After enduring years of fertility struggles, Lauren Scruggs Kennedy and Jason Kennedy announced yesterday that they’re expecting their first baby! Both of them shared incredibly sweet and emotional videos sharing the happy news to their Instagram accounts.
The former E! News host has been open about undergoing IVF starting in January of this year, after nearly five years of trying to have a baby.
“It’s always tough when a doctor tells you you can’t have kids naturally and you keep running into complications, but we didn’t sit and wallow in that,” Kennedy tells PEOPLE. “We were really blessed to meet with some amazing doctors and specialists.”
In the video Kennedy shared to Instagram, we get to see how he found out Scruggs was pregnant. And it’s just so, so sweet.
“Update – PREGNANT! It’s happening and this is how I found out 🥺,” he captions the post. “So many of you have prayed for us and wished us well on this 4 1/2 year journey. Our hope is that this news encourages anyone going through IVF or any fertility struggle.”
Scruggs shared her own video, with beautifully edited, raw, black-and-white footage that shows her undergoing IVF procedures in the hospital, receiving injections, and learning the exciting news when her doctor called.
“We were so honored to have the ability to do IVF with the most incredible doctor and nurses,” she writes in the caption. “It was truly the most special and magical process every step of the way.”
In vitro fertilization and other reproductive processes, while costly in a financial and emotional/physical capacity, are more common than you might realize. In the United States, more than 55,000 women give birth to a baby conceived through assisted reproductive technologies (A.R.T.) every year, according to The New York Times. Twelve percent of American women age 15 to 44 (7.3 million) have received medical care for infertility.
After seven years of marriage, Scruggs and Kennedy are looking forward to a little less alone time in the near future.
“Jase and I have cherished all of this time so much just the two of us and the three of us with bennie bean 🐶 now we are going to have another little nugget to the fam!”