Music To My Ears

So this is what it feels like when a dream becomes reality.?.?.? We are beyond blessed!

We waited to tell most of our friends about the pregnancy until after we saw an ultrasound and knew everything was okay and that the baby was in the right spot this time. We anticipated our doctor's visit, which was scheduled for January 3rd with Dr. Akin in Lexington. We got up bright and early and barely slept the night before. Our appointment was at 10:15, but it was snowing so we left around 7:30. Our last ultrasound experience there was difficult for the both of us, so we were nervous and a little cautious. I prayed a lot.

Dr. Akin began to do the ultrasound, and as soon as he said, "There's the heartbeat right there" (touching this tiny little spot on the screen). We were able to see the baby safe and in the right spot with a flickering heartbeat. Of course, I cried my eyes out. I have never felt such relief in my life. Oh, and Jason and I were also relieved to see that we only had one baby instead of two! :) The baby was measuring at 6 weeks and 5 days and was perfectly healthy. We told some of our close friends that day, but we didn't ready to publicly announce it yet.

We went back for another visit with Dr. Akin on January 17th at 10:45. Once again, we got up early and drove to Lexington that morning -only this time with more anxiousness than fear. We knew this was going to be a day that would change our lives forever. Well, we had no idea. When Dr. Akin turned on that ultrasound machine, and we saw our tiny little baby moving around, I felt a sense of happiness and peace I've never experienced before. Then, Dr. Akin turned on the monitor, and we heard the most joyful sound we have ever heard. That heartbeat was music to my ears!!!! I cried many happy tears, and that is a moment I will never forget. I will never forget the excitement in Jason's voice and the huge smile on his face. I will never forget him dancing around that room like a kid at the carnival. Baby Rooper had a strong heart rate of 179 and was measuring at 8 weeks and 4 days. This is all so surreal for us, and we are blessed excited to be able to share our success story with the world. This is going to be one loved baby!

At that point, Dr. Akin released us from his care at the fertility clinic into the hands of my OB/GYN here in Ashland. I cannot express how grateful I am to have found such a wonderful specialist and team of nurses who helped us through all of this. They gave us hope. They gave us our miracle. They gave us life.

I had already scheduled my initial OB appointment with Dr. Dotson at KDMC weeks ago, so I got to see him on January 22nd. Jason and his mother came with me. I was fortunate enough to have another ultrasound during this visit. Baby Rooper still had a strong heart rate of 174 and was measuring at 9 weeks and 4 days. My mother-in-law smiled from ear to ear, and I could tell she really appreciated getting to experience this with us. I won't go back to the doctor until February 19th, but all looks good at this point. Our baby is healthy and growing. I'm taking good care of myself and being as cautious as I can be.

Here are our announcement pictures as well as the chalkboard pregnancy updates I've started. I stole the idea from Pinterest. :)

I'll continue to update as my belly grows!

Mommy + Daddy + Science = BABY!

“Sometimes you need to hang on to someone else’s hope… someone else’s peace and sanity, while yours is under siege. Strength, peace, courage, and faith –they all come and go when we face trials. Borrow some else’s light until your light can shine brightly once again.”

I honestly do not know what I would do without my friends and family. I have been overwhelmed with the amount of love and support I've felt over the past several months. I would not be where I am today if it weren't for the people who carried me.

First of all, I want to talk about Kayla Boggs. This girl has been my best friend since early high school, and I truly believe there is not a stronger bond than the one we have. Through all of my infertility, stress and tears, Kayla has been there for me. I cannot begin to express the amount of love I have for that girl. She has slapped sense into me when I needed it, let me cry on her shoulder when I needed it, and most of all told me exactly what I needed to hear the entire time. I am in tears as I type this because I can't thank her enough for the love and loyalty she has shown me. She has proven that time and time again. Kayla has put her and her family's lives on hold because of me. Of course, I would have NEVER asked her to do this. I could not be so selfish. Kayla and her husband have a 3 and a half year old little girl, and he had been pushing for them to have another baby for a long time now. She kept putting it off. She had been refusing to try again until Jason and I were successful in conceiving first. She couldn't bare to "do that to me". I love Delaney (their gorgeous daughter) so very much, and I would have loved any new baby the same, if they had one. I could never be upset with her, ever. I could never expect any of my friends to put their lives on hold because of me, and Kayla is no exception in that. However, Kayla is an EXCEPTIONAL friend. I just have to acknowledge how blessed I am to have her by my side and to experience this journey with her.

Kayla took the day off of work and went with me to Lexington on November 27th for my ultrasound. The scan showed 2 mature follicles on my left ovary, and one smaller follicle on my right. We figured since the two on the left were a lot more dominant, my chance of conceiving multiples only looked like the possibility of twins. I was willing to take that risk. The doctor gave me a prescription for Ovidrel, an hcg shot to trigger ovulation. Jason gave me the shot that Saturday evening (instructions were to give the shot between 4-8pm, so he shot me in the arm around 5pm). He seemed to have WAY TOO MUCH fun doing that, by the way, LOL. Based on the ultrasound, the doctor was able to predict my ovulation date for Monday, December 2nd. Therefore, Jason and I went back to Lexington that morning for the IUI (intrauterine insemination). It was quite a simple procedure -much quicker than I had anticipated -so we were happy about that. At that point, we just wait.

Luckily, I had a vacation scheduled with my dad. I left that Friday, December 6th for a week in Florida. We stayed at my dad's timeshare in Orlando but traveled around. We visited Braydenton and found my mom's old home she grew up in. We sprinkled her ashes there, the local park where she played, and in front of my papaw's old shoe repair shop that my mother worked at. Well, it's now an attorney's office, but she had great memories in that building. Dad and I also traveled to Clearwater Beach, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville. I got to meet up with some friends from down there, which was pleasant. We spent two days at Universal Studios which was a blast. I didn't ride a single rollercoaster or any jerky rides just for the fear of affecting the likelihood of the IUI working. I was very careful all week. I limited my caffeine intake to next-to-none, drank TONS of water, ate fresh pineapple core and pomegranates (look it up lol), walked a lot, prayed a lot, and relaxed. Toward the end of the week there in Florida, I started to notice these dark blue veins on my hips and chest/shoulders. I researched it and asked the women in my fertility group, and they all said they got that when they were pregnant -that it's an early sign of pregnancy. My wheels started turning. :) I didn't have a pregnancy test with me, so I didn't take one -even though I so desperately wanted to. Sorry if some of you think I'm sharing too much, but I'm telling ya -these dark blue veins gave me HOPE for the first time in a long while! :)

I flew back home on December 13th. My dad was staying in town for the weekend because Jason's college graduation was that Saturday. I took a pregnancy test when I got home and got a faint positive. BFP! Big. Fat. Positive! I told Jason in secret, but we were both still very skeptical and didn't say anything.

So, what's a girl to do but keep testing!?!? I believe I took a total of 14 at-home pregnancy tests. I kept testing to make sure that line got darker and didn't disappear (like last time). Don't judge me. It was the only reassurance I had. :)

I went on Monday, December 16th for my first blood test. It was POSITIVE with an hcg level of 101. I was around 4 weeks then. I went back on Wednesday, December 18th for a second blood test (knowing the level needed to have doubled), and my hcg level was 241. It more than doubled. I took an at-home test every other day to make sure everything still looked okay, then I went back on Monday, December 23rd for one last blood test. My hcg level was 1,648. I called my doctor, and the nurse said this was a fabulous number for being 5 weeks PREGNANT! This was such a relief for us, and that's when we began to get excited.

We decided to tell our families since it was Christmas, and we were going to be spending the holidays with them. We went to Jason's parents' house on Christmas eve. After dinner, we all sat down to a game of Catch Phrase. Jason and I had rehearsed this, of course, so that we would reveal our news during the game. It was Jason's turn to describe a word, so he began by saying, "Ok, this is something that starts off really small but can grow into something big". I shouted out guesses: "A business. A tree." Jason: "No. This is something that you see everywhere". Me: "Cars. Starbucks!" Jason: "No. It's something we've wanted for a really long time. It sleeps a lot. There's one in your belly right now" (pointing to my belly). Me: "A BABY!!!!!" Jason: "Yes!" (as he passes the Catch Phrase game on to his stepdad, Roy). Roy proceeds to begin describing the next word (hahahaha), and his mom says, "Wait. What? Does this mean........?" and I say, "Yes. We are pregnant". It was absolutely priceless! I actually thought I was videotaping this whole thing but screwed up and had pushed the wrong button instead of record. I was mad at myself for that, but their reactions were priceless. Jason's brother and his wife were there to share in the experience too.

We wanted to use this same reveal for my family as well, but I figured the chance of getting everyone to sit down at the same time for a game was slim. I was right, lol. We went to my sister's Christmas eve night, and she had asked me about the IUI and if I had found anything out. I just put my head down and told her I didn't wanna talk about it. It's very hard keeping a secret from my sister. Very hard. We went to my aunt Jeanetta's on Christmas day. After dinner, everyone opened gifts. I had wrapped a special one for Jenn to open after everyone else was finished. I made sure to stand up and make a big spectacle of this gift so that everyone was paying attention to her when she opened it. I told her that it's something she has wanted for a really long time, and she may not remember even asking for it. I told her not to tell us it's too much because she is totally worth it. That got everyone's attention for sure. Jenn opened the box and found a baby bib inside that said, "My Aunt Loves Me" on it. She started to cry happy tears, of course, and so did Jeanetta. My dad had the biggest grin on his face, and I'll never forget this experience. I luckily did get this on video camera and hope to post it soon. Our families are so wonderful!

So it's not always the case that an IUI works on the first try. It doesn't work for everyone. We are beyond blessed that it did, indeed, work for us this time and that we didn't have to go through with IVF which is a much more intense and draining process. And hey, on the bright side... when our child comes to us for the "birds and the bees" story... we can get out a turkey baster and say that's pretty much the tool you need. HAH!

Also, everyone told me that things happen for a reason. Once again, I already knew this but didn't wanna hear it when I was struggling to deal with my own emotions. However, this is my time to appreciate those comments. I had told Kayla back in October how much I appreciated her putting her baby-making on hold for me but that it was not fair to her or Wes to continue to do so. I wanted them to go ahead and try for a baby, no matter how stubborn Kayla was trying to be. Well, Kayla is pregnant. Baby Boggs is due approximately 3 weeks before Baby Rooper. We get to experience this together, and our babies get to grow up together. How incredible is that!?!? This was meant to be. I believe it. <3

Jason is officially now a graduate of Marshall University and is working full-time at Atlantic Plant Services (APS) at Marathon. All of that hard work and dedication has paid off, and I am so very proud of him. He works hard for our family. He is an amazing husband, and I cannot wait to see him as a father. This warms my heart.

We are happy. We are excited. We are extremely blessed.