Our Gender Reveal!

We had our 16 week ultrasound on Dec. 15th and our doctor was able to see both genders! We had decided prior to the appointment that we wanted him to put the results in an envelope and we would either open it on Christmas morning, or do a reveal party with family and friends. We decided that we didn't want to wait any longer than we had to, so we did a gender reveal get together that same night with our family and friends!

The whole day leading up to the appointment was so long and we both couldn't wait for it to be over. Tyk wasn't feeling good that day, so he left work early and came home to take a nap before the appointment. For one of my classes, I had them make sugar cookies for the party! They made some with blue frosting and a pink question mark on it, and the other half was frosted pink with a blue question mark on them. They turned out perfect, and I was grateful for my students for making them for me! We got to our appointment right on time, 3 PM. I checked in with the front desk, and as soon as I sat down we were called back by the nurse. She took my weight and then told us she would put us in a room as soon as one opened up. That took about 5 minutes and then we were taken to an exam room. We sat and waited and waited for Darla (Dr. Seales nurse) to come in, and for a minute we both thought that they had forgotten about us! Usually when we go to our appointments there we are in and out in no time. So us having to wait for about 30 minutes or more was very unusual. As we were waiting, Tyk once again, was so fidgety. It reminded me of our first ultrasound when he couldn't sit still and was pacing back and forth in the room. At our first appointment with Dr. Seale, he gave us a flash drive in the shape of a baby bottle that he records all of our ultrasounds and pictures on. Well its like a key chain, so it has a ring on it. Tyk had it on his finger and he was twirling it around in a circle around his finger. Before we both knew it, he had started twirling it so fast that it flung off of his finger and went flying across the exam room, hitting some supplies on a counter top. I looked at him with my serious eyes and said "yeah, STOP IT." He sat there like a little boy in trouble and then said "It's me... I'm nervous okay." Lol! I just started laughing and put the conversation in my phone so I could remember it later.

Darla came in and apologized for the wait. She even had said "you probably were thinking we forgot about you." I thought this was kinda funny. She then explained that they had gotten behind somehow for the day and that they were trying to play catch up. We then did my vitals and Darla said she was waiting to move us into the bigger exam room. She also got our appointment set up for next time, which is our big ultrasound with Maternal Fetal Medicine. I'm super excited! This is the ultrasound where a lot of the tests our done on the babies to rule out certain disabilities and disorders such as Down Syndrome. They will check the anatomy of both babies and do a 3D/4D ultrasound, so we will get to see the profiles of both babies! We go in on Jan. 4th for this appointment. We moved to the larger exam room and soon Dr. Seale was in to start the ultrasound. He asked us if we were wanting to find out the genders, and we told him yes. We explained to him that we wanted him to put both of the genders in an envelope and that we were going to open it with our family. I then explained to him that I still wanted to see the babies though. So he began the ultrasound, and right away he said "okay if you don't want to see, you better look away." Tyk and I both turned our heads and Dr. Seale said he was pretty positive about what baby A's gender was. He then said the same about baby B. This was such a relief! I was so nervous that there would be an issue with seeing the genders of each baby and that we would have to wait until our next ultrasound appointment. Dr. Seale then told us that we could look at the ultrasound screen. He measured both babies from head to rump they call it, and they were both looking healthy. One of them, I think Baby B, was all stretched out with it's back facing us. Due to this, baby B was measuring quite a bit bigger than baby A. It was short and sweet, but it is always so amazing to see our little loves growing and wiggling like crazy in there. Dr. Seale sat me up and asked if we had any questions. I didn't, so he said he was going to go put the results in and envelope and we could meet him out by Darla's desk when my belly was cleaned up. He handed us the envelope once we got out there and headed us on our way!

One of my best friends, Breanne, had volunteered to get the gender reveal boxes ready for us like a week before the actually appointment. I kept telling her "Okay, I'll let you know." I did this up until the morning of our appointment.... SORRY Breanne!! Thank you for everything you did! I just wanted everyone to find out together, including her. So it was hard for me to let go of control, I guess.  I was telling some ladies in my neighborhood about our plan for the party and how Breanne had said she wanted to do it. And honestly, they are the ones that helped me realize that having Breanne do it would be so special! We have been friends, no best friends, since we were in first grade. I have known her longer than anyone else in my life besides my own family. I'd have to say, she's a pretty special person to me. So I called her at about 9 o'clock that morning and said okay can you do it? She of course said yes! So when we got done with our appointment, I called her to meet up to give her the envelope. By this time, it was about 4:30 and we were planning to have our get together at 7. Breanne told me she was going to be at the house by 6:40, which was perfect. Tyker and I then had to run some errands, got some food from Article Circle, little things to keep us occupied I guess. And before you knew it, people were showing up for the reveal! It was so exciting, and wonderful to see all of our friends that had made time for us that night. We ended up having about 35-40 people there supporting us!!! It was a crazy turn out. Thanks everyone!

We all hung out for about a half hour, waiting for Gregg to make it home from work, but also for Breanne to get there with the packages. It actually worked out perfect, timing wise, and sorry for those who came that felt like we had to wait too long. We went around the room and introduced everyone to everyone and I just said a few words about how grateful I was for everyone there. It was time to open the super cute boxes that Breanne had prepared for us. On each box, Breanne had wrapped them in cute festive wrapping paper with a big bow on top, and then on the front made a cute sticker with a deer on it that said "Buck or Doe, Soon We Will Know." Inside each box there were balloons representing the gender of each baby.  Our family and friends starting counting down for us to open the boxes. We got a little mixed up on their counting, so this turned out to be kinda funny. Each box had a piece of tape over the opening that we had to take off. Breanne told us to hold the opening closed while we removed it so we didn't see inside. As Tyk took his tape off, I secretly seen inside the box to the PINK balloons that were about to pop out! I was stoked at this point!!! We had been praying for a little girl the whole time, but I was just about positive that we were having two boys. So seeing that made me so excited to open my box, I didn't care either way what was about to pop out. 5....4.....3....2...1!!! We let the boxes open and out came BLUE balloons from mine and the PINK balloons from Tyker's! I can't even explain how I felt, how we felt, at this point. We couldn't have made a better choice ourselves, and we are SOOOOO grateful to have our little BOY and little Girl join our family.

Later on that night, I found out that Tyk had seen the pink balloons before hand too. He was so excited about having a girl, and still is. Later that night at the get together, he took one of the pink balloons and tied it to a button on his shirt and left it there until we went home. He claims that he didn't even know that it was a pink balloon, but I know the truth... Looks like we're going to have a DADDY'S GIRL like you've never seen. And I'll be happy to have my momma's boy as well. Dr. Seale said he was pretty confident about each sex of the baby. He said that if it changes from then until our next appointment that he'd be really surprised. We're pretty confident in him and decided that we'll stick to what he's told us, LOL.

I can't even explain to you how much this experience has grown my testimony for our Father in Heaven. They always say that He knows you, your true intentions, wants, goals, dreams, needs, everything. I have truly been shown this through our experience with infertility and now this pregnancy. I always told Tyker that I really wanted a bigger family. Not huge, but at least 3 kids and no more than 5. I told him that I really wanted a girl, and explained to him that I would be more upset if I never had a girl than if I never had a boy. But, I wanted our first baby to be a boy, the big brother idea like I had. When we were experiencing month after month of failed attempts and negative pregnancy tests, I prayed and prayed for a baby. I asked for understanding, and patience through the experience. I had a plan for my life. I graduated High School and went to college. I got married at 19 years old and planned to have babies within the next 3 years or so. I wanted to have kids young and enjoy them in both of our youths of adulthood. My plan was to have two kids or at least be pregnant with my second by the time I was 24/25 years old. Each year my birthday would come and I was getting older. My plan was crashing down all around me, along with my heart. To look back during this time, and remember how I felt, makes me almost feel guilty for not having full faith in the Lord and his plan. He knew all along what I wanted, MY PLAN. And now.... only 5 short months into HIS PLAN, do I realize how miraculous he is in his work and in my life. We are having TWO babies... No I'm not 24, but not far from it, and I will have my two children like I planned. Tyker and I both finished college in the time where my plan wasn't working. We bought two homes, went on vacations, built careers for ourselves, spent time together, and endured through until our next journey was finally at hand. His plan is the only plan, and it's rarely your plan. And once it hits you, you will realize that it wasn't supposed to be any other way. You will realize that its exactly the timing that it was supposed to be. You will realize that it is ABSOLUTELY perfect.
 
Until next time...

As always, Thank you all for reading and for your support!

Love,
Shandee

16 Week bump!

Waiting for our ultrasound to start!

After the ultrasound...

My cute niece BrynDee

17 week Bump

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So these are my Christmas Jammies. I wore them from 4 o'clock on Christmas Eve until the day after Christmas until about 3 PM. I know sick... but oh well! I was comfortable, and I just love them. Anyway, I took this picture because this is how I went and visited family on Christmas day and though it was HILARIOUS. You can't see that well, but those are snow boots, and my pants are just hanging out however they ended up from putting the boots on. 

Christmas Bump!

Merry Christmas

The Reveal!

Just a little first time experience that I documented! LOL

First Trimester "Bump Date"

It's been quite a while since I have done a blog post... I'm hoping to get on my game again and update this story of ours regularly!

I'm FINALLY out of my first trimester and on to the second! I'm not going to lie, the last 12 or so weeks have been very challenging for me. With working full time and not having many options in time off, or reducing that, I spend most of my nights on the couch in my PJ's by 4 pm! By the time I get home from school, I am physically and mentally exhausted. Its not like anything in my daily routine has change since the beginning of this journey up until now, but my body is saying everything has changed.  Some days even at school, during lunch I would hurry and eat my food and then lock the door and turn out the lights for a quick power nap. And honestly, those 20 minute rest periods that I got on the nasty floor of a High School classroom saved me for that day. Every time I would take a nap, I would always worry that a student or another faculty member would walk by my room, look in, and think I had passed out on the floor. LOL! oh the things we do as pregnant women. I'm finally starting to get more energy now though, and it feels great! It's been an interesting experience, getting your energy back. Since about week 5 or so, I have been going to bed between 8:30 & 9 PM. This has become our routine at home, and I think Tyk has really enjoyed the extra sleep as well. This past week or so though, I haven't felt the need to be in bed so early. Like I said, I can finally feel myself gaining back more energy.

We've been to two ultrasounds since my last post! Both went really well, and our babies are growing just as they should be. It was so funny... Our first appointment with our regular OB, Dr. Seale, was a great experience, but a bitter sweet one as well. I can't remember if I have written about us graduating from the fertility clinic or not yet, so I've decided to include it again. Our last appointment there was at 9 weeks. This appointment was with Dr. G and she confirmed once again that we had TWO little loves growing in my belly. She said they both looked great, were appropriate size, and went over some medications that I was taking and told me when I could stop them. I wasn't too vocal about the medications I was taking after the transfer, so I guess I will share those now. At the start of my IVF cycle I was told to take a low dose aspirin everyday to help thin my blood just a bit and keep it flowing to all parts of my body properly. Dr. G instructed me at that last ultrasound that I could stop taking this when I was 12 weeks. Another medication I took from the day of our transfer was progesterone supplements to aid the embryos and give them extra nutrients. I had to take this 3 times a day until I was 10 weeks. The problem is, this medication was not a pill that I swallowed. It was actually a suppository that had to be injected into my lady hole ( sorry... I don't know how else to explain) and then throughout the day, just remember what goes must come out... So for the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy I had a messy medication helping my babies to grow! Those two were the only medications I had to remain taking for the length of my first trimester besides normal prenatals. Going back to my appointment, once you have hit 9 weeks gestation, the fertility clinic releases you to a regular OB and you are officially "GRADUATED" from the clinic. Its a pretty neat experience, but like I said above, bittersweet. I had been working with these nurses and Dr. G so often that it was a little scary to leave. We have put all of our trust and faith into the staff and it ended up working. But we are now at another great place with an amazing doctor and nurse to take care of me and my babies. Before we left the fertility clinic, the staff had us sign the tree of life. So they have this huge metal tree that is a gold color that hangs on the wall in the clinic with signatures on it. When you graduate from the clinic, or when you get to leave the clinic pregnant, you get to sign the tree of life! It was such an wonderful, overwhelming experience! I was filled with such joy to be able to sign Tyker and my name on the tree, and so soon after starting with the clinic. That is something that not every patient may get the opportunity to do at the clinic, so we are so grateful and blessed that we got that chance. Dr. G watched as we signed and then handed me a big stack of paperwork of all of my records to take to my OB. She told us congratulations on our babies and said that she was so happy for us to start this journey. At this point, I just wanted to give her the biggest huge and thank her for all that she had done for us. But I didn't. We just shook hands and left.

We then had our first appointment with Dr. Seale. This guy is such a character at times, and can really make light of a situation. Especially when you are in stirrups, spread eagle, LOL! He confirmed once again that we had two babies and that both of them had a healthy fluttering heart. He then started talking about the old wives tall according to heartbeats per minute. Both of our babies heartbeats were fast this day so Dr. Seale had said "according to the old wives tall, I would have to say you have a 50% chance that this baby is a girl." He then moved to baby #2 and said " and with this baby I would say you also have a 50% chance that this one is a girl according to the heartbeat." This made us all laugh. I like when doctors can show some personality and humor in their work.

The next appointment we had was our 12 week appointment, and for the first time ever, I actually got to have the ultrasound thing on my belly rather than laying spread eagle. I know it may be silly, but this was WAY exciting to me. We have gone through this journey a long time, but we had never been so far in that we got to have a belly ultrasound. It was so fun to see the babies this time, because it had been a whole 4 weeks. I know this is normal timing for regular pregnancies, but up until that point I had had appointments just about weekly. So having to wait 4 weeks in between now is a killer.  The babies were still growing strong and according to schedule. One baby is a day ahead of the other, so not too much bigger. If I remember correctly, one babies heartbeat is high, and the other is lower. So if that old wives tall is right (lets pray it is) we will be having a boy and a girl. Wouldn't that be amazing!!!! I mean I will be so so happy with whatever these two miracles are, but if it was up to me one of each would be nice.

Well the wait is not much longer for our gender guessing game. We go in next Thursday Dec. 15th to find out!!! This is going to be the longest week and a half ever. Watch, when I go in, the cord will be in the way, or the babies will be acting modest ... just our luck. Just kidding, we are going to have positive attitudes! So one more week to go.

There have been so many little experience that I want to put into this blog for my own memories, So i've decided to share a couple of them now.
Some things I want to remember about this first trimester:

I get headaches more than any other symptom right now, and I've had them pretty much from the beginning. And for the most part, as a pregnant women, you can take nothing medication wise to make you feel better. And when you are aloud to take something, you being the cautious mother that you are, won't take it anyway, so you suffer through it. One day early on, Tyker was saying that he had a headache and that he had had it all day long. I asked if he had taken anything to help it and his response was no. I asked him why not and told him I would get it for him. He had the sweetest response... He said "Well you can't take anything to make you feel better when you're sick, so I'm not going to either." Tyk has been so sensitive to me being sick or tired and I just am so grateful to have him by my side through this experience.

Another experience we had was right after the transfer. I had to go to work the next day and I really needed to wash my hair. Ladies, I'm sure you can relate to this. Those days when its already a day past wash day and you have to stretch it one more day. We just make it work! That was this day, and I was not about to wash my hair. So I told Tyk this and he started singing a song he made up right then. Well for the most part this song has stuck, and I hear it quite ofter, even when its not relevant. He sang "stinky at school, stinky at school. Wifey is going to be stinky at school." This made me laugh so hard, and these are the little things that make our relationship ours.

My last experience to share for now is when I felt the babies for the first time. I haven't felt this again, so who knows if this was even them at all. On Nov. 25, I was sitting on the couch watching Teen Mom the Original OG (I love the OG's) when I felt this little scratching feeling in my belly. Many women have tried to explain to me how it feels. Some have said that it feels like having gas, some say its like a butterfly flutter feeling. All I can say is that if what I felt was the babies, I can't wait to feel it again! I sat there after I felt the movement and then yelled for Tyker to come here. He came to the couch and I told him I thought I just felt the babies. He said "Oh My GOODNESS you did!!" and then he sat there and tickled my belly for the next couple of minutes. I tried to push on my belly to see if I could get the feeling to come back, but like I said it hasn't. It's going to be funny when I do actually feel them moving and what I felt before was just gas.. HA! We will see. I will still say this is the first time I felt my babies move.

I'm glad to have the first trimester over but I can feel my belly growing big and growing fast! My hips are sore already, and some days I can feel my ankles and knees swelling already. But you know what... Its all okay because I've got to little miracles growing in my belly! I am so grateful for this experience of pregnancy, and I can't wait to see all that is awaiting me throughout this journey! I'll keep ya posted on all of the fun details.

Thanks for reading!


Love,
Shandee

8 weeks

9 weeks

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11 weeks

9 week ultrasound

12 weeks

13 weeks

about 14 weeks

14 weeks