AmCheri

k8teeinTX

Just wanted to say "hi" and congrats lady!!  I haven't been around a ton (trying to get back in the swing now), so this is the first I've heard of your pg.  A surprise BFP for us DOR girls makes me so happy!!!  Yipeeee!!!!   <:-P

AmCheri

Well, hello there sweets! Thanks for the post.

How have you been? Can you believe how big your little guy is already? Amazing to me that we will both be planning two-year bday celebrations soon. I'm not sure if I knew about your csection. I'm really sorry if I missed updates from you. Our daughter was born earlier that month, so I'm sure I was still pretty crazy when your son was born. So both of us had sections due to failure to progress. How nice that we can bond over that. Lol. Did you try to nurse? If so, how did it go? I ask because I had a wicked hard time. My IF therapist who is also DOR had a similar experience times two. She was wondering if there's some hormonal connection between our DOR status and supply issues. Who knows. I'm going to try again and hopefully this time I won't be pump bound for 13 months.

Yes, imagine our shock to find out I'm pregnant! We were two months away from a FET. Shortly after I got pregnant with our daughter, we did a second freeze-all DE cycle which luckily led to six healthy frosties. The RE had me so freaked out about getting pregnant with my OE, so the start of this pregnancy was awfully scary. But, I'm happy to report that our little guy is doing great. We did the MaterniT21 panel and everything was fine. We still pinch ourselves every day wondering how this can be real. My biggest concern now is that our daughter will be happy and that this will not hurt her in any way. That would break my heart. I love her more than anything and was so ready to do a FET from the cycle with our same wonderful donor. Who knows, maybe we still will?

So, when you say trying to get back in the swing of things, are you gearing up for IVF? I really hope you've been enjoying mommyhood. It's pretty incredible, even when it's hard. So great to hear from you and see a familiar face. Hope to chat more!

k8teeinTX

We're great!  My little Owen is truly the light of my life. Totally worth all the struggle. You probably didn't miss any updates; I kind of dropped off TB when I went into the hospital at 24 weeks pregnant. I didn't feel comfortable on PAIF at that time because after everything I'd been through I wasn't entirely convinced that I was going to get a take home baby. Once he arrived safely, all the new baby craziness hit and I didn't have time to get back on the boards.   

So, yes, a c-section for failure to progress. Very ironic since I'd spent the previous 4 months trying to keep him in with no measurable cervical length, then when my water finally broke my cervix just never dilated all the way. Got stuck at 8 cm or so after 12 hours of labor. Good times! There was also meconium and his heart rate was decelerating with contractions, so we opted for the c-section. Once he was out he had a few breathing problems so they whisked him away and I didn't see him for the first 3 hours of his life.  I thought that might put a dent in our breastfeeding efforts, but he latched right on like a champ when they finally brought him to me and we've been nursing ever since.  We've definitely had our breastfeeding struggles (2 bouts of mastitis, the loss of supply in the left breast completely when my son was about 6 months, and finally figuring out that I had excess lipase in my pumped milk), but I'm so glad that we stuck it out and were able to make it work for most part. 

Not sure about DOR and supply issues. My loss of supply on the left was more likely due to the mastitis and my son preferring the other side. I'm actually able to keep up with him with only one "working" breast. I hope it works out for you this time. The pump totally sucks, so I can understand not wanting to do that without the nursing part for any length of time. My BFF did pump only for 7 months and it was terrible. She never got to see her daughter because she was pumping all the time!

Now our big challenge is that trying to figure out how to go about weaning so that we can try another IVF cycle.  He shows absolutely no signs whatsoever that he's interested in stopping, but the RE is telling me we've gotta get the show on the road. I'm secretly hoping that we come up with a magical BFP ourselves, so your story gives me lots of hope! Anyway, it's so good to "see" you here and I'm so so happy for you. I'm sure your daughter will love her little brother to bits and it won't matter one bit what everyone's genetic origins are. I'm actually starting to consider traditional adoption as another means of adding to our family if cycling again doesn't work out. I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd feel that way, but since we've had Owen I've realized that its the love for a child that matters, not their DNA.  

Anyway, glad to be back in touch. For now, I'm mostly over on SAIF, although many of the girls there have left for another board due to the recent drama on the boards here, so I've gone over there as well. I'll definitely keep checking in on you over here, though.  So excited for you!