Merry Christmas from the Reece Family!!

We have a busy week ahead, but I wanted to make sure in all the hustle and bustle that I tell everyone Merry Christmas! I beleive that Christmas is a time to celebrate the gift of God's son Jesus to the world by sharing gifts with those you love! I hope that you have time to reflect on all of the great blessings in your life, and to enjoy your family and friends!

Here is a few pictures of us setting up our 

Christmas Tree with Thing 1 and 2!

Picking a hospital- Part 3

Last night was Sushi dinner and Tour St. Luke’s Night! Romantic Right lol ;)
We are still really glad that we did the hospital tours now for a few different reasons ranging from the obvious getting to compare pros and cons to free loot :) Mostly though it helped to see the hospitals in person, because both of them had a lot more to offer then their websites described, and we feel much more prepared to make the best decision for our family!
It was one of Mike's few requirements that we choose a hospital with a NICU, so that narrowed our search down to the 2 main hospitals. Boise does have a few other options that we decided not to visit.

St. Luke’s offers a lot of the same great things that we liked about St. AL’s. They definitely are very different though, and each has a kind of family that they are a better fit for.

Things Jacqui likes~
• The # 1 pro that St. Luke’s offers it familiarity! The doctor’s office I have gone to since I was 15 is at St. Luke's, so if we pick Luke’s we get to skip the finding an office part when we pick our new OBGYN
• It is also where Jennabelle was born, so I know my way around
• Double Beds, so dad can sleep in the same bed if wanted
• The Nursery will take baby if mom needs rest, but otherwise they allow/encourage you to keep your new love in the room with you
• They stress the security of the baby, and have multiple rules in place to keep your family safe
• They have a Jacuzzi in every birthing room
• They have a lactation specialist team that you can see to help with nursing even after you have gone home from the hospital.


Things Michael likes~

• Experience- Luke’s Boise has more babies born daily than anywhere else in the state
• St. Luke's Children's Hospital is home to Idaho's largest and most experienced Level III NICU!
Their NICU is close to Labor and Delivery and they do "Crib Notes" to keep parents informed & part of what is going on with baby
• Each mom has their own nurse during Labor and Delivery to give one on one care
• They are flexible about visitation time
• Parents get the final word on who is in the room, and how things go during the birth process.

We did decide what hospital, and thankfully it was clear to us which one was the best fit! Now we are on to the next step of picking an OBGYN/ Midwife! Again I loved hearing everyone who contacted me with input about the hospitals, so if you have any doctor suggestions please message me!!

TTC Tag #1

1. How long have you been trying to conceive?

Officially (this time) since 9/2013, so we are in month 4.

2. Who knows that you are TTC?

At this time there are only a handful of people who know. Our support system... the people we know we can trust to keep quiet until we are ready to tell people, while still being there to talk to about the ups and downs, and pray for us along the way. It is such an exciting time! But we don't want to have answer to people each month if it has happened yet, or if we decide to stop we don't want to have to answer to people why. Plus we want the fun of surprising people when we finally get to tell everyone we are pregnant!

3. How many kids do you have/want?
We have two 7 year olds currently.
We want them to have one more sibling!


4. How old are you and your husband?
I’m 24 years old (25 in February), and my Michael turned 28 this August.


5. How long have you been married/ been together?
We got married on May 29th 2010, so almost 4 years! We started dating February 19th 2009.


6. What are some crazy things you do while TTC?
Well I'm not too sure what this means, but if it means like what things do we do in order to conceive.....I am not really a kiss and tell girl lol. We have just stuck to having fun ;)


7. Does your husband know all about TTC?
Michael is pretty good about knowing what he needs to know, and allowing me to have the parts I need to myself. He knows to be the positive great support, and honestly that is the part I need him to know. He told me not to tell him details of how I know certain things (like how I am ovulating) which I am glad lol


8. What keeps you busy during the 2ww? (2 week wait)
I work 30 hours a week for the DHW, have 2 kids with sports and school, and I am a wife… so I live! Whenever I get restless we do something like pick names or decide what hospital we are going to use.


9. What day do you usually ovulate?
I pretend everyday…shhh don’t tell Michael ;) But honestly at this point I have no idea. I have only been what I like to call a “real girl” once, so we don’t know my cycle at this time.


10.What gender are you hoping for?
A Boy! Wait a Girl!! No Boy… or girl, or twins!! Yes let’s do both… I sort of change my mind based on whatever the cutest baby thing I saw last is!


11. How many pregnancy books do you have?
I have a few on my Kindle, but no actual books yet.


12. How many home pregnancy tests do you take in 1 cycle?
It differs I think. Sometimes I go crazy and take like 5, but other times I struggle to want to take 1 to avoid the disappointing negative.


13. What are some stress relievers when TTC?
My husband is amazing at noticing when I need a pick me up back rub or night out! God has been bringing positive reminders into my days like new friends who are in the same boat or songs to make me smile.
And every time I get a negative test I take a day to forget about TTC and have wine or something I can't have pregnant!

14. What themes or designs do you like for a nursery?
I am sure we will change our minds a hundred times before we start buying things, but so far it is between Dr. Seuss and Safari animals!


15. Do you plan to do pregnancy vlogs if you conceive?
Vlog… Me on video? Ha no! But I will continue to go old school with my Blog :)


16. What have you bought for your future baby?
Mike bought a BSU jumper and we got some booties to take announcement pictures with.


17. Do you have a birth plan?
I will, but not yet.

Pick me up song!

I am not going to lie, every time that I have had downtime this week I have ended up worrying that we may never conceive. So when Mike and I cuddled up to watch our show the other night I asked him to not let this go too far (to protect me from my struggle to let things go when I want something so badly). We decided that we want a baby, but we don't want this “want” to overshadow or take away from the kids that we already have. We decided that we don't want to take any extreme measures, and we are not currently interested in adoption. My dream for this was to get pregnant, and have a baby with the man that I love. However we adore the kids that we have and could be abundantly happy exactly the way our family is. So we made a deal that we are giving this 100% to God, because obviously “control freak” Jacqui isn’t having any luck ;) We prayed about it, and set a date that if we haven’t conceived we will take this as God’s sign that we are on the wrong road, and will put the baby’s savings account into something that will build our marriage or family.
Then, yesterday, I heard a song on the radio… It was one of those “this song is just for me” moments! I quickly pulled it up on my phone (Thank God for smart phones lol), and I have listened to it over and over since. Above all of my dreams of being the perfect wife and mother of 3 is my desire to be on the road my God wants me on… to live my life not for myself, but for him.
Do I believe that God gives me the desires of my heart? Yes! But I also believe that they are not always exactly the way the I thought they would be, and honestly I have ended up so thankfully surprised when God’s plan came to fruition instead of mine so many times.
So this is my new pick me up song! I hope you like it!

Month 4 begins... I think?!?!

So the week of Thanksgiving has come and gone, and none of the "real girl" symptoms that we expected to start are here at all!! However, sigh, there are no pregnancy symptoms either :(  I took a test on Wednesday, and it was negative... 
It looks like I am not as much of a "real girl" as I thought I was. Yes, this comes with some very obvious pros like I am not crampy, crying, or considering the death of anyone. But is has also brought to light our #1 concerns: I may never cycle like most women which will make it much harder then we hoped to get pregnant.
It is funny how something about me that was such an awesome side effect to my health problems before, now has me so terrified!

As my general consolation prize I had a glass of wine with my sisters on Thanksgiving, and spent the weekend thankful I didn't have to deal with any kind of womanly aliments. We had a great time catching up with family, going to the movies, decorating for Christmas, and getting in the Holiday Spirit!
Despite the background worry this really was one of the best Thanksgiving weeks I have ever had!  

I have a few more days before either side of the female coin is ruled out for sure. We have an appointment at the end of the month to see a specialist to decide if pin pointing an ovulation schedule is something that my body will allow. For now I am just focused on getting ready for Christmas, and spoiling the babies I already have!