Pregnancy Pictures

So the countdown has begun. Tomorrow we will be at 32 weeks. Stephen and I can hardly believe 32 weeks have gone by so quickly. We are anticipating so much as we prepare for Samuel's arrival.

We had some pregnancy pictures taken a few weeks ago. We are excited to share a few of our favorites with you. They are precious pictures to us!

We love ya'll,

Jennifer and Stephen

20 Weeks Sonogram!

We went into the Doctor on Tuesday the 20th to have the major sonogram done. It was awesome to see how we could see the brain, lungs, heart, spine, fingers, toes, nose, tongue, ear, and many other things. Praise the Lord that everything is fine and healthy. Please continueto pray for Samuel as he continues to grow and be fashioned by the Lord.

Here is a picture of his hand.

Here is a good picture of the outline of his head.

Here is a picture of his left arm with him sucking his finger.

Another picture of the outline of his head and you can see his spine.

Here he was being funny sticking his butt up in the air. You can see his spine.

We go back to Doctor Robbins on June 2nd to listen to the heart beat and make sure everything is going well. As of Tuesday the Doctor said Samuel weighed 11 ounces and was the size of a banana. Jennifer is doing well and just experiencing some discomfort when she is on her feet for long periods of time. Her back gets sore. We continue to log onto babycenter.com to keep up with the development of the baby and expectations of what Jennifer is going through. It is a great web site and helps us to know what to pray for specifically each week for Samuel.

We covet your prayers and love ya'll very much.

Stephen & Jennifer

18 weeks...

We went last Friday (the 9th) to see Dr. Robbins. It had been four weeks since our last visit and our anticipation was ever so strong. We were told the last time we were in that our next visit we would be able to get confirmation on the sex of the baby. So we are sitting in the room and Dr. Robbins comes in with a fetal heart monitor. We were able to hear the heart beat which was awesome to hear it going strong at 150 bpm. Unfortunately she told us that the nurse who does the sonograms is only at the office Tuesday through Thursday. Both of our hearts sank. We told Dr. Robbins that she had said we would be able to see the sex of the baby on our next visit and with Sunday being Mother's Day we would have some disappointed grandparents on Sunday if we were to leave and know nothing.

Dr. Robbins was very kind and told us she would see if the sonogram room was open and if it was she would do one for us real quick so we could see the baby. She didn't take any measurements as we will do that in a couple weeks but here are the pictures below. I made some notes on some.

Here is the baby lying on the side

Close up of face

Mom, these couple photos are for you!

These two photos are if you are looking up the baby's skirt.

It's a Boy!

We are so excited that Samuel Ray McGrew is on his way. We are looking forward to seeing him in October. This is awesome how the Lord works. Not many people know this but Jennifer but back in November of last year the Lord showed me in a dream that I would have a son by this time next year. He has confirmed it twice in other dreams a couple days before we went in to the see the doctor at 14 weeks and at 18 weeks. Also around 10 or 12 weeks the Lord told Jennifer in a dream as well that she was going to have a boy. I say all this to encourage you who follow Jesus that He is working and guiding us. Seek Him and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart.

I know many people along the way have joked with me about having a girl and someday I would love to have one.

For the time being, please read 1 Samuel chapter 1 and you will see why we had to call him Samuel. Jennifer didn't get pregnant until she prayed and asked the Lord for a child.

God is faithful to His word whether written, spoken, or in dreams and visions.

We love ya'll and please continue to pray for Jennifer and Samuel.

14 Weeks Sonogram

I apologize for not putting this up sooner. The last couple weeks have been crazy! We went into see Jennifer's regular doctor, Dr. Robbins, back on the 11th of April to have our first sonogram. It was amazing how much we could see from the sonogram. The baby was just lying still until Dr. Robbins started moving the sensor over Jennifer's belly and then the baby started squirming all around. The baby had its legs crossed at the beginning so Dr. Robbins kept moving the sensor around until we got a clear shot. So, we are about 75% sure what the gender is of the baby.

The baby's heart beat was good and strong and we were amazed to see how much the baby had grown. We knew the baby was growing because Jennifer's belly was growing but the baby had almost tripled in size since the last ultrasound. The baby was 5.2 cm and now it is 14.4 cm.

We will be going into see Dr. Robbins for another sonogram on the 9th of May and are excited to see the baby and should know 100% the gender at that time.

Please continue to intercede for Jennifer and the baby. Pray for Jennifer to remain healthy and the same for the baby. Pray for the baby's salvation, that he would come to know Jesus at an early age, repent, and be baptized. Pray for Jennifer and I as we move into parenthood and our responsibility to live out before our child what a relationship with the Lord should look like.

I do praise the Father for over the last couple weeks I fell in love all over again with my first love and He has given me a deeper passion for His Word and love for people. However, pray for me at work that the Lord would continue to use me as a witness to salesmen that I hire.

We love ya'll and are eternally grateful for your prayers.

11 Weeks 6 Days

We went to the doctor today at 2:30 for our last ultra-sound with Dr. Keenan (fertility specialist). He and his staff have been amazing to work with and we will miss them. It was an awesome experience to share with Sandy, Jen's mom, as she was able to go to the doctor with us today. Here are some pictures of the the baby. It was funny because the baby was kicking, hiccupping, sucking his thumb, grabbing his ear, and moving all around. The baby is over 2 inches now and growing strong.

Please pray for us as we leave working with the fertility specialist and moving to working with Jennifer's OBGYN. We have an appointment scheduled with her in a couple weeks and are excited to see how much the baby will have grown since these photos.

Love,

Stephen & Jennifer

10 weeks 6 days

We went in for another ultra-sound last week on the 17th and the baby has really grown. See the pictures below! You will notice white marks on the baby's face. Those are the cheek bones developing. It looks like a alien from the movie predator. We were excited to be able to see the arms and legs moving about. However, in the pictures it is difficult to see the legs because the baby has them crossed in front of the body like indian style.

The first picture looked like the baby was giving us a thumbs up. At least that what we would like to think. The dark eye sockets are very distinct as the baby's skin is still translucent.

We were amazed to see the difference that a week made in the growth of the baby. From 2.65 cm to 3.90 cm.

Please continue to pray for Jennifer and the baby. We go in Tuesday at 2:30 for another ultra-sound and are looking forward to seeing the baby again. Jennifer is feeling much better since she is approaching the end of the 1st trimester.

Love,

Stephen & Jennifer

9 Weeks 3 Days!

We went into the doctor today @ 3:00 for our check up. We were excited because it had been two weeks since the last ultra-sound and we were wanting to see how big the baby had grown over that time. Well, the picture shows it the best.

You can see the baby laying horizontally. The head is on the right and you can see the eye dark eye sockets, the small arms, and small legs. The nurse doing the ultra-sound pushed on Jennifer's stomach to see if we could get the baby to move, and it was funny how the arms and legs just flailed up and down. It looked like a gummy bear...We are excited because this week the heart is dividing up into four chambers and the teeth are forming. The baby has earlobes, a nose, a mouth, and sex organs, however everything is to small to see on the ultra-sound.

We go back in another week and after that we should start going to Jennifer's OB/GYN and she is awesome, Jennifer has been going to her for eleven years and she is a believer as well.

Continue to pray for Jennifer to remain healthy and for the growth of the baby. We know the Lord is in control and we are trusting His will.

We love you,

Stephen & Jennifer