"I've got Sunshine, on a cloudy day, when it's cold outside, I've got the month of MAY".....

10 days ago, we found out that we ARE PREGNANT!! And it's pretty much all I've been thinking about ever since. We are so so so thankful, grateful, blessed, and just OVERJOYED to be able to say those words. "I'm pregnant... I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant", never gets old :) I cannot tell you {although if you have been in the loop with this blog you already know} how ready I am to be a Momma and shout these words from the rooftops. Of course it's still very early in our pregnancy so we wont be sharing this publicly, next to family and closest friends until Thanksgiving or later. So please keep it mums the word outside of the blog-o-sphere.  Now that my parents know & we will be telling Blair's family during our Bahama family vaca next week, I feel I can at least post here on how it all went down. I mean who doesn't want to know how I told everyone the long awaited great news? That's the best part of finding out & always the first question I ask everyone. So, without further adiu....

The HPT

Let me just say IVF'rs out there, when they tell you not to take a home pregnancy test and wait for your Beta blood test 14 days post ovulation? Listen. I definitely caused myself a bit more stress than necessary by deciding to take a test at home when my bestie Steph was in town {just in case I wanted to commit suicide to follow}. I woke up the morning of 9/5, pee on the test and proceed to stare at it the entire wait. After about 20 seconds, that of which felt like 5 mins, I FREAK OUT, snap a pic of the single line and send it to Blair and say "omg I'm going to puke, it's negative". I then walk upstairs to wake up Steph holding the test and by the time I get to her saying, "it's negative, omg it's negative" she grabs it and says "ummmm, no my dear, that's a line. It's faint, but it's there",  Rule #2 of HPT's (especially ones that are taken 6 days before your missed period) give them the FULL 3-5 mins to process before you lose your mind. I was so shocked and in disbelief that Steph had to google 'positive pregnancy tests' and 'negative pregnancy tests' to show me that it was in fact positive. She texted her husband, our friend Alex in Germany & they all said "Congrats!! That's a positive". Ummm, what? A positive? I don't even know what that means. Total shock. I think I looked at that test 100x (and now two other tests a week later 100x).  I then called my RE and told them I cheated, and took the HPT and asked if I could come in that day for my Beta. I went in and found out later that day that yes, I was in fact pregnant but that the number was on the lower end. This then made me freakout and wonder if it was a chemical pregnancy. The number has to double in 48 hours, and then double again in another 48 hours to confirm that this is in fact a valid pregnancy. Talk about nervewracking?!! See, the things you don't have to worry about when you actually pee on a stick once you're late, and then finally get into your OB a few weeks later. IT. WAS. NERVEWRACKING to say the least. I don't think I've prayed so hard, and relied on my close friends to pray hard for me in my entire life. I cannot possibly feel any more grateful to my support group for sending up all the love, encouragement, positive energy and prayers. It's so true, it takes a team to get through this journey. Ok, back to the story. Meanwhile, Blair had no idea I went to the doc to get the Beta test to confirm and still thought that the test had only one line (he was at work, and teaches so doesn't have ready access to his phone all the time). By the time it was confirmed that day, I wanted to tell him and celebrate this win, even if there were still tests that needed to be doubled. Here's the tests with all the 48 hour doubling lines-- they went from 22 to 50 to 110. For 11 days post transfer and 17 days past ovulation, my numbers are just fine. Turns out it's not the number that matters (high end or low end) it's just that they are doubling. Some are early implanters and some are later. Some women have high HCG numbers and some lower. It's alllll good. 

13, 15, and 17 days past ovulation --all prior to even being "late"

How I Surprised B

I volunteer on Friday's in the NICU at Children's Hospital so off I went to hold my cuties per usual with the plan to surprise B when I got home. My plan was to stop en route home and pick up a bunch of pink and blue balloons to blow up and tie them up in our backyard nature preserve area where we always walk the dogs, workout, and think of/talk about Gram Albright & baby Josie. The area is so peaceful and serene that we really feel connected to our Angels who have passed on, so what better place to tell B that we are expecting a little Angel of our own!? So I parked at the preserve and walked down to tie the balloons in the opening the dogs always run to. I knew it was a safe bet we'd end up there since that's the route they always take. When I walked in the house to tell B "lets take the dogs for a walk", I was flushed and sweating since it was so hot out {I absolutely hate the heat and to be hot} so he's like "Jesus, are you ok? You look burning up". I'm like "Oh, I know, it was so hot in the NICU so I've been ablaze for hours. Lets take the dogs for a walk they are stir crazy & frankly I could blow some steam too". So off we went. I almost got busted as you could see the balloons from our back door {even though they were about 200 yards away} and Blair looked in the distance all puzzled & looked at me at which point I busted out laughing. Luckily, he's not inquisitive and didn't even dig or question why. So we turn the corner, and I had a card written to him with the positive pregnancy test in it and when he looked at me in sheer shock I got to say "Yep, WE'RE PREGNANT"!!! I then proceeded to tell him about the beta, not waiting for the second pink line on the HPT and everything that occurred that day. As you can see, he is thrilled and beaming ear to ear. I will always remember this moment. 

one proud Daddy-to-be right there!

They don't even know what's comin....

J.O.Y my friends!

How We Surprised My Parents

My Mom has been working very hard to once and for all finish her Bachelors degree. She's dabbled at it throughout the years and due to difficulty finding a job when she was laid off a few years ago, she decided to knock it out. We're very proud of her! Not only did she finish, she graduated with honors and all the bells and whistles because frankly the woman doesn't do ANYTHING halfway. She would study for HOURS upon HOURS and argue any grade that was less than an A+ so she worked her little tail off to get it. She walks next Sunday for her diploma and B and I wont be there for it, sadly, because we have our Albright Family Vaca to the Bahamas that was already planned. So, we planned a nice little Sunday day for Mom in Yellow Springs. This time of year is beautiful there as the acreage upon Tecumseh Land Trust is filled with gigantic Sunflowers that are in full bloom. So we went to Tradewinds which is a delicious restaurant to give her her grad gifts. Once of the grad gifts that my nephew Isaac and I "picked out together" was the big reveal to Mom. We wanted to make the day about her of course, but what's better than finding out you're going to have another Grandbaby?! :) She was SO SURPRISED and bawled in shock-- it was great. We spent the day at the sunflower fields and fresh farmers market to follow. 75 and sunny on the happiest of days!

"Auntie's Pregnant!! Only Grandbaby Expiring May, 2015"

One excited gang right there!

Yellow Springs!

He Lubb his Uncle Blair!

My sweetie beatie

I have a creative little trick up my sleeve that I hope goes off without a hitch next week for Blair's family reveal! I had a cover up made that says "BAHAMA MAMA-TO-BE" that I'm going to throw on for our first day at the pool & see how many of the 8 of them figure out the good news! :)

HOLY CRAP, IM PREGNANT! yay!! Thank you again for all the prayers, love and support! Keep em' coming for a healthy babe and pregnancy. Now, Shhhhhhh.



xoxo,
Andi