Baby Smith 2.0 update....

I know I haven't posted on here lately and I apologize. Life is busy y'all. I have a toddler who keeps me on my toes constantly and on top of that sweet little nugget, I've been a little busy growing a new human over here! That's right. I am pregnant with our second baby and so so so overjoyed to announce it!

I have had three lab draws to look at my beta HCG and my progesterone and all have looked really good. Better than Henry's labs quite honestly. We got to go in for a sono at 6 weeks and see the baby. Which at the time was just this cute little blinking dot with a strong heart beat of 113. Henry's was only 70 or 80 something so this was encouraging especially because I at that point I hadn't been sick at all to that point. 2 days of nausea and 1 time of throwing up in the car (probably from heat and motion more than actual baby i'm sure) and that had me very nervous. At least with Henry I had daily constant reminders I was growing a human. I have had a harder time accepting reality with no symptoms but being tired, but I'm working on it. I feel encouraged and hopeful and most of all thankful.We also had ultrasounds at 7 weeks(heart rate 152) and 8 weeks (heart rate 174) along with our close out appointment with our RE. Lots of hugs and tears at that appointment. I owe that woman the world for everything she has given me. I also had my first appointment with my OB at 9.5 weeks which was so exciting to get to do. I LOVE my doctor and her nurse and they were both so happy to see me, especially so quickly this time around. My OB has a pocket sono machine now that is about the size of a thick iphone and I got to see the baby's heart flicker again. Every time it's just as wonderful as the time before. I had my 12 week Nuchal Translucency sonogram this morning to check for chromosomal defects like Trisomy 13, 18 and 21.The scan went great and we have an active healthy little baby in there with a heart rate of 164. Baby measures 3 days ahead and does not show any signs for chromosomal abnormalities thank God. I am just getting over the tired phase of first trimester and have had very minimal nausea and vomiting. I feel so blessed to have felt so good thus far in this pregnancy so I can keep up with Henry. God definitely knows what he is doing!

I want to also take a minute to say thank you to each and every one of you who have stood by me, and by Taylor, through the tears and frustration and hard stuff each time we have tried to get pregnant. Your love and support is unmeasurable and Taylor and I can't even begin to thank all of you for your kind words of encouragement, sympathy and empathy and most definitely prayers. I want you all to know that just because we have overcome struggles with infertility, it doesn't mean we have forgotten what it has taken to get here and how hard it can be. We both are still a very open book about our journey to parenthood and want to be a resource and safe place to vent, ask questions, and most importantly to continue to offer prayers and support to you all. I am praying for so many of you daily and hope hope hope that you all can get your miracle babies in the very near future. I know it stings like a knife to hear that one more person is pregnant and I hope this announcement doesn't cause pain, but hope. That this can and WILL happen for you too. Please let us know anyway we can help at all. To experience this, especially for a second time is the biggest blessing and has been so worth every single tear, lab draw, uncomfortable ultrasound and penny spent. Please keep hope and we will keep it for you too!

Again, I am still praying for each and everyone one of you whether I know your names and stories or not. I pray for my silent readers because I know there are a lot of you too and I pray for my friends who give me updates almost daily or just sporadically. I hope to God you all can experience this as well and I would so greatly appreciate your continued prayers for a safe and healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.
Thanks for all the love!
Lauren, Taylor, Henry and Baby

And I just got to throw in there that the pics of the three of us, I took myself with the timer on my camera set up on a cooler on the beach. People thought I was CA-RAZY for running back and forth to the camera 100 times but hey desperate times call for desperate measures and they turned out pretty good I think.