Our Little Grain of Rice!

The results are in...we are having a grain of rice!! :) Just kidding! Actually, we had our first ultrasound today. We are truly pregnant, and the single heartbeat we saw was the hard core evidence I needed. Dr. Anderson was extremely relieved there weren't two little heartbeats. He's very nervous for me with a singleton pregnancy...so having twins would have pushed him over the edge!

Shayne and I had kinda been hoping we would be having twins, just to get more bang for our buck! But...it's truly a blessing that we are having just one. Heavenly Father knows what I can handle, and I really feel like my body would not have handled twins...and then we wouldn't have any baby. So...we are ecstatic that we are pregnant!!

The heart was just beating away...it was amazing. It's actually kind of weird for me. I've been prepared my whole life to not have children, and to see this actually inside of me is pretty darn surreal. Just in case you can't tell what you are looking at...Dr. Anderson marked the top and the bottom of the fetus with little "+" signs. It truly is about the size of a grain of rice.

The good news is that we don't necessarily have to continue with the progesterone shots. When I asked Dr. Anderson...he just said..."Naw, I think you're good. Some Dr.'s like you to go 12 weeks, but when I see a heartbeat, I know that it's in there pretty good. But...if you want, you can go with 1/2 cc for the next couple of days, to wean yourself off." He's so funny...why can't he just tell me... "Yes, continue for a couple of days.", or..."No, don't worry about it." Now my butt is telling me..."Please!! No more!!" But...my brains says..."Probably should wean yourself off...would probably be better." Now, I know I'm going crazy...I'm telling people my butt is talking to me! :)

Anyway...just wanted to share the good news! The other good news is that we are leaving for Mexico in about 2 1/2 weeks, and when I told Doc...he said, "Have fun!" Yeah!!

Slacker Me...

Man...I've been a slacker! I haven't posted for over two weeks! Life gets crazy sometimes. I don't have any pictures to post, but I'll give you an update on what's been happening in our lives the past couple of weeks.

After getting a positive pregnancy test, life goes on as usual. Which this time of year means...basketball! I've been to more basketball games the past month that my butt has a permanent flat spot on it from the bleachers! :) Shayne's team isn't the best, but they've had a better couple of weeks. They've actually won two games! One of them was against their arch rival...so that was a good thing. That bad thing...I missed it b/c I fell asleep at home. I'm exhausted all the time! I felt so bad I missed it. We only have two more weeks of regular games, then a week at Regions, which determines who goes to the State tournament. Pretty sure his team won't make it to State...I'm sorry Shayne!

Last weekend I went to Anchorage. Shayne had basketball games about 45 minutes north of Anchorage on Friday and Saturday, so I went to Anchorage and stayed with our friends Kaye and Jared and their little girl Malia. We had a good time just hanging out and doing some shopping.

We found out on Saturday morning that Shayne's sister KayCee is pregnant, after going through the IVF procedure up here about 2 weeks after we did! We are so excited for her and Josh! Now there are two of us pregnant with first grandkids on Shayne's side, and four of us pregnant on my side. It's gonna be a crazy year!!


Anyway...it started snowing like mad on Saturday afternoon, and hadn't let up at all toward early evening, when I was going to drive back to Soldotna. Shayne called from his game, and told me to not leave, he would have the bus drop him off and he would drive with me. I was soooo glad! The roads were terrible. However, after he got here, we decided to not leave at all. In fact, the school had to put the boys in a hotel, b/c the roads were too bad to safely drive on. So we all got to stay another night. I'm so glad we have such good friends in Anchorage that we can stay with if we need. The really nice thing is...they aren't the only ones. I know that if we needed we could stay with Ty & Liz, Angie, among others. We are so lucky that we have such great friends. Anywho...it was so nice to spend the evening with Kaye & Jared and not worry about driving. We got up on Sunday and had a fairly nice drive back. It was still snowing on parts of the drive, but at least it was during the day.

This past week the weather has turned into late March/early April like weather. It's been in the 40's during the day and barely gets to freezing at night. It's nice, but makes for slushy conditions. It's turned off cold again today...I knew it couldn't last...it's too early! I can't wait for March and April to get here when I know it will stay warmer.

As far as how I've been feeling...other than being exhausted I hadn't noticed much change...until this last week. Let's just say that I'm not a huge fan of "morning sickness". And whoever named it morning sickness must have been a man! It definitely does not only occur in the morning! I've been grazing on crackers non-stop while at school. The kids keep asking me why I get to eat in the classroom, and they don't...they don't know anything that's been going on. I just look at them blankly, and then ask them if they are talking! They just laugh at me. Shayne thinks it's wonderful that I'm sick...the urge to punch him is fairly strong! :) For him, it's nice to see an actual symptom of pregnancy...it makes it more real for him. He's just excited that it's all working out. However, after about 5 days of this, he's not nearly as "smiley" about it...he just feels bad. He asks me what he can do for me, and I just say...don't breathe on me...it makes me nauseous. :) Poor Shayne!

I'm still getting progesterone shots...I have knots the size of walnuts in both butt muscles...but hopefully I'm getting my last shot tonight. We'll find out tomorrow if I need to continue with them. I'm hoping six weeks is enough! Shayne has informed me that this is the last time we are doing IVF. He's sick of seeing me flinch and be sore after every shot every night. He feels bad inflicting pain on me. He said that the rest of our kids will be through adoption. At this point...with sore butt muscles, and morning sickness I'm all for adoption! :)

Well...I'm sorry for the long post...but after not posting for over two weeks, this is what I get. I'll try and keep up on it a little better.

Woo Hoo!!!

Do you know what that picture is? In case you live in a cave and don't know what EPT stands for...I'll tell you what that picture is. It's three positive pregnancy tests!!!

Yes...three. I was so paranoid with just one, that I had to take three. They can't all be wrong right?! Anywho...Shayne and I are sooooo excited!!

I actually took them yesterday morning, but have been too busy with stuff to post a blog...sorry. It's kind of a funny story. Shayne wanted to be there when I took the tests, but he worked the night before. It was fortunate because I had parent teacher conferences yesterday so I could go to work a little later. So, we planned on just taking the test when he got home.

I couldn't sleep very well Wednesday night, as you can imagine, and woke up numerous times. Finally, at 7am I couldn't sleep any more. I wanted to get up, but knew if I got up I would have to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't take the tests b/c Shayne wasn't home yet. But, being the smarty I am, I found a solution. :) Because Shayne's a nurse we have odd things in our home. One of those things is a sterile urine cup...don't ask me. So, I got the sterile urine cup, and just peed in the cup. (Is this too much info?!) Then I started all three of the tests, but put them on the back of the toilet and covered them with toilet paper so I couldn't see them. I then proceeded to shower and wait for Shayne to get home...I was shaking all the way through the shower!

When Shayne walked in I still had wet hair, but immediately yelled at him to get up the stairs and in the bathroom so we could see the results. He just smiled at me as he walked up the stairs, b/c he knows how crazy I am! :) Anyway, I pulled off the toilet paper, and those three tests are what we saw. Needless to say, we have both walking around with permagrins ever since.

We are so excited! Nervous, but excited. I called Krista, Dr. Anderson's IVF specialists, and she was very excited too. Now, we wait until the week of Feb. 25th to do an ultrasound to make sure we have a heartbeat, and to see if we have one or two heartbeats. So, while we are very excited we aren't completely out of the woods yet...need to see the heartbeat to truly feel like we are pregnant.

I called two of my close friends, Becky and Darcy, here in my ward that know what's been going on, and they were ecstatic! In fact, we all, 7 kids included, went to Cold Stone's last night for ice cream to celebrate! We have the greatest support system up here.

Any way...I know there are a couple of you that have been praying for us, and waiting for news. Thank you so much for your prayers and concern...you have no idea how much it has helped.

I'll continue to keep you updated on how things progress. For the next few weeks, I'll just post on our regular life, but as soon as I know more about our ultrasound I'll let you know.

Quick Explanation...

For those of you checking our blog for an update on our IVF situation, I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner. However, the two weeks after transferring are a hurry up and wait sort of situation. Believe me it's not fun for us either. So no...we don't have any new info to share. At least not yet.

We have been busy and preoccupied with Shayne's sister KayCee and her husband Josh, who have been up here the past week going through the exact same process Shayne and I just went through. I was apprehensive about having two of us up here on hormones, but it was actually really nice. They were probably the best guests we've had up here. Shayne and I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. They ended up only having to be up here for a week, instead of the anticipated two, which was nice for them. They did end up harvesting, fertilizing, and transferring eggs.

...So Shayne's family is waiting for both of us to find out if we are pregnant or not. These would be the first grandkids on his side of the family...so needless to say they are very much excited about the whole process.


I'm sorry I don't have any more excited news to share...the only thing I could truly share that would be of any entertainment value would be the fact that my backside is getting a little sore...getting progesterone shots every night is soooo not my favorite thing...but everyone keeps telling me it's worth it!

By the way...HOW 'BOUT THEM GIANTS!!! :) Shayne has been cheering for the Patriots for the past couple of years, mostly because I'm a huge Colts fan...so Sunday was extremely gratifying for me!! :) We went to a little Super Bowl Party at our neighbors and members of our ward Darcy and Aaron Swanson, with Miles and Becky Hansen and their family, and KayCee and Josh. We had great food, great fun, and a great big 60" plasma tv to watch that great game on!! Good times...Good times!! (I'm sorry Darcy for jumping on your couch when Eli threw that last touchdown pass!) :)