She had no children and cried out to God to give her a son. She pleaded with God that if he gave her a son she would give him back to the Lord for all the days of his life. A priest named Eli saw her crying and praying and he said may the Lord grant you what you have asked of him. Sure enough Hannah had a son and she named him Samuel because it meant "God gave what I asked of him." When he got a little older she brought Samuel to Eli and dedicated him to the Lord and he ended up being one of the greatest prophets to ever live. I loved this story and often prayed to God to grant me a child like he did Hannah. It was my story of hope I held onto that God could perform a miracle at any time. I think it is also very ironic that Samuel anointed David as King and my husband David was named after David from the Bible. So we have ourselves a good old Biblical name for this baby boy!

One other crazy thing that proves God had all this planned, is that I bought this blanket over a year ago right before my second miscarriage. I loved the verse and the story behind it (Samuel). Little did I know it had my sons name on it long before he was ever even created.

So there you have it folks! We are having a little boy named Samuel and he should be here by January 7th, 2019. We couldn't be more thankful and grateful and we just feel so blessed that this 2 year journey was all worth it and God had it all figured out from the very beginning. What an awesome God he is! Thanks for the continued prayers! XOXO


PS. I shared our gender reveal video on Facebook and Instagram if you want to see how the family reacted when they found out it was a boy! It was precious!