The Nelson Narrative

Last June was the 5th anniversary of my becoming pregnant with the girls and I have since been documenting here various highlights and milestones of that pregnancy since I was not yet blogging at the time.  This week is the anniversary of my last week being pregnant.  5 years ago this week: Sunday the 24th - My mom came to stay with us until they were born.  I assume we watched the 2008 Oscars that night. Monday the 25th - I had my last OB appointment.  First with my regular OB and then with the MFM (maternal/fetal medicine) specialist after that.  I had my last NST and the girls were doing great.  I just remember thinking how weird it was that that would be my last time in that office (the MFM office, that is.  I sure didn't plan on having twins again but hadn't ruled out a singleton (and I'm pretty sure we could have prevented twins or more by only transfering one embryo had we ever done an FET {frozen embryo transfer})....

I've never been real big on Valentine's Day.  I was single forever, and when I did have a boyfriend there was all this pressure to get something romantic and meaningful and it was always so hard to figure out what to get.  I mean, what else is there besides chocolate, really?  Most guys aren't big into jewelry and even if they do wear chains or whatever a guy can only have so many. Now that I'm married, I'm just kind of eh about the whole thing.  We haven't gone out the last few years because we can't afford to go out AND pay a babysitter, and I imagine it's hard to even find a babysitter on V-Day.  I usually try to fix a special dinner, but it's hard to make it all romantic when the girls are here with us.  Sure, we could wait until they go to bed and then light candles and have a romantic late dinner or just dessert if we've already eaten, but Paul gets up so early that he usually goes to bed the same time the girls do, although they...

As I've mentioned in several previous posts, I was not yet blogging 5 years ago when I became pregnant with the girls.  I decided that in honor of the 5th anniversary of my pregnancy/their birth, I would document the highlights as their anniversary occurs. July 26th was the anniversary of my first ultrasound.  I was 7 weeks 1 day.  It was at the RE's office.  It was also the day we found out I was carrying twins. I suspected twins all along due to my high beta numbers but I was really hoping for a singleton.  When they told us it was twins I was really disappointed.  Now, don't get me wrong--I was THRILLED to be pregnant, and I would have taken twins or even octuplets over zero babies ANY day.  But I was sad that I would miss out on: Mother/baby yoga - I had looked forward to going to a mom/baby yoga class, but with TWO babies, that wouldn't be possible. A normal trip to the grocery store with the one baby in the front of the shopping cart...

Since I wasn't blogging yet when we went through IVF and got pregnant with the girls, I've decided to use the 5th anniversary to commemorate the event.  It was 5 years ago today that we found out I was pregnant. We had an appointment in the morning for my blood draw (beta).  I mentioned before how I didn't want to test any of the days leading up until the 5th because it was either too early or could potentially ruin the 4th of July holiday or make me unable to go to work, so I had to wait until the 5th to test (I took the day off from work, and if it would have been negative, I probably would've taken Friday, too).  I didn't want to test before my appointment, because if it had been negative I didn't want to have to put myself through the whole ordeal already knowing I'm not pregnant.  I definitely wanted to find out in the privacy of my own home, though, not over the phone from a nurse.  So I decided to finally test when we got home from the appoint...

We had a really fun 4th.  First of all, summer came to Western Washington a day early and we had gorgeous weather!  Our community has a little parade and festival with bouncy houses, pony rides, petting zoo, face painting, etc.  We've been at Crescent Bar for the last few 4ths but this year we were able to go and the girls really enjoyed it.  They're really into horses right now so they loved the pony rides.  We waited in line forever but they were really good and patient.  After the pony rides, we went to the petting zoo, then on to the bouncy houses.  While they waited in line, I went and got some free popcorn and cotton candy which was a big hit. Waiting for the parade to start old fire truck Olivia on a pony.  I was trying to walk with Kayley on her pony while taking this picture. Kayley on a pony petting a donkey cotton candy and popcorn We went home for lunch, then later went to our neighbors'...

I didn't have a blog 5 years ago when I first got pregnant with the girls, so I have no real record of  my pregnancy, other than a few ultrasound pics and a few notes jotted down in a pregnancy journal I barely used.  So, in honor of the 5th anniversary of conceiving, my pregnancy and their birth, I will periodically blog about it over the next 8 months. 5 years ago this week, I was in that agonizing 2 Week Wait (2WW).  I had just had my transfer the previous Saturday.  I was told bedrest wasn't necessary, but I did take it easy the first few days.  I can't remember the exact days, but I think around 4 or 5 days later I had some cramping.  I wanted to be all excited, thinking that it was implantation, but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I told myself that it could be, but it also could just be my good 'ol endometriosis cruely messing with me.  So when I did feel crampy, I didn't think much about it. I also was having to get up several time...

Today is the 5-year anniversary of my embryo transfer!  5 years ago today I became pregnant with my girls (I wrote about it in more detail a few years ago).  It was a Saturday that year, also. Olivia and Kayley at 3 days post conception (wish I knew which one was which): And Olivia and Kayley 5 years later: That photo is actually a few weeks old.  I tried to take one for today and this is what I ended up with: {Sigh}