Intro from probably this board's only male

Cmartin6706 · January 2014

Three years ago when my wife and I were in the middle of our TTC journey, this 3rd Party board didn't exist. If it had I probably would have called it home instead of 3T. I was the only male on that board and I'm going to assume this one too. (Apparently, I like boards with numbers in them.) I feel like I fit this board better than any of the other based on experience and our TTC needs.

To start we use DS because I don't produce. Period. My wife, Nicole, seemed good to go so we thought getting pregnant would be easy. It wasn't. After 3 failed IUIs, 10 lost embryos to IVF including 2 C/Ps, we moved on to other options. If you are able and interested you can read more about that below. Most recently Nicole's OBGYN located two ute polyps, including one that is half the length of her ute!, and we learned that our C/Ps were likely due to the embryos trying to implant onto the polyps. Clearly, that doesn't work. Her OBGYN said that once they are removed it should be easier to get pregnant. We had already planned to start sometime in the summer....as a last ditch effort at Nicole getting pregnant, but after the news from the OBGYN though we are very excited to try again. We have two vials of DS sperm left and when they are gone we are done. We plan to do one medicated IUI in the Fall and then, if needed, another IVF with the remaining vial. We are open to however many children the Lord wants us to have so we will put in embryos (if we go through another IVF) until the are all transferred....in stages of course. We also plan to do genetic testing if we get to IVF as getting all the BFN was too much for us especially looking at what they were transferring and calling "embryos".

My wife and I are attachment parents. We believe in co-sleeping - bedsharing when able, cloth diapering, babywearing, feeding organic, whole foods to baby, using midwives during pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding. We are also strong believers in the science of reading and talking often to one's child.

Additionally, we are NYS certified foster parents with a 13year old in the home, who will be moving to family friends in 2 weeks. We've had up to 4 at one time (12yrs, 7yrs, 4yrs, and 18months), but never again (see reason below) and are actually waiting for 2 of our other kiddos to bounce back into care from their trial reunification with their mom which isn't going very well we hear.

I'm also a contributor to the Becoming Dad Facebook page.

***** Stop here if needed. Next section Child Mentioned******* (And if you do stop here....I look forward to seeing you on the boards! Chris)

We do have a beautiful 9 month old son, Oliver Zane, who was born using our best friend as our Traditional Surrogate (we used her egg). It was basically a planned adoption and, yes, it was just as expensive. We are forever grateful to her for her willingness to make us parents. BTW, while we were pregnant we also had 4 foster kids at home and OZ was baking 1200 miles from us! My wife breastfeed for 3 months, starting in the hospital, using our TS/Friend's and my SIL donated breast milk. My wife used a supplemental breastfeeding system that was tough, but very worth it. I stay-at-home with our baby full-time. We cloth diaper and just transitioned our baby from our bed to his own crib on the other side of our room. Our experience was so different from what "normal" people experience that we can't imagine that people actual have children without so many different people being involved: Two mothers, a Daddy, a donor, a NYS lawyer, 2 OKC lawyer and a handful of mid-wifes!! We look forward to hopefully experiencing pregnancy the traditional way! Looking forward to seeing you on the boards! Chris

liz4paws · January 2014

So happy you're here! This is a great board with people in all stages of the process. Welcome!

violetmarie61516 · January 2014

Waves....hi Chris! Welcome back!

lincoln79 · January 2014

welcome!!

BeckyP005 · January 2014

Welcome to the board. I remember "seeing" you over on 3T when lurking

Love the name Oliver Zane

ArgyleBride · January 2014

Boards with numbers, I like that! Welcome to Third Party

DoublePortion · January 2014

Welcome & best wishes!

pcrumley · February 2014

Wow that is sooooome intro, welcome. Lol you are the first male I've seen but I'm normally a 3t-er

LittleLady77 · February 2014

Welcome! I loved your intro. I too am a cloth diaper, BFing, baby wearing, organic momma to be who needed a ton of help. It's nice to have some testosterone in here.

Mistyhf · February 2014

Welcome!! Love your little man's name!! I don't know what 3T is?? Please explain.

brooklynesque · February 2014

Welcome!

Cmartin6706 · February 2014

3T is the nickname for The Bump board Trouble Trying To Conceive

Thanks everyone!

NamasteBaby · February 2014

Thanks for your intro - Having your perspective on my DS nervousness post was really comforting and a couple simple statements you made have stuck with me enough to reframe some negative thoughts! Thank you Chris!