When: April 24, 2008
It was the third week of April 2008 when Billy and I got the confirmation from our fertility center that we were pregnant. It had been a roller coaster ride of emotions up until that point - a long month of daily injections, twice-weekly acupuncture appointments, countless ultrasounds and then the actual retrieval and embryo transfer. To "celebrate", we went on a vacation to Portugal and that's where took our first pregnancy. Here is the proof positive:
Probably the only thing I peed on that I would take a picture of but, after dealing with infertility, I'm allowed. Now, since we were on another continent, it was pretty easy to keep this a secret. But since my whole family knew about our IVF cycle, the secret would not last long.
Once we got home, we planned a dinner with my parents - we would tell them the news one way or the other. What most people don't know (including myself before this whole IVF junk) is that you could get a positive pee-stick and be pregnant but that pregnancy might not make it - that's the trouble with testing so early on. So, we wanted to wait for our appointment at the clinic to confirm that my hormone levels were high enough to indicate a viable pregnancy. The levels ended up being very high, hinting at twins...and we all know how that story ends.
The night of our dinner arrives and as soon as I walk in my parents' apartment, my mother takes one look at me and knows. Gotta love moms. I confirm and she grabs the phone to call her mom. Ok, so I guess its fine if my parents and my grandmother know. I'll wait a while to tell other people, you know, just in case.
We get to the restaurant and who do we bump into - my aunt. Seriously? My town is small, but it ain't that small. Ok fine. So now she knows. We get seated and my father goes out for some fresh air (ADHD - gosh I hope it's not genetic...) and who does he bring back with him but another aunt, uncle and their kids. Really??
By now, my mother's entire family knows the good news so its only fair that my dad's side knows, too. So, less than 12 hours after our first blood test, my whole extended family has heard. Kind of like ripping off a band-aid...I guess.
How fun! I didn't take a photo of my home test because it was so faint I wasn't sure it was right. It's true - you can't be a "little bit pregnant".
ReplyDeleteOh I ADORE how you have told your story! You have to share it with all those intuitive and early in the know relatives! (The "ripping off a bandaid" is a great line!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for playing along with Way Back When-esday, Nicole!