'Never known a love like this': 'American Idol' winner Scotty McCreery and wife Gabi welcome baby boy

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The performer thanked his friends and family "for all of your prayers during this exciting season of life!" Scotty has named his newborn baby after his wife’s father Merrick (Tre) Dugal III, according to a press release. The 29-year-old country singer announced his partner’s pregnancy in June this year. “Feeling very blessed and thankful,” the then-expectant star captioned maternity shoot photos featuring a sonogram.

The 'Damn Strait' singer and the pediatric nurse exchanged vows in June 2018, after dating each other for six years. In an interview with People magazine that was published in June, Scotty said the pair had talked about having children in the future but has decided to focus on their respective careers before bringing life into this world. "We always knew we wanted kids, but we always knew we wanted the first few years to travel and have time on the road, to see things and experience life," he said.

The country star continued, "We've gotten to live a lot of life and do some cool things, so seems like now's a good time to settle down a little and expand the family." The couple said they were surprised to know that they are going to welcome a boy, as their family history indicated that they were going to have a girl. "I was the only boy on both sides of my family, the last McCreery boy out," he said. "Gabi's from two sisters in her family, so I just figured it would be a girl. But we got a surprise of a boy."

And though the pair would've been "stoked" with either a boy or girl, Scotty said he's looking forward to all the moments he and his son will share. "I grew up playing sports, so getting to introduce him to baseball, which was my first love right there with music, and golf are just little things that [will be great]."