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Fertility Challenged Graduates Spring 2015

15K views 226 replies 22 participants last post by  toothfairy2be 
#1 · (Edited)
Fertility Challenged Graduates - Spring 2015

This is a thread for those who have "graduated" from The Fertility Challenged Thread

Previous thread:

Fertility Challenged Winter 2015
Fertility Challenged Fall/Winter 2014

Due in July 2015

mountainmamagc -EDD July 1 :surprise after 7 early losses and 5 years of trying
splashingpuddle- expecting #3 & #4 :storkboy :storkboy

Due in October 2015

treehugger86 - EDD October 3rd expecting #1 :surprise

Due in December 2015

MakeItSew - EDD expecting #2 after repeat m/c's :surprise
MsBe - EDD December 16th expecting #2 after two years TTC :surprise

GRADUATE BABIES!!!
Sourire - Liliana May 8, 2014
Laggie - Casey & Jasper August 16, 2014
monkeyscience- Baby Yummy October 6, 2014
NaturallyMo - Miles November 4, 2014
mainebaby- Isidore November 13, 2014
Xerxella - Matt and Billy :candle born November 18, 2014
AutumnLaughing - Tara November 24, 2014
iixivboots - G & E December 28, 2014
Kewpie80 - Aedric & Harold January 14, 2015
shelley4 - Gestational carrier of Baby N January 15, 2015
tracyamber - Elon January 22, 2015
milk8shake - Lincoln February 3, 2015
alivewithyou- Charli Rae February 13, 2015
adiejan- Victoria & Scarlet March 27, 2015
chuord- Felix & Amelia March 31, 2015
silverbird- Raven :candle April 7, 2015
toothfairy2be- Annalise & Elizabeth May 21, 2015
littlekind - C June 12, 2015
 
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#209 ·
@devilish- I am pretty sure I am due in May. Not really sure when in May yet but sometime haha. Can you fill me in on your story? Congrats to you btw.
 
#212 ·
Congrats, @adiejan (though I already knew - this is more official!)... I wish you much energy and positive thinking!! ;)
@treehugger86: hang in there, your birthing will be lovely and memorable for you, no matter that it will happen differently than your "ideal" birthing. You are still going to be there and part of it and, finally meeting your little on on the outside....which is what matters. I am thinking of you both and sending you all the good and calm birthing vibes I can.

:dust
 
#217 ·
congrats @treehugger86! Can't wait to hear the details of your little girls birth. There is so much time enjoyed just staring at them :x
 
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#219 ·
Congratulations treehugger. =)

It has been so long since I have checked in here. My boys are 3 months. We had a really hard time with breastfeeding in the beginning, and for 3 weeks I used a lot of donor breastmilk until I was able to build up my supply. It's strange to think back, because now the boys breastfeed without problems, and we've been free of donor milk for a month and a half. When I was in the thick of it, it was hard to believe that they would ever breastfeed normally. I was having to pump all my milk and bottle feed them after each breastfeeding session (so breastfeed, pump, bottle feed and repeat for each twin because I couldn't feed them together). It was crazy. But now things are really good in the feeding department, and I know its time to work on improving sleep. When I was struggling with feeding, all of my energy went into figuring out how to breastfeed, and I didn't even think about improving sleep. Now its time to try and work on sleep.

My challenge at the moment is that I would like to try and use our remaining embryos but my partner is very opposed. Its not that I want a fifth child per se, but that I want to see if our existing embryos would result in babies. We have two poor quality embryos, so it is unlikely that we will end up with 6 children. Have others given any thoughts to more children?
 
#220 ·
Thanks for all the love! I thought there would be a lot more action on here since my last post.

Birth stories? I haven't even started the baby book! Brief version? My labour was hard and intense, and I'm still processing it all. I had a Foley bulb induction, followed by a Pitocin induction, and in the end, I also required an epidural, because I was not making progress, and I was not having breaks between contractions. It was far from the home birth that I had imagined and hoped for, and I felt very defeated, but in the end, I had a perfect little on on my chest.

Baby is 5 weeks old. Our newborn was replaced with a baby. Time needs to slow down. I cannot believe all the growth and changes. She continues to nurse really well. She will only sleep in a wrap or carrier, or in our arms, and for thirty to forty minutes in a swaddle beside me in our bed. Sleep deprivation is really hard for all of us, but I know it will get better with time. She is asleep on my chest right now. She has her first cold, and is feeling miserable. My heart hurts for her. I have attached a recent photograph.

@SplashingPuddle What incredible dedication and progress with breastfeeding! I have no sleep advice. We don't sleep at all yet.

We will continue to pay storage fees for our embryos. Our clinic only freezes blastocysts of higher grade. I would love to have more children, but I only have this one (for now), and that changes the decision, right?
 

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#221 ·
Beautiful photo @treehugger86!! what a darling!
@SplashingPuddle, I am impressed by your dedication to your valued breastfeeding goals and relationship - and now you have one - but it was so much hard work, I can only imagine. You will always look back and be glad that you did it. What lucky boys!

There was a discussion about this a number of months ago where several people chimed in. People were far from certain for the most part. I certainly plan to ensure that all my embryos get a chance to live, grow and survive. I think @Xerxella said something like: :"No child left behind", though maybe more eloquently; I don't remember her exact words.

Everyone is different. I would certainly consider donation to allow the blast to grow, even if I did not carry the chid or wish to have more for some reason. However, that is an extremely personal decision - for example, the opposite of surrogacy - and has its own emotional considerations. I would still do it if I chose not to have them transferred to me or someone close to me. I can imagine that if I were in that situation of wanting a child, and couldn't afford or risk IVF health wise, if I could have an embryo donated to me so it had a chance to live instead of be "discarded" - that would be such a blessing. I hope I don't offend anyone with my choice of words. I just mean that, if I were in that situation, that is how I think I would feel about it. :)
 
#222 ·
Up until now, I've really wanted to have another child, but lately I've been having doubts. At first after having the twins, I was so in love with babies, that I really wanted to know that I would have the experience again of having another baby. But now, I am more in love with the actual babies that I have, so anything that "threatens" to take time away from them feels worrisome (I already have my time so divided). I still think almost daily about our two frozen embryos though. I wonder if they are girls or boys or what if one of them had been born now instead of one of my existing babies. It feels crazy to have these thoughts about the embryos. Why do I feel any connection, since I've had many unsuccessful cycles. There is no guarantee (or even great likelihood) that those embryos would create babies.

How are others feeling about another child as your little ones grow bigger?

On a funny note, I had a morning the other day when I only had to look after the babies (now 4.5 months old). My 2 and 5 year olds were out. Wow was it wonderful and easy. I reorganized a closet I had so much time. I have to laugh because when I had one, the idea of having so much free time and having twins would have been impossible. But now with 4 kids, it is so so crazy, that only have two babies feels incredibly freeing.

I'd love to hear updates if anyone has any =) I don't have Facebook so I don't know if the group is continuing on there...
 
#223 · (Edited)
Hi Splashingpuddle! Sorry I have been awol from here for ages... Yes the FB group is thriving, it's an easy place to get to and share. The group we have on there is a secret group so people can't even ask to join - some like tracyamber have started fb accounts purely to join the group, although not there that often - maybe you could do that?
Like you my frozen embryos are constantly on my mind, if I had had two pregnancies to get my two children I think I would feel more finished. Being done so quickly just seems so abrupt. Like you I love them, am consumed by them and although having a tiny one is great I am loving them more and more as their personalities develop. I also feel that my body did an amazing job carrying the twins and that it would be wrong for me to ask it to go again.
Re the breast feeding - I hear you! I never managed to feed mine purely on breastmilk (as they were small @4lb and 4lb 8oz it was more important to put weight on them) I fed both breast (half an hour) and formula at every through till about 5 months (weaned one breast at 4 months the second at 6) after lancing the nipple the tihird tine I decided at 4 months that I couldn't keep that up. I frequently had mastitis that was so painful to feed through it was hard to not fling the baby off. Breastfeeding was not as successful as I could have wished, I tried supps to increase supply etc. I also pumped, I think the only thing that would have maybe helped me was increasing the frequency of feeds / pumping, but we were on a time schedule of 3 hourly feeds and despite having all the extra help I was getting very little sleep for so long - I don't think I could have gotten less! Lol mine still have two or more night feeds at 9 months, one drinks just over 1000ml (35oz a day and the other just under)

Oceanspray - no offense at all, you worded it well and is one of the reason mine are thought of often. My dh can't bear the thought of donating and having someone else raising his child, I get that too and respect it. How are things with you?

Treehugger - love the pic! What a cutie... Hope it is still going well for you!
 
#224 ·
HI @chuord! Nice to hear from you! I am one of the sneakers on the FB group who never posts, so I kind of keep up on a very irregular, quiet basis. :) I am still moving along in my journey, some real disappointment here and there but somehow still manageable and I can still look forward. I am going to get some egg help now and then hopefully be pregnant by April. :) What a world we live in... what a whirlwind, too. Kisses to those sweet babies of yours!
 
#225 · (Edited)
Hi guys! Everyone is doing well in our family here. Matt is about to start walking, but he's been about to start walking for a month now! I've never seen such a tentative walker. With my other 2, once they figured it out, there was no stopping them. Matt'll take a few steps all the time and then go back to crawling. He can do it, he just prefers crawling! Oh well. Since, I know he can do it, I know he'll turn the corner some day!

I'm testing our 7 frozen blastocysts for euploidy. I'm really anxious to find out the results, but we won't know for a few weeks. We'll see if we have any genetically normal in there. I guess we'll put one (just one) back in April-ish. That's if there IS one. I think they'll be at least one though.... Right?

If anyone wants you can come join us here: http://www.mothering.com/forum/179-...thread-winter-2015-2016-a-2.html#post19243498
 
#227 ·
@SplashingPuddle did you ever get added to the Facebook group? This is the first i've checked in on here for months! I'll PM you so you can join us! I'd love to hear your updates!!
 
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