Two to Twenty-Two Weeks

As many of you know, we underwent In vitro Fertilization this past spring/summer. We feel so blessed to be able to have done this and I feel such indescribable gratitude for all those that played a part in caring for us while we were going through it.

 

Here is a timeline of my pregnancy so far (in pictures)

 

Here are our babies as blastocyst and ready to be implanted. These were the best two and I love that we have a picture of them at only about 5 days old as little tiny bundles of cells.

 

June 4, 2013 

This was right after we had the embryos transferred. They had given me some Valium to help me relax. I don't think I had ever been as relaxed as I was after the procedure. I ended up going home and sleeping for a few hours. After I woke up, the only thing I could think of was that I hope and pray that these perfect little embryos would implant and stay with us and that my body will be strong enough for them.

 

Technically this would be week 2 since they give you 2 free weeks.

Bed rest for a week. 

We found out that I was pregnant after doing a blood draw on June 15th. No peeing on a stick for me. I got a phone call from the nurse congratulating me and telling me that my HGC levels were high. This was the message that they sent me through my University of Utah account...

 

You are pregnant and you Quant (hcg) number today is 590.

Repeat on Monday between 8-9
Due date is 2/21/14
Continue progesterone until 7/23/13 get a refill call the pharmacy.
Schedule an ultrasound after 6/28/13 by calling the schedulers on Monday.

 At this point we didn't know if we were having one or two babies, but we were pregnant and that's all that mattered.

Between 5 and 6 weeks.

I ended up getting sick from being overstimulated (OHSS) and put on bed rest until I felt more comfortable. Those that knew that I was pregnant could already tell, what they didn't know was that my cute "baby bump" was actual blottage. HCG levels have doubled which is a great thing. I'm starting to think it might be twins...

 

Around 7 weeks.

Still not sure how many are in there. No sickness yet...but I have a feeling it's coming.

 

June 2, 2013

After having our final ultrasound with our Reproductive Doctor, We found out that we are pregnant with (di/di) twins!!!

 Two sacs, two placentas and two strong heartbeats! Started to feel the nausea and sickness after that was confirmed.

 

8 weeks pregnant!

 

Nausea is in full force and puking is a daily occurrence, but we couldn't be happier.

August 14th.

I am officially 13 weeks pregnant!

We got to see how the babies are developing at our genetic counseling appointment.

 

Baby A.

They couldn't get a great profile picture of the baby because it was moving around too much.

Baby B.

August 29, 2013

15.1 weeks!

We heard the both babies heartbeats this day and then headed down to St. George. Still sick, but still so happy!



 

October 2, 2013

20 weeks pregnant. Anatomy scan.

Both babies looked great. It was such a blessing to see all their little organs and to see that they were developing on track. We had to close our eyes when the tech told us to so we wouldn't find out the genders. I finally don't feel sick anymore!

 

Baby A. Flexing.

Baby B. Relaxing.

October 9th

21 weeks!

 

Almost 22 weeks.

Babies move around a lot especially at night between ten and eleven.

 

Everything so far has been going great. My official due date is on February 19th and I know it will get here before we know it. Luke and I have a lot of work cut out for us before then so we will be busy busy. Oliver kisses my belly all the time and Luke has been able to feel them kick. This change in our life has been so awesome. I love getting bigger and we can't wait to meet the Veigel twins.

A Jensen Weekend

This past weekend I was able to spend it with the Jensen kids while their parents ran in the Red Rock Relay. We always look forward to these weekends where we get to play and be busy.

 

It was pretty rainy this weekend so we stayed in door mostly, unless we played soccer. At the girls soccer practice we got to enjoy the rainbows, cloudy skies and then rain.

 The boys (in particular Aiden) didn't know what to do so we made up some relay drills. Aiden is a machine and did running drills for about half an hour.

 

 My favorite game to watch this weekend was Oakley's. She is one fierce little player and I may be bias, but I think she worked harder than any other player. Even though she is tiny, she played some awesome defense and even scored a goal. I was certainly a proud aunt.

 Oliver also had a great game that day. We didn't stick around to watch him play because the clouds were so heavy and black and we were in the topless Jeep. Even though he only had a team of three and they were playing six, Oliver scored two goals! YEEAAH!

 

Like I said, we took off before we got stuck in the rain. The whole way home we were wondering if we were going to get rained on. The moment we pulled in the driveway, it dumped.

 

The rest of the weekend we staying inside mostly, played Legos, watched movies, and just had an easy mellow weekend.

The kids were so great and we love being up there with them. Oliver isn't the only one that gets sad when the weekend has come to an end. We sure love those Jensen's.

 

And here is a little video of the kids getting scared at the Halloween store. Some of them were even making fun of Oliver for being scared to go in and then left saying that Oliver was right and that it actually was pretty scary. Funny kids.



Oliver's Lego Party

I can't believe Oliver turned 5! We celebrated by throwing him a little party and when he said he wanted to do a Lego party, I had to get to work.

 

I hired my amazing friend to make a cake. I knew I wouldn't have been able to make something great and so I am so glad to she came to the rescue. Oliver thought it was so cool.

As our guests arrived, we had them all guess how many Lego's were in the jar for a prize. At the end of the party, we announced the winner. Sara was the closest and won.

 

 

Our first activity was a craft. We made Lego head bracelets. Most of the kids enjoyed it, but when the younger kids couldn't thread the head through as easy, they gave up. Luke came to the rescue by drilling the holes bigger.

 

 

We played pin the Lego head on the Lego body. Jack was the winner and got a Lego prize.

 

 I made a Lego pinata for Oliver which he loved. The one thing that he said he wanted at his party was this pinata. Since it was so hard to break, they all got a couple of turns.

Oliver

 Avery.

 Morgan.

 Paige

 Oakley.

 Jackson.

 Ethan.

 Aaron.

 Andrew.

 Aiden.

 Kade.

 Sarah.

 

 Tayten.

 Spencer.

Mekenzie.

And finally, Jonny.

We sang Happy Birthday to Oliver and he blew out his candle. Sadly, my camera died and so I don't have any pictures of that, but he loved it. Afterwards, he opened his gifts. He got some pretty awesome things this year. We have such generous family members. Thank you.  

 

 

Finally, we sent everyone home with some Lego candy. I was able to find these printouts here which made for the perfect little take home treat.

 

Just a couple things about Oliver.

 

-He is so excited to be a big brother. Every night he prays for a brother and a sister. We tell him we're not sure if it's going to be a boy and a girl so he changed his mind to two brothers.

 

-He loves playing with Legos. Luke and Oliver will sit and play for a long time which is so fun to watch.

 

-He loves to sleep in just his underwear.

 

-He is such a kind and loving boy, but you make him mad and he changes into such a back talking little punk...still love him though.

 

-He loves to eat Ramen Noodles (which he calls Robin Noodles), Apple sauce, Eggs, Toast, Mac and Cheese, Apple Juice, and Watermelon...just to name a few things. He actually is a really picky eater.

 

-He is playing soccer for his team, The Twisters. He likes it okay, but doesn't love it.

 

-He is in the CTR 4 class. Probably one of the hardest classes in our primary.

 

-He loves all his cousins so much. In particular when he refers to his Jensen cousins, he calls them "My Jensen's".

 

-When he poses for pictures, he always has to pose in a funny manner of make a strange face.

 

-He says the sweetest prayers at night always being thankful for his cousins and grandmas and grandpas.

 

-He still loves to play video games, watch movies and shows. (good mom award, right here.)

 

We are so blessed to have Oliver and we love him so much. He has taught us how to love more deeply and to live more patiently. The past five years with him in our lives has been such a blessing and we feel it a privilege to be his parents. Happy Birthday, O!

First Day of School 2013

Today was Oliver's first day of his last year in Pre-School. He has been asking nearly everyday if it was time to go to pre-school. Finally when I told him we were going today, he was so excited. We just love Dianne Eggett and we love that Oliver loves school. I hope it lasts.

 

Randoms

In no particular order, here are some things that we did over the summer...

 

Oliver kept us laughing with his shenanigans. I like to call this picture his Cowboy/Surfer/Super Hero pose. Bless him for dressing himself.

 Crazy storms made for some beautiful skies.

 

Craving kicked in full swing and I was able to have my first real coke in months.

 Amy and I hosted a TOMS party.

 

The three of us broke away for Labor day. It was nice and relaxing as usual. We ate at Don Pedros, hiked at Pioneer Park, Played in the Walmart arcade (ghetto, I know), Oliver enjoyed Grandma's tub, I was 15 weeks pregnant, and we brought a couple of chunks of St. George back with us for our house.

 

We had our summer Primary Party. This was the only picture I took and I'm glad I did. Our friend AJ with his primary class "playing water games".

We celebrated nine years of marriage. This one should have a post of it's own but these were the only pictures we took. We went to dinner at Cheese Cake Factory and we were so excited to eat there (despite our picture) and when we really did eat our food we were pretty disappointed. 

 

And lastly, we got a "new" shed. Trent said we could have his if we did all the work, so Luke called up our friends and piece by piece they took it apart and put it back up. We had an outpouring of friends help us all three days it took to complete the project and we are so grateful to them for their muscles and willingness to help. The Monday we completed the project, we invited the families to come hang out and make smores. We ended up with 14 families there that night. Love our friends!