ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge confesses initial disappointment over pregnancy news but now embraces motherhood

Coach Jason Brown once battled through the same struggles Mike Vrabel faces now. Brown kept pushing, but that relentless fight ended with his resignation and possibly the end of his coaching days. Vrabel deserves a different fate; he should step back now, while there is still time to save his career.Mother’s Day is on the second Sunday of every May. This time, it is on the 10th of May. To honor the event, former NFL player Ryan Clark called ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge on his The Pivot podcast.Laura Rutledge talks about going from initial disappointment upon hearing pregnancy news to shedding tears of joy --- explaining how much she cherishes hearing her daughter, Reese Katherine Rutledge, and son, Jack Alexander Rutledge, say “Happy Mother’s Day.”For the longest time, Laura Rutledge thought motherhood would affect her ESPN career. She had been married for seven years, and while pursuing her dream career in 2019, she found out she was pregnant. Laura admitted she felt initially disappointed because she feared it would end her career. She didn’t think she could appear on TV while pregnant.Even during her pregnancy, Laura did everything she could career-wise, believing the baby’s arrival would prevent her from working at that level afterward. Fast forward to now: her most significant career milestones have actually happened after the birth of her two precious children.While Laura feels it’s a constant battle to juggle motherhood and a career --- and admits that at times there is no balance --- she uses those down days to remind herself how lucky she is to be a mother. Knowing her children will always say, “That’s my mom,” makes her proud of a life she once thought was impossible.When she was contemplating pregnancy before these two were born, she considered adoption because it wasn’t working out, but then she was blessed with these two amazing kids. She calls them her world. They are her everything.They changed her perspective, “How could I ever think that career was more important than what this is?And knowing that feeling of getting to experience them and being their comfort, and all of those things. It is the greatest joy of my life to celebrate Mother’s Day and to hear their little voices say --- Happy Mother’s Day.There is nothing more special than that. So, I’m so thankful. And I think that is it. It’s a day of gratitude, really. I’m mad at you for making me cry,” Rutledge said with tears of joy in her eyes.Laura McKeeman [now Rutledge] met her husband, Josh Rutledge, a former professional baseball player, in 2011. They got married in December 2013.They welcomed their firstborn, daughter Reese Katherine Rutledge, in October 2019, and their second-born and first son, Jack Alexander Rutledge, in May 2023. Reese is 6 years old, and Jack is almost 3.Laura Rutledge is a prominent reporter and host for the ESPN and SEC Network. She is a former Miss Florida 2012.According to his public LinkedIn profile, Josh Rutledge served as a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker in West Hartford, Connecticut until March 2026. He has owned West Alabama Ford in Sulligent since September 2022 and West Alabama Ford of Fayette since September 2025.According to his bio, Josh enjoys spending his free time with family and friends, eating good food, and being outdoors.Josh Rutledge played as professional baseball infielder in Major League Baseball [MLB] for the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox between 2012 and 2017. He recorded a .258 batting average, 20 home runs, and 111 RBIs in over 370 regular season games.