Pregnant after Infertility Tribe - Page 3

[AmyKT]

Hey, everyone. I'm the poster formerly known as Furrow. I've used that name in a few too many places online and felt like I needed a fresh start.

I'm so glad to see everyone here and I hope this thread grows in members over the next several months.

It took us over 1.5 yrs to conceive our DD. After a year we started all the testing and found that we had moderate male factor problems. After clomid and 4 IUIs, we got a BFP.

This time around we jumped straight to IUI. DH's sperm seemed to improve a bit, but now I had slightly elevated FSH and could no longer tolerate the clomid. : Still, we were lucky on IUI #3 with Femara. I'm only 5 wks today so I'm still not totally relaxed about this pg. First u/s is in 2 wks and I'll feel a lot better after seeing an intrauterine emby with a heartbeat. Can't wait for nausea to kick in. No, really.

[Dena]

Can I join you?

My story: We tried for about three years for our first, including a m/c that set me back a couple of years (emotionally I wasn't ready to put myself out there again) and a clinic change (which was for the best, as later research has led me to believe they were overmedicating me). We finally welcomed our little Sofia in August five years ago, never dreaming at the time that five years later we would be learning we were pg with our third living child!

All my children have been conceived through IVF due to severe MFI. We tried on our own each time, but gave up pretty quickly and went back to what we knew worked. Its funny, but over the last eight years of dealing with this I have become so used to it, that the fertile world seems like the weirdos to me... I mean, bcps are those pills you take to get ready for IVF, right? (Although I have to admit at one point before we conceived dd1, dh and I were so desperate we actually talked about using birth control again, on the theory that nothing else had worked, so maybe that would fail too and we would actually get pg. Well, it made some sense at the time...)

Sooo, I am now 5w2d pg with what I am pretty sure is another girl and kinda stunned by the whole thing. I just can't believe that God has blessed me so much. Yes, I had to go through he** to get here, but I know plenty of women who have gone through he** too, without the success we have been blessed with. Even though this pg was very much planned and wanted and hoped and prayed for, I still feel like putting that stunned smiley in my siggie! I am, of course, still more than a little nervous over the whole thing. Our first u/s is next Monday, and I will feel sooo much better once we see a h/b!

[nummies]

I'm here and reading along. I am 20 weeks pregnant with twin boys. Our first is an IVF baby. These two came along after 5 IUIs with Clomid.

[AmyKT]

Dena, I remember you from my last DDC -- Oct 2007! So glad we're both here again. Only 2 days apart, too.

So you have a strong feeling you're having another girl? I feel strongly that this is a boy. Anyone else guessing, or had a correct guess earlier on? Sorry, that may be a thread hijack Oh, I know! Because going through infertility makes us more in tune with our bodies. Yeah, that's how it's related.

[Julia'sMom]

Originally Posted by AmyKT

So you have a strong feeling you're having another girl? I feel strongly that this is a boy. Anyone else guessing, or had a correct guess earlier on? Sorry, that may be a thread hijack Oh, I know! Because going through infertility makes us more in tune with our bodies. Yeah, that's how it's related.

Well...I didn't really have a "feeling", but the genders were what I secretly desired.

CRM - I'm feelin' great! Something in my head finally clicked over to believing that this pregnancy will work out. As far as driving...we're planning on getting a van in the next month. I'm trying to hold on until then, but right now with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to the max, they still rub my belly. :

Nummies - How are you feeling? Any issues with driving, or have you not popped a whole lot yet?

Jen (B4M) - I just wanted to say that I really admire the mental strength you have had to go thru such a challenging pregnancy. I've been following for a while and am really getting excited that you seem to be entering into a much safer place. :

[Dena]

Originally Posted by AmyKT

Dena, I remember you from my last DDC -- Oct 2007! So glad we're both here again. Only 2 days apart, too.

So you have a strong feeling you're having another girl? I feel strongly that this is a boy. Anyone else guessing, or had a correct guess earlier on? Sorry, that may be a thread hijack Oh, I know! Because going through infertility makes us more in tune with our bodies. Yeah, that's how it's related.

Hi Amy, I remember you too under your other user name. That is pretty cool that we get to do another ddc! How is your little one?

Yeah, I do have a strong feeling its a girl, mostly because the pg feels almost exactly like my first singleton pg and because, well, we are three for three so far on the girl front so I am kinda thinkin thats what we make. It honestly isn't a preference - my only preference is that all major organs are functional. The rest is just window dressing, iykwim. I can't believe the number of people though, who when they find out we want another say things along the lines of, "oh, gonna try for a boy, huh?" Um, no, we're going to try for a baby. :

Ok, 'nuff said.

[gumby74]

Originally Posted by Pookietooth

I would like to join. I conceived ds on metformin + injectibles with an IUI. After he was two and a half, we sort of started, and once he was three we did temping but no meds (I did try herbs, homeopathy, low carbing, removing foods I thought I was sensitive to etc.), and kept at it the old fashioned way until I decided that on my 42nd birthday I was going back to an RE (with dh's encouragement). I did a clomid cycle (thin lining), femara, and had two IUI cycles last year (the first one ended in a m/c). We finally decided that even though IVF was more expensive, if we only did one it would be cheaper than several IUI cycles, so we did it, and I got my BFP! So here I am 43 and finally pregnant. Ds will be almost 7 when the baby is born, which bothers me but nothing can be done to turn back the clock.
gumby74, have you read up on MTFTHR and detox issues?

Hello fellow DDC member I realize I should know what you are talking about in regards to detox issues, but when I googles it I came up with nothing. Can you lead me to the info??

[gumby74]

Originally Posted by Julia'sMom

Leftover meds - I also "donate" them to my clinic. They use them for women that don't have insurance or only need a small amount to carry them thru or such.

CRM & Sri Rahda - I'm so happy you're both here! : :

njsummer01 - Yeah for good betas! May the rest of your pregnancy go smoothly.

I must say, there sure are a lot of familiar names on this thread. :

I donated mine as well. I also noticed that there are a lot of people due in October like me

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Originally Posted by Dena

Its funny, but over the last eight years of dealing with this I have become so used to it, that the fertile world seems like the weirdos to me... I mean, bcps are those pills you take to get ready for IVF, right?

After so many years of infertility here, I amazed when I think that having sex actually results in a baby for the majority of the population! They are completely separate in my mind now!

[crazyrunningmama]

Sex = pregnancy???? NO! Really?

For me, it's keeping my face in a normal expression when friends confide they've been "trying for 4 months already" and are all surprised. (Keeping in mind I don't discuss our IF IRL, so they're not being jerks).

As for the guessing, I knew in my heart that dd was a girl from the beginning. DH was sure it was a boy and he almost had me doubting, but deep down I knew.

It seemed like the wait for the u/s was zipping along, now it's draaaaaaging. Next Tuesday is a ways away still. Still enjoying that barfy feeling and eating way too much cereal. In order to eat vegetables, I have to "sneak up on them" ie not think about it too much and not prepare them myself. If they just appear, I can handle it.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Please explain to me how you sneak up on a vegetable? I could do with that technique for every day life, forget 1st trimester!! LOL

Guessing - with DD I was pretty convinced from the start she was a girl. Deep in my heart.

This one - I'm really not sure. Some days I'm pretty sure it's a boy. The other days I just don't know. We have a historical problem with very fragile embryos, and girl embies do tend to be tougher than boys, so that makes me suspect a girl logically - but stranger things have happened.

We've been going back and forth on whether we'll find out at our 20-week u/s, but I suspect I'll want to know in the end. Plus I'd like to know if we can avoid the circumcision discussion... it's going to be a tough one... I will prevail simply because I will not give consent, but I'd rather not have to deal with it in the first place!!

[Pookietooth]

With ds, I knew from early on that he was a boy, as did dh. We both came from families with two brothers each (thus three boys in his, two boys and a girl in mine). This time, I wasn't as certain, but at the 20 wk u/s found out it was a boy. We'd asked not to be told, but ds peeked and saw a penis when the tech was examining the genitals, and also the doctor said, "this is an active little guy," so we figured it from there.

As far as not connecting sex with getting pregnant, I can so relate. After years of IF, I just can't understand the concept of birth control. Yeah, bpcs are those things you take at the start of IVF. My tubes don't need to be tied because my ovaries don't work like "normal" women's. It's so weird to imagine having sex and expecting to get pregnant, or having to prevent pregnancy.

As far as MTHRFR and detox issues, WhoMe is the expert on that, I'm not at all sure what it involves other than folate. Here is one of the threads where she talks about it:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1038338

[crazyrunningmama]

Okay, more pancakes today, can I make a healthy baby out of just pancakes? They're whole wheat. Still having to sneak up on vegetables, meaning I can deal with standing in the garden and eating raw peas or having beef and broccoli when we order Chinese food, but I cannot deal with preparing, cooking and eating vegetables at home. I have informed my dh to just put them in front of me, but he hasn't been cooking much.

Dilemma: I am going to visit family next week. Assuming all is well at our u/s on Tuesday, I will leave later in the week. Some of them have animals, which I am allergic to. I don't plan to tell yet, but it will be really hard. And how to explain that I don't want to take allergy meds if I'm not telling I'm pg? I am considering saying that I did take them and they're just not working very well (they will do the math later and know I fibbed though). Or would it be better for my body to actually take them and not be in allergy hell? I don't think I can justify taking any medication at this point, I may just have to stay in a hotel.

And me, this time I am comfortable finding out the sex, I think dh needs to know and it will make it easier to plan and figure out a name.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Well, everything I've read says that anti-histamines are safe throughout pregnancy (and they prescribe them for morning sickness in Canada). Whether you're comfortable with that is up to you (I know some women who are and some who are not) but I think you can definitely consider it. I do take them because my seasonal allergies around this time of year are bad enough that I couldn't work without them (my eyes tear up and I can hardly see, I get sinus infections, etc, among other things). However, I wouldn't take them just so you don't have to lie to people... and who cares if they know you fibbed later

I've eaten a lot of peas straight from the garden this year too!

Good for you to be able to cook at all. I couldn't for the entire first trimester. I'd have to rush into the kitchen, grab a frozen meal out of the freezer, throw it in the microwave, and run out again LOL.

[AmyKT]

ugh! I forgot my prometrium suppository last night and I'm so crampy today. I took it this morning instead, so I hope I didn't totally screw anything up. That wouldn't make any sense to most people in my DDC, so I'm glad this thread is here

Yeah, who needs sex to get pregnant? That's so old fashioned. I'm kind of having a hard time reconciling sex as something to do during pregnancy, as well. Again with the cramps. Poor hubs. I hope it will be better in a few weeks.

I knew DD was a girl, and she was. I am so convinced that this is a boy that I catch myself starting to call the baby by male pronouns. If it's a girl, I'll be surprised but completely happy with that, too. It'll mean I can reuse more of DDs clothes (the ones that aren't horribly stained, anyway).

[by-the-lake]

Oh, I belong here too. Hello everyone!!! I am almost 29 weeks after injectibles and donor sperm. My DH is sterile after an abdominal surgery. We did some IUI's after a sperm removal procedure, but the sperm were no good, being dormant for so long. (We have 2 kids from previous). Excited to add more to this thread!!!!

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by crazyrunningmama

Okay, more pancakes today, can I make a healthy baby out of just pancakes? They're whole wheat.

Depends on what you're putting on them.

Originally Posted by crazyrunningmama

Dilemma: I am going to visit family next week. Assuming all is well at our u/s on Tuesday, I will leave later in the week. Some of them have animals, which I am allergic to.

I think it really depends on how severe your allergies are and your own comfort level. And if staying in a hotel is an option, I'd totally opt for that so that you can retreat if it gets too bad.

Personally, the only thing I was comfortable taking for my allergies was Stinging Nettle. Too many risks otherwise for my comfort. But do your own research on the different drugs that usually work for you and see what safefetus has to say on it. But I've actually found that with pregnancy my allergies have gotten BETTER and not worse.

Originally Posted by Perdita_in_Ontario

Well, everything I've read says that anti-histamines are safe throughout pregnancy (and they prescribe them for morning sickness in Canada).

Not all antihistamines are the same, though. Some are not safe during pregnancy. You really need to research each drug you're contemplating taking.

[crazyrunningmama]

Hmm, all good points on the allergy meds. Probably I won't take them. And I won't be having sex any time soon either, my dh is way to paranoid, even if I was willing to risk it. Amy, I totally hear you about the prometruim! That's why I started this thread, I just couldn't relate to the discussions in my DDc. Do we obsess and worry more? I have never been pg without having gone through this, maybe I would have been like this anyway.

Pancakes again today, with butter, brown sugar (not much) and cinnamon, then rolled up. : Man, I could live off of them right now. But then I cooked a real lunch with meat and everything, so it evens out, right? Right?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by crazyrunningmama

Pancakes again today, with butter, brown sugar (not much) and cinnamon, then rolled up. : Man, I could live off of them right now. But then I cooked a real lunch with meat and everything, so it evens out, right? Right?

Yup! Just be sure you use plenty of butter, fat is crucial for baby! Although a small bowl of fruit on the side would be even better - I try to keep either chopped melon or fruit salad in the fridge at all times, nice and easy. Yes, it's even more sugar, but it's also vitamins and minerals that baby needs.

I think I'm going to have to make pancakes for dinner, now. Those sound yummy. My DH has learned to never suggest food to me unless he REALLY wants it because it triggers a craving.

[crazyrunningmama]

I add ground flax to the batter, so there's "good fats" too. I could eat them again right now, I'm starting to wonder if it's the iron (I cook in cast iron). Hmmmm. Although my nausea is worse through the afternoon, so I think I will continue to eat a hearty, protein filled lunch when I can.