Tag Archives: pregnancy

Life, Parenting

We’re Having A Boy! + The Best Happy Birthday Song

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Yes, you heard read that right, Going Mom is pregnant with our second (and last) child and I’m happy to announce we’re having a boy!

15 weeks with our baby boy.

If you’ve been following me for a while, like before I’ve been mostly absent the past few months, you might know how difficult it was the first time around. This time, as we were preparing to go through the long process with the same clinic, I came home to see my wife hardly able to contain her excitement from several positive pregnancy test results.

It’s so hard to believe everything happened naturally, but we are ever so grateful to know we are having a boy, a freakin’ boy, and totally skipped the big needles, stress, and waiting for what feels like forever to know anything. Seeing my beautiful wife with her growing baby belly fills me with happiness every day.

Okay, that might be a lie…..we’re past the first trimester now, but damn, it makes the typical fraternity hell week look like a cake walk. Ladies, please don’t come knocking on my door with pitchforks and torches, I’m not trying to have a pity party for myself. I say that it was miserable for all of us.

I felt bad for my wife while simultaneously fearing for my life too. Thankfully a little prenatal yoga along with Avery’s support helped out.

prenatal, yoga, pregnancy

Now we’re through the worse part (right?) and things are stabilizing for the time being. Avery mostly understands that there’s a growing baby in mommy’s belly and that she’s going to have a little brother, but there’s still some things she has yet to figure out. One thing being how to name a boy!

We are undecided at this point, but Avery insists on the name Crake. Now she has an imagination on par with the kids in Neverland on Hook. Give her an empty plate for dinner and she’d have an epic food fight just like in the movie. But, no, we will not name our boy Crake. Right now, the two names sticking out are Jaxon and Weston. I’m leaning more on Weston, or Wes, and Kelley likes Jaxon, or Jax. What do you think this guy looks like?

having a boy, parenting, sonogram

Any suggestions are welcome as we’re both waiting for the one name that just sticks out. Parents with 2+ kids, did you have a harder time naming your first kid or the ones after?

While I don’t plan on blogging that often, it’s a nice outlet at times, and I really wanted to share the awesome news. Spending more time with Avery and Kelley always takes priority though, and I feel less stressed when I’m not trying to write x amount of posts. Reducing stress is something I really need to……errrr, stress now that I’m another year older as of the 8th anyway.

So that’s all for now, I just want to leave you with the best birthday gift/stress reducer I could ask for.

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

FYI – her imagination is what spawned the creation of her empty toothbrush box with pink bubble wrap microphone. Love that girl!

Going Healthy, Life, Parenting, Promo

Nerves, Needles, and Stress: Our Story of Trying to Conceive

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While I have received compensation for this post from Fertility Planit, all opinions are my own.

Before we had our daughter, my wife and I never considered that becoming parents would be so complicated. Once we were ready to start trying to conceive (TTC), she would just get off birth control, wait several months, and we figured pregnancy would come easily and naturally after that. My wife tracked days/cycles, took her basal temperature you do as you begin trying to conceive.

Almost a year later and we were still not pregnant and becoming a little upset. It didn’t make sense, we never went out to eat, cooked all of our meals with fresh, whole foods, drank only in moderation, and always kept active. What were we doing wrong to that was keeping us from getting pregnant?

We decided to make our first of many visits to a fertility clinic to see what was (or wasn’t) going on. After running the usual tests on both of us, the doctor found several factors working against us. Kelley had endometriosis which was surgically removed, and my blood labs showed several abnormal readings including low testosterone and thyroid.

I didn’t want to accept the results as true. I strive to live a healthy and active lifestyle, and this is all I have to show for it? I felt defeated. HCG injections were prescribed twice a week to combat my low levels. Self-administered shots in the lower abdomen at home became the norm every Thursday and Sunday each week.

Time passed and my blood tests showed my levels were barely up. The doctor suggested we try intrauterine insemination (IUI) as it seemed like we had a good chance with the procedure. I was prescribed natural thyroid, and Kelley was given several prescriptions which required injections. She cringed at the thought of giving herself shots, but luckily she had a husband who had become proficient with the task.

After 2 failed cycles of IUI, the doctor suggested In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), and we both agreed to give it a try. To stimulate the growth of her ovaries, Kelley needed 2 daily shots in her stomach. One to help her eggs grow, and another to help keep them from over-growing since Kelley was expected to respond well. The eggs grew just as needed and were ready to be retrieved.

After retrieval, Kelley needed a progesterone injection to prepare her uterine lining for egg implantation. Instead of her stomach, this one had to be given in her rear-end.

I’d have to work within a specific area of the buttocks, use enough force to get through to the muscular region, make sure the needle went in straight, not angled, and make sure no blood came into the syringe as that meant I did something wrong. This was to happen every day precisely at 7:00 p.m. for several weeks. After this, I figured I should be a pro at giving shots!

Several injections later and we were ready for implantation. We had many high quality embryos to choose from and picked just 1 since 1 kid was our goal. The first round IVF was a success, be we still had to do the shots to keep her uterus in good condition for the newly implanted egg.

The first positive pregnancy test Kelley took was almost missed. She woke up at 5:00 a.m. since it’s better to test after not using the restroom for a while and took a test. She didn’t see anything, so she tossed the stick in the trash and came back to bed upset.

Later that morning, I was going to throw something away and saw the stick and what appeared to me to be a faint line. I had no clue how to look at a pee stick or what it meant, so I kept it to myself. Kelley did the same double take at her trashed test and noticed the line too. She mentioned it to me, I grinned, and we both gleamed with excitement.

Today, we have a precious little girl who means the world to us. I can’t believe how fast she’s growing, but we’re glad that part of our past is over. It wasn’t fun, but so worth the outcome. We had never heard of the Stork OTC by Rinovum Women’s Health home conception kit back then, but now I wonder if it would’ve saved us a lot of time, money, and stress.

trying to conceive, pregnancy, babies, parenting, infertility, fertility

The Stork OTC is an easy to use, drug-free, non-prescription conception kit that couples can use in the comfort of their own home while trying to conceive. It is the only at-home conception device cleared by the FDA and is a great cost-effective option for those just starting out on the path of trying to conceive. The Stork OTC collects semen into a cervical cap with a condom-like sheath worn during intercourse. There is the option of using donor sperm with the device as well. The sperm is then delivered to the opening of the cervix by way of the applicator. The cap remains in place for up to 6 hours, after which it is removed with a simple tampon-like pull chord.

My wife and I both agree that we could’ve tried the Stork OTC as our first option and avoided many doctor’s visits had worked out. If you or someone you know is trying to conceive, check out the Stork OTC as great option to use in the privacy of your own home and avoid numerous doctor’s visits and tests.

Be sure to follow The Stork OTC on Facebook and @StorkbyRinovum on Twitter as well as checking out the Stork OTC website to learn more. For a chance to win your own Stork OTC device join the #StorkStories Twitter Chat on 4/21 at 9pm EST.