Gender Reveal

Ali's point of view:

I had been counting down the days til my 16 week doctors appointment. I was really counting on being able to find out the gender at that appointment. Nathan left work early and met me at the doctors office. We talked to the doctor for a bit first then had the ultrasound. The babies weren't really cooperating (and we were on the crummy ultrasound machine at the office) so we couldn't see their gender!! I was so sad. Nathan and I talked after the appointment and decided we (mostly I!) couldn't wait any longer. I set up an appointment with an elective ultrasound place for the next day. This place has a guarantee that if the babies are not cooperating and we cannot see the gender you will get your money back. I felt like it was a safe bet and we went for it. The sad thing was though that Nathan couldn't miss anymore work. He had left work early the day before hoping we would be able to find out the gender so missing two days in a row wasn't a good idea. I was so sad about him not being able to be there. I talked to my sister in law Dani who had the brilliant idea of having the ultrasound technician write down the gender of each baby on two separate cards and not tell me. It was fun seeing the babies but so hard to not look at the screen when he was finding out the gender. My appointment was at 2 and Nathan didn't come home til 530. I was holding the gender of my two babies in my hands and I was not allowed to look!! It was SO hard!! I was tempted to look so many times. Well Nathan came home and we went straight to Target. Once at Target I gave him a card and we each opened one. I then went to the baby section and picked out an outfit for that gender. I called Nathan when I was done and he then went and picked out an outfit for the gender he had gotten. My card had said boy and I was sure we were going to be having two boys! I loved looking at the outfits and picking something out. After Nathan had picked out his outfit we headed home. Once at home we switched bags and found out what the other baby was! I was so surprised when I pulled out pink! I am still in shock!! It was so fun being able to find out together :)

Nathan's point of view:

Ali was a great sport by waiting for me to come home from work to find out the gender along with her. I've been super busy at work lately and had already missed a few afternoons for doctor's appointments and I couldn't really miss anymore. I got home as early as I could and could tell Ali was about to have a nervous breakdown from the suspense of not knowing. When I opened my card and saw "girl" I couldn't believe it. I was so excited to pick out a little dress. I was convinced Ali had "girl" too and that we'd be having two girls. I knew I'd be thrilled either way, but I REALLY wanted a boy, so I was so happy to find out that we'd get one of each. I don't think the video shows how happy I really was (but it might show how relieved I was to get a little more testosterone to balance out the estrogen in this house).

Which will it be?!

baby boy AND baby girl

Baby boy on top, profile of his face. And baby girl on the bottom, laying face down.

The beach

The next morning we spent at the beach! The weather was a little cool but I thought it was perfect beach weather! 

James and Leah Lou building a sand castle

1. How cute is my new nephew Miles?! 2. Rivka built an awesome sand couch!

 More sand castle building :)

The girls took a dip in the "cold" (it wasn't heated ha) tub

"warming up" by the lantern, love these cuties!

Next up, MOROCCO! 

Granada, Spain

After Belgium we met up with the rest of the gang in Spain. We all stayed at an awesome house near Malaga. On Sunday we had a yummy family meal.

The girls and Dani hanging out by the pool

Little popsicles for cute little girls

 Nathan and Claire having a water balloon toss

Cute Claire bear

On Monday we headed to Granada, Spain

We went an toured the Alhambra, it was gorgeous (and huge!)

And we enjoyed some yummy gelato

The bubble man

The girls giving it a try

 We also visited this beautiful cathedral

 The girls were so reverent :)

That night was a celebration for John the Baptist. I wish I could tell you more about the holiday but all I know it that at midnight everyone walks into the ocean. So we did it with all the locals, it was cold so we only stuck our feet in :)

The beach up next!

We're pregnant!!!

April 27, 2014
We transferred two grade 1 embryos! Nathan and I had many talks about how many embryos to transfer. We knew that transferring two gave us a good chance of twins but I really thought that with transferring two we would only get one to stick. Twins crossed my mind but I really didn't think both would stick. The wait now begins to see if it worked! My blood tests aren't till May 5 and 7, I don't find out the results from both tests till the 7th. I made nathan promise me to not let me take a home pregnancy test till May 4th. I didn't want to take a test to early and get a false negative and have my hopes shut down.

May 3, 2014--3 weeks 4 days
The wait is killing us!! Nathan's parents are in town for 24 hours for an impromptu trip to go to a good friends wedding anniversary party. I talked Nathan into letting me take a test a day early so that if we are pregnant we will be able to tell his parents in person. I wake up early (6AM) having the urge to pee but don't want to pee yet because with the home pregnancy test you are supposed to use your first morning pee. I can't hold it anymore and tell Nathan I am going to take a test, he is half asleep and says go for it. I take a test, put it on the counter then get back into bed and wait 2 minutes. I start praying hard asking for it to be positive. I jump out of bed to check the test and immediately see two dark lines! It wasn't even questionable or a squinter, there were definitely two dark lines!! I start crying and hop into bed and whisper to Nathan that "I'm pregnant!!" we hug and cuddle. He falls back asleep but I am way too excited to fall back asleep. I can't believe we are finally pregnant!! After 2.5 years and so much heart break, we are finally pregnant! Later that morning I come out to the living room with the test and start crying before I even start talking and tell Rivka and James we are pregnant! They were both so happy for us. We call the rest of our immediate family and let them know the good news.

May 5, 2014--3 weeks 6 days

I have my first blood test, but don't find out the results til my second blood test May 7. I tell the nurse taking my blood that I took a test at home and it was positive, she was so happy for me!

May 7, 2014--4 weeks 1 day

I have my second blood test and we finally find out the results! The HCG numbers can sometimes tell you if you are having a singleton or twins. They are not always reliable but you can sometimes get a good idea from them. My nurse calls me with the results and congratulates me on being pregnant! I love my nurse, she has been there for me through all of this. My first blood test number was 235 and second blood test number was 509. Now to give you an idea on the numbers, the average for a single pregnancy for my first blood test is 83, and for a twin pregnancy is 147, mine was 235. For the second blood test the average for a single pregnancy is 187, and a twin pregnancy is 362, and mine was 509. My nurse said she thinks it's more than one, but remember that the numbers aren't always reliable. Nathan and I start thinking it could be twins but I am still thinking there is a big chance it's only one baby.

May 15, 2014--5 weeks 2 days

I have my third blood test. My nurse calls with my results and my HCG is 27,000. She said she wanted the number to be at least above 1,000 and it looks like I well surpassed that... She once again tells me she is pretty sure it's twins. The average twin pregnancy number is 6,300. Nathan and I start freaking out a bit and are even thinking a possibility of triplets??! We have heard of people transferring two and having one embryo split. Our minds are blown but we know nothing is certain til the ultrasound. We are dying for the ultrasound, we want to know how many!!

May 22, 2014--6 weeks 2 days

Ultrasound day!! We both could barely sleep the night before. My appointment is at 12:15 and Nathan meets me at the doctors office. I am so anxious, I am nervous but excited! We get called back into the room and have the ultrasound. Before the doctor even says anything and is looking around I see two sacs. Nathan hasn't seen it yet (he doesn't really know what he's looking at, I've had enough ultrasounds I know exactly what I am looking at!). The doctor then tells us "well they're two in there!". We both freak out inside, at least I know I did!! We got to see and hear both their heartbeats. I may have shed a tear or two. It was remarkable hearing their heartbeats! I loved it so much. Baby A's heartbeat was 123, measuring 6 weeks 3 days and baby B's heartbeat was 111, and measuring 6 weeks 1 day. We are given the due date of January 13 (we know the exact day I conceived because of the IVF) but he said twins normally come 3-4 weeks early. After the appointment Nathan and I are in shock. We are so happy and excited but in shock. We call our families and let them know the exciting news. We still can't believe it!!

June 4, 2014--8 weeks 1 day

Today is my first appointment with my OB. She is great and I just love her. She seems so excited about the babies, which is crazy to me because all she ever sees are babies! I love how excited she gets and it makes me even happier. I got to see both babies again and they look like little gummy bears! Baby A's hearbeat was 170 measuring 8 weeks and Baby B's heartbeat was 172 measuring 8 weeks 2 days. I love seeing them and hearing their hearts beat.

June 5, 2014--8 weeks 2 days

Today is my last fertility doctor appointment! I can't tell you how happy I am to graduate from them, but how sad I am because I will miss the doctors and nurses! After being with them for almost a year I really got to know and love them. At my appointment we check out the babies one last time and everything is looking great. Towards the end of the appointment my doctor pointed out that I have a small blood clot but to not worry about it. That being said, I will try not to worry but it's hard not to! Also with this being my last fertility appointment, I get to stop the injections at 9 weeks, so in just 5 days! Nathan has been giving me 1cc of progesterone into my back hip every day for the last 7 weeks, I can't tell you how happy I am to be done with injections (I will go over the whole IVF process later.) I had this post it note on my mirror to remind me to do the injections and on my last day of injections Nathan ripped it up for me :)

June 16, 2014--9 weeks 6 days

I loved this ultrasound! The babies were moving around and kicking like crazy! I did not expect to see them move so soon, it was amazing watching them wiggle around. Nathan was able to come to this appointment and he was amazed by them as well. We were hopping the blood clot would be gone by now but the clot it still there. The clot is the same size and has not grown at all, which is good but we are sad it is not gone. Nathan and I are supposed to leave for our trip to Spain in 2 days and my doctor "advises" us not to go. This really upsets me and I end up crying, it's the hormones I promise! She tells us that flying and traveling itself will not put the babies at risk, it's just what "if" something happens while we are in the air flying and cannot land. Nathan and I ask her if we can have time to think about whether or not we are going to go. We go home, fast (well Nathan fasts and so does our families) and we attend the temple. We come to the conclusion that we feel good about me going. We let the doctor know I am going to go and she wishes me a good trip. I lay low the whole trip in Spain and do as little walking as I could. Everything ended up working our perfectly. My doctor wants to see me once we get back from Spain and check on the blood clot.

July 3, 2014--12 weeks 2 days

We were both anxious for this appointment. We wanted to make sure that nothing happened to the babies while we traveled and that the blood clot was gone. We go in for the ultrasound and the blood clot it gone! Truly an answer to our prayers. Both babies are looking great and still moving around like crazy. I love seeing them. They make me so happy. We could only get a good profile image of one of the babies, the second picture is of their heads next to each other, best buds :)

Since I am out of the miscarriage stage and we just had a healthy ultrasound, we were ready to announce it to the world! Nathan had the creative idea of making fake plane tickets. We found some on google and I photoshopped the rest. I loved telling the world our happy news.