So we thought we knew the sexes of the babies, confirmed twice by an ultrasound.....and we were keeping it only just a little bit quiet (I usually told anyone who asked).
But then yesterday I went to the doctors and had another ultrasound. Now we are not quite so sure. The nurses discussed and could not come to a consensus, other than to tell us to wait for another ultrasound in another two weeks.
So the voting is still open. Feel free to change your vote, if you so desire.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Once upon a time....
How the story began....
We feel that we should tell a little more background on how this pregnancy came about. That may seem kind of funny at first because people are normally more discrete about discussing conception, but this conception didn’t happen the “traditional” way, as it resulted from a process of undergoing several infertility treatments. Infertility is an difficult trial because it delays or (in some cases) impedes the fulfillment of the desire to bring children into this world. Infertility tested our patience and faith because, beforehand, we didn't really expect to have difficulty in having children, and then during the process we didn't know if we were going to be able to get pregnant. As we met disappointment followed by disappointment, we were comforted by others who had experienced infertility. We were strengthened as they shared their stories and provided advice to us. Maybe our story can provide comfort and strength to others as well.
The pregnancy occurred when we did a round of intrauterine insemination (IUI). IUI is a procedure where they take a semen sample (in this case, mine), wash the sample to concentrate the good sperm, and (using a long, narrow syringe) inject the sperm directly into the uterus (in this case, Alisa's) within 24-48 hours after ovulation. We had attempted IUI once in Utah just before we moved to Houston, but it was obviously unsuccessful. We have been told that IUI only has a 25% success rate. So this was the first time we did IUI in Houston, and we weren’t extremely hopeful that it would be successful. For one, a 25% success rate doesn’t put the odds in your favor, and for another, Alisa hadn’t ever been pregnant even with two years of attempts during our marriage. Although two years is not as long as many people struggle with infertility, we were a bit worried considering we didn't get started until we were 30. Alisa also feels that she gets to count the years between 23 and 30 (at the very least) that she was not married but really wanted to be a mother.
So we (especially Alisa) were losing hope that we would be able to get pregnant, but we still wanted to try IUI to see if it could work out. And it did! The week after our IUI, we travelled to southern California to spend some time with Alisa's family. Alisa felt few a few pregnancy symptoms, but nothing that a strong desire to be pregnant (often to the level of obsession) wouldn't bring on. We decided not to do a pregnancy test. Possibly being too superstitious, we felt that pregnancy tests (those evil little test strips) were bad luck, considering Alisa had peed on many of them and we had never seen one with a positive result. Two weeks after the IUI, Alisa went into the doctor's office for a blood test. Our fertility doctor regularly schedules these tests after fertility procedures in order to gather more information. The kind nurse who took Alisa's blood offered a short, sincere prayer with her that the tests would come back positive. Later that afternoon, Alisa got a call with the results. Alisa had elevated levels of HCG, indicating a pregnancy! We were very surprised! Alisa went back to the doctor's office again two days later for another blood test, and the results were also positive! We felt very blessed that the time had come, and we kept praying that pregnancy would progress normally.
Two weeks after finding out that she was pregnant, Alisa went in for her first ultrasound, when they heard not only one heartbeat, but two! Twins! To be honest, we didn’t really pray for two to come at once, but we’ll definitely take it. Because some infertility treatments increase the odds of having twins (or more), I had joked with Alisa several times that we might as well start with twins just to catch up. I didn't really believe that the jokes would become reality. In fact, IUI doesn’t increase the odds of having twins, according to what we have read and been told by our doctor. The medication Alisa was taking to help her ovulate (Clomid) did increase our odds of twins, but our doctor told us that it only gives an 8% chance of twins. So the twins were even a surprise to our doctor.
We obviously don't see this pregnancy as an answer to all of our struggles (it has already introduced new ones, as we'll share in future posts), but we feel blessed to have this experience in our lives. We are striving to rely on the Lord, attempting to align our will with His, and our faith in Jesus Christ has strengthened as we have felt His influence in our life.
-Lonnie
We feel that we should tell a little more background on how this pregnancy came about. That may seem kind of funny at first because people are normally more discrete about discussing conception, but this conception didn’t happen the “traditional” way, as it resulted from a process of undergoing several infertility treatments. Infertility is an difficult trial because it delays or (in some cases) impedes the fulfillment of the desire to bring children into this world. Infertility tested our patience and faith because, beforehand, we didn't really expect to have difficulty in having children, and then during the process we didn't know if we were going to be able to get pregnant. As we met disappointment followed by disappointment, we were comforted by others who had experienced infertility. We were strengthened as they shared their stories and provided advice to us. Maybe our story can provide comfort and strength to others as well.
The pregnancy occurred when we did a round of intrauterine insemination (IUI). IUI is a procedure where they take a semen sample (in this case, mine), wash the sample to concentrate the good sperm, and (using a long, narrow syringe) inject the sperm directly into the uterus (in this case, Alisa's) within 24-48 hours after ovulation. We had attempted IUI once in Utah just before we moved to Houston, but it was obviously unsuccessful. We have been told that IUI only has a 25% success rate. So this was the first time we did IUI in Houston, and we weren’t extremely hopeful that it would be successful. For one, a 25% success rate doesn’t put the odds in your favor, and for another, Alisa hadn’t ever been pregnant even with two years of attempts during our marriage. Although two years is not as long as many people struggle with infertility, we were a bit worried considering we didn't get started until we were 30. Alisa also feels that she gets to count the years between 23 and 30 (at the very least) that she was not married but really wanted to be a mother.
So we (especially Alisa) were losing hope that we would be able to get pregnant, but we still wanted to try IUI to see if it could work out. And it did! The week after our IUI, we travelled to southern California to spend some time with Alisa's family. Alisa felt few a few pregnancy symptoms, but nothing that a strong desire to be pregnant (often to the level of obsession) wouldn't bring on. We decided not to do a pregnancy test. Possibly being too superstitious, we felt that pregnancy tests (those evil little test strips) were bad luck, considering Alisa had peed on many of them and we had never seen one with a positive result. Two weeks after the IUI, Alisa went into the doctor's office for a blood test. Our fertility doctor regularly schedules these tests after fertility procedures in order to gather more information. The kind nurse who took Alisa's blood offered a short, sincere prayer with her that the tests would come back positive. Later that afternoon, Alisa got a call with the results. Alisa had elevated levels of HCG, indicating a pregnancy! We were very surprised! Alisa went back to the doctor's office again two days later for another blood test, and the results were also positive! We felt very blessed that the time had come, and we kept praying that pregnancy would progress normally.
Two weeks after finding out that she was pregnant, Alisa went in for her first ultrasound, when they heard not only one heartbeat, but two! Twins! To be honest, we didn’t really pray for two to come at once, but we’ll definitely take it. Because some infertility treatments increase the odds of having twins (or more), I had joked with Alisa several times that we might as well start with twins just to catch up. I didn't really believe that the jokes would become reality. In fact, IUI doesn’t increase the odds of having twins, according to what we have read and been told by our doctor. The medication Alisa was taking to help her ovulate (Clomid) did increase our odds of twins, but our doctor told us that it only gives an 8% chance of twins. So the twins were even a surprise to our doctor.
We obviously don't see this pregnancy as an answer to all of our struggles (it has already introduced new ones, as we'll share in future posts), but we feel blessed to have this experience in our lives. We are striving to rely on the Lord, attempting to align our will with His, and our faith in Jesus Christ has strengthened as we have felt His influence in our life.
-Lonnie
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys (or cowgirls)....
We have a big announcement. We are going to be parents! Alisa is pregnant with TWINS! The babies are due in late May. Alisa has been pregnant since late September, but we decided to wait until after Christmas to announce it to the world (or at least anyone who happens to read our blog).
We are very excited about the pregnancy. As you know, we have been anxious to bring children into our family. We feel very blessed, and we are so grateful for your prayers and support.
Although the children will be born in Texas, I hope they will be more interested in basketball than cow tipping.
(Alisa, please don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. I really can't stand country music.)
-Lonnie
Thursday, January 17, 2008
yes, I have been absent from the blogging world
But I will be back soon. And I have lots of good stuff to share. Stay tuned.
:)
:)
Monday, December 3, 2007
tagged
Rusted Sun has been tagged by our good friends stuckihouse. I have been quite slacked in writing back but here it goes...
Six things people don't know about me.
1. Lonnie and I usually tell people that we were set up on a blind date. That is really only part of the truth. We actually met through an online dating service called LDS Promise. On this site, you fill out a really long survey designed by a couple BYU professors. They then match you with people they think will be compatible on several different levels.
We are both still kind of embarrassed that we met on the internet and when we do tell the whole truth we like to emphasis that we met on the internet, but we actually got to know each other and fell in love in person and rarely sent each other emails after our first date.
2. When I was six, after some serious thought, I told my mom that I had thought she was the Tooth Fairy but after examining her closet and not finding the required Tooth-Fairy-Outfit, I decided that she was really not the real Tooth Fairy.
3. I speak fluent Spanish. I love to speak in Spanish and sometimes can't find words in English that I know how to say in Spanish. Being in Spanish speaking countries and around Spanish speaking people makes me very happy. But it was not always so......I learned to speak Spanish at the same time I learned English (as a child in Colombia). But I lost it all once we moved back to the United States. As a matter of fact, I got a C in High School Spanish and never really learned to say anything other than "Camarero, dos Coca-colas, por favor", which phrase I have never used in any Latin American county. My father claims that the only reason I even passed my High School Spanish class was because I had the same High School Spanish teacher that he had when he attended High School, and the teacher loved my father.
4. When I was in High School, I was a drama geek and I was Vice President of the Speech Team, although I was never really good at either. I mostly just liked the excitement of the theater and thought the Speech people were smart. Only once did I have a staring role in a play. I was Alice, in a musical version of Alice in Wonderland at a local community theater during my senior year in High School.
5. I rode my bike to Haiti when I was on my mission in the Dominican Republic. The guard at the obscure boarder crossing asked us if we were angles. I also walked to Slovenia from Italy one Sunday afternoon with a friend while our hosts were taking a nap. I went back again later that night with our host and my sister so she too could have a Slovenia stamp in her passport.
6. I was born on Staten, Island, NY but I lived in Bogotá, Colombia from the time I was about 5 months old until I was 5 years old. We moved to San Pedro, CA (where my dad grew up and most of his family lived) two weeks before Christmas and I was extremely worried that Santa Claus wouldn't know where I had moved, so I wrote him several letters explaining that we would be at my grandparents house' on Christmas morning and if he saw it fit to reward me for good behavior that year he should make sure to not deliver the gifts to our home in Bogotá.
So I get to tag people, is that how this works? So I tag Willa, Tom, Dobbs Fam, Lester Bunch, and Persian Babies.
I, of course, have much more juicy things that people don't know about me. But I am not going to reveal them on the internet where everyone in the world will know my deep dark secrets. If you want to know the real juicy stuff, you will have to call or visit. :)
Six things people don't know about me.
1. Lonnie and I usually tell people that we were set up on a blind date. That is really only part of the truth. We actually met through an online dating service called LDS Promise. On this site, you fill out a really long survey designed by a couple BYU professors. They then match you with people they think will be compatible on several different levels.
We are both still kind of embarrassed that we met on the internet and when we do tell the whole truth we like to emphasis that we met on the internet, but we actually got to know each other and fell in love in person and rarely sent each other emails after our first date.
2. When I was six, after some serious thought, I told my mom that I had thought she was the Tooth Fairy but after examining her closet and not finding the required Tooth-Fairy-Outfit, I decided that she was really not the real Tooth Fairy.
3. I speak fluent Spanish. I love to speak in Spanish and sometimes can't find words in English that I know how to say in Spanish. Being in Spanish speaking countries and around Spanish speaking people makes me very happy. But it was not always so......I learned to speak Spanish at the same time I learned English (as a child in Colombia). But I lost it all once we moved back to the United States. As a matter of fact, I got a C in High School Spanish and never really learned to say anything other than "Camarero, dos Coca-colas, por favor", which phrase I have never used in any Latin American county. My father claims that the only reason I even passed my High School Spanish class was because I had the same High School Spanish teacher that he had when he attended High School, and the teacher loved my father.
4. When I was in High School, I was a drama geek and I was Vice President of the Speech Team, although I was never really good at either. I mostly just liked the excitement of the theater and thought the Speech people were smart. Only once did I have a staring role in a play. I was Alice, in a musical version of Alice in Wonderland at a local community theater during my senior year in High School.
5. I rode my bike to Haiti when I was on my mission in the Dominican Republic. The guard at the obscure boarder crossing asked us if we were angles. I also walked to Slovenia from Italy one Sunday afternoon with a friend while our hosts were taking a nap. I went back again later that night with our host and my sister so she too could have a Slovenia stamp in her passport.
6. I was born on Staten, Island, NY but I lived in Bogotá, Colombia from the time I was about 5 months old until I was 5 years old. We moved to San Pedro, CA (where my dad grew up and most of his family lived) two weeks before Christmas and I was extremely worried that Santa Claus wouldn't know where I had moved, so I wrote him several letters explaining that we would be at my grandparents house' on Christmas morning and if he saw it fit to reward me for good behavior that year he should make sure to not deliver the gifts to our home in Bogotá.
So I get to tag people, is that how this works? So I tag Willa, Tom, Dobbs Fam, Lester Bunch, and Persian Babies.
I, of course, have much more juicy things that people don't know about me. But I am not going to reveal them on the internet where everyone in the world will know my deep dark secrets. If you want to know the real juicy stuff, you will have to call or visit. :)
Friday, November 16, 2007
phone conversation with Sam
For those of you who don't know Sam, he is my 5 year old nephew. He lives in Salt Lake and I miss seeing him at least a couple times a week. We still try to talk on the phone here is out latest conversation......
Me: Hi Sam. Hey guess what I am going to have a baby!
Sam: Really how many are you going to have?
Me: Well actually I am going to have two. Twins.
Sam: I already knowed that you can have more than one baby at a time.
Me: Oh really you already knew that women can have more than one baby at a time.
Sam: Yeah, I already knowed that. It is a good thing that you aren't going to get orphans.
(Sam has a recent facination with
Me: Hi Sam. Hey guess what I am going to have a baby!
Sam: Really how many are you going to have?
Me: Well actually I am going to have two. Twins.
Sam: I already knowed that you can have more than one baby at a time.
Me: Oh really you already knew that women can have more than one baby at a time.
Sam: Yeah, I already knowed that. It is a good thing that you aren't going to get orphans.
(Sam has a recent facination with
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
citizen schools
I am working part time for a non-profit program called Citizen Schools. I work with students at Sharpstown Middle School. They are strong, wonderful, resilient kids who are looking for a bright future.
I help coordinate an after-school program that invites community professionals to volunteer and teach apprenticeships. The kids are learning about solar car engineering, cooking, photography, debate, banking and community organizing, etc.
The photography volunteer and I took a small group of the students on a photography field trip to the Buddhist Temple across the street from the school.
testing the water
If anyone is looking for a great volunteer oppourtunity where you can share your skills with inter-city middle school age kids look into Citizen Schools. They are in various cities throughout CA, MA, NJ, NM, NC and TX.
-Alisa
I help coordinate an after-school program that invites community professionals to volunteer and teach apprenticeships. The kids are learning about solar car engineering, cooking, photography, debate, banking and community organizing, etc.
The photography volunteer and I took a small group of the students on a photography field trip to the Buddhist Temple across the street from the school.
testing the water
If anyone is looking for a great volunteer oppourtunity where you can share your skills with inter-city middle school age kids look into Citizen Schools. They are in various cities throughout CA, MA, NJ, NM, NC and TX.
-Alisa
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
wally and norma
Last weekend, Lonnie and I went to California for my grandfather's 90th birthday party. My grandparents have 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and a growing number of great grandchildren. I have always loved my paternal grandparents. They are kind and loving to each other and everyone around them.
My family gathered photos of my grandparents' life, and I put them together into a slide show. It was great to see photos of them as children, then as young couple very much in love, through the years raising their children, going on a mission, exploring the Holy Land, and loving their grandchildren.
They are wonderful amazing people. Through the course of our lives, Lonnie and I hope to contribute to our family in much the same way as my Grandpa and Grandma Allred have.
-Alisa
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
two years
On Sunday at church our Relief Society meeting was about marriage. After reading a beautiful story about a couple married for over 50 years the teacher asked if we had ever been strengthened by a trial in marriage. Thinking about how our struggle to have children has brought us closer together, I wanted to share. Thinking that I normally can pull together coherent comment, I raised me hand. Unfortunately Sunday was not a regular day, I was in the middle of an infertility-drug-induced-hormone -roller-coaster and it was the day before my anniversary.
I started to say that Lonnie is not a romantic man. He doesn't bring me flowers, he doesn't make plan romantic plans for our anniversary, without much insistence, etc... Then I just started blubbering and crying which I believe by most was interpreted as meaning that I was sad that I wasn't married to a Don Juan. Or that I was sad that Lonnie didn't have another honeymoon trip planned for our anniversary. I kept talking but I can't really even remember what I was saying, blah, blah, blah.....
What I wanted to say is that more important and more essential to our marriage, Lonnie is my strength when I am weak. He is my shield from pain and my defender from my own self deprecation. When it really counts Lonnie is always the perfect husband.
If I want flowers, I can buy them myself. But after two years of being married to Lonnie I am a kinder, more considerate, more confidant person.
Two years ago Lonnie and I were married in Manti, Utah. It was a breezy and beautiful day. People often say that their wedding day was the best day of their life. I can't really say that, not that the day wasn't amazing. We were surrounded by family and friends and everything went as planned. To be honest I was in a daze most of the day. I was so happy and giddy to be married to Lonnie that I floated through the whole day. But it wasn't the happiest day of my life. The happiest days of my life have been every day since then.
I can't imagine being happier, more fulfilled, better appreciated, more respected or more loved than I am with Lonnie. As a 30-year-old getting married I had expected more of an adjustment to marriage. But some days I can't remember life without Lonnie at my side, building my confidence, filling my spirit and strengthening my heart.
-Alisa
I started to say that Lonnie is not a romantic man. He doesn't bring me flowers, he doesn't make plan romantic plans for our anniversary, without much insistence, etc... Then I just started blubbering and crying which I believe by most was interpreted as meaning that I was sad that I wasn't married to a Don Juan. Or that I was sad that Lonnie didn't have another honeymoon trip planned for our anniversary. I kept talking but I can't really even remember what I was saying, blah, blah, blah.....
What I wanted to say is that more important and more essential to our marriage, Lonnie is my strength when I am weak. He is my shield from pain and my defender from my own self deprecation. When it really counts Lonnie is always the perfect husband.
If I want flowers, I can buy them myself. But after two years of being married to Lonnie I am a kinder, more considerate, more confidant person.
Two years ago Lonnie and I were married in Manti, Utah. It was a breezy and beautiful day. People often say that their wedding day was the best day of their life. I can't really say that, not that the day wasn't amazing. We were surrounded by family and friends and everything went as planned. To be honest I was in a daze most of the day. I was so happy and giddy to be married to Lonnie that I floated through the whole day. But it wasn't the happiest day of my life. The happiest days of my life have been every day since then.
I can't imagine being happier, more fulfilled, better appreciated, more respected or more loved than I am with Lonnie. As a 30-year-old getting married I had expected more of an adjustment to marriage. But some days I can't remember life without Lonnie at my side, building my confidence, filling my spirit and strengthening my heart.
-Alisa
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