Happy Monday, everyone!
How is/was your weekend? Any new accomplishments, challenges or successes?
@ball.and.chain - hope you have a great first day back at work!
QOTW: One thing you hope you pass on to your kiddos and, if you have a partner, one thing you hope they pass on.
Parenting Roster:
(Please let me know if you would like to be added)
@KH826 – Will born 6/4/14
@ATXmommas – Sebastian (“Ash”) born 11/21/13, other Momma is Z
@Wallace323 – J and L born 8/8/13, surviving triplets born at 31 weeks
@Trisholio and
@trisholiosboi – Proud foster parents to M born 2/6/12 and K born 8/22/13; baby Adalyn born 8/29
@JGY – Gabe born 3/24/13, other Mama is S.
@Stringy813 – M born May 2013
@Filmfanatic82 – Charley born 3/15/14
@Mamosey &
@Karlamo – R born 2/25/14
@2brides – G & C born 5/18/06, other Mom is L
@Jrtmom – Henry born 8/15/13, other mama is L
@Sarahtrpt – C born February 2014
@CageyMack – W born 3/16/13
@Themommymonster – C (DS) born 2/18/09
@Clairmeij – Alarico born 6/28/13, other mama is V
@Mystjava – Little Bear (LB) born 3/31/10, other Mummum is Shawn
@winstan1 – J (DS) born 9/10 (currently 3.5 years old)
@newmompeanut – N (DD) born 2/12/13, other Momma is B
@herbabymama – C (DD) born 12/10/13, other Mama is K
@AmandaG47 – Twin girls born 2/22/14, other Mommy is J
@mwagner25 – Oliver born 11/27/13, other parent is L
@jazibel – Kaden born 7/13/12 and Owen born 5/2/14, other parent (Aya) is EV
@2momsinCA - B & O born 5/27/14
@redrockmama – M born 6/19/14, other Mama is J
@ball.and.chain – B born 6/28/14
@Flygirl1228 – Twins 7/25/14
@KLeigh1 - S born 7/25/14
@2MamazInSeattle - S born 8/21/14
@shameless370087 - Anthony and Sati, born 3/9/2014, Other mom is S
@shelly2314 - Elise and Olivia, born 8/19/14, wife is M
@rkbo - Amelia born 9/22/14
Re: Parenting Check In (9/29)
@ball.and.chain - hope the first day back is going great!!!
QOTW: I hope we can pass on an understanding of how to work through hard stuff in life. J and I have both done a lot of therapy to undo a lot of childhood stuff, and while I hope Simone doesn't have any 'childhood stuff' I suppose we all do. As far as skills and things like that, it'd be fun if she was creative/crafty, liked cooking and food, and enjoyed traveling and meeting people! We are not athletic but if she is, great!
I totally missed last week so I'm excited to be early today! S is sleeping and I have a good 30 minutes until feeding time, if she stays true to her self-directed schedule.
Overall, things are going well! She is nearly 10 pounds as of yesterday (9 lbs, 15.3 oz). My app says that puts her at the 61st percentile which seems just fine to us.
Milk supply is improving a bit but I'm now seeking some domperidone. I added a Mother's Blend that has goats rue and milk thistle and honestly it does seem to have upped me by a few ounces a day! I had 14 oz yesterday, up from 10-12, and supplied 70% of her intake! And some of her feeds are getting close to 3 oz at a time (we still weigh before/after each feed). Progress!!
Also, J ran into a friend who said "oh my gosh, I have like 100 oz frozen milk I need to get rid of..." YAY! So we got that last night and plan to do straight breastmilk for a few days to see if that regulates some of our gastro issues. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure
However, we are battling some serious gas and constipation issues now. Sigh. Poor baby went on a 3 (nearly 4) day poop strike! Yesterday evening she finally unloaded (profound, lemme tell ya - a 6 shart event). We've added gas drops which have offered her a ton of relief (how do I know? toots galore!) and lastly, took advice @ball.and.chain had read to give her some prune juice. We added 1 tbsp. to her bottle and within hours we were in dookieville. Now we're giving her a couple tablespoons of it a day. I also ordered a protein isolate formula (no milk or soy, presumably meat based) as it has zero allergens and we're going to try that. I myself haven't given up dairy yet, but we are being methodical to try to uncover what the issue is so one thing at a time. Sorry for the long poop ramble, but it is our biggest thing right now.
Otherwise, I've been trying to meet up with a mom friend or two each week and that has been great. We luckily met 3 couples at our childbirth ed class, and one gay male couple at our PEPS intro session who we are in touch with. Sometimes it's me and the mom/baby; and sometimes it's all 4 parents and babies. This weekend we went to the Arboretum for a long walk with another couple followed by a late lunch out/early dinner ("linner") and all went well! It was a beautiful day and just nice to be with others who 'get it' and want to talk about, ya know, poop, feeding, sleeping and stuff. It's so funny in that their daughter has no food or poop issues, but mega sleep and awakeness issues. Simone is a great sleeper and we don't ever even think about sleep!! It's funny how different kids are.
I'm loving my time at home with her, but now and then have a stir-crazy day but am too tired or unmotivated (or waiting for a poop explosion) to leave the house. That can be frustrating but luckily friends are ok to come to me, so I try to arrange visits when I can. J is back to 4 days of work plus other meetings and she does go to boxing or the gym every day. I am finally up for walking and am getting to yoga on a schedule now! (Aside: @ATXMommas, thanks for your reply last time on my uh, down there issues. Turned out I had an angry stitch! I went in and they took it out, and also found I had mild yeast so we treated that. Now things are ok again! That was a little exercise setback...but is ok now.)
Other tidbits:
- Simone weighs almost 10 lbs!
- She is wearing some 3-6 month items already, but still mostly 0-3
- She's lost some hair, including most of her long elvis sideburns, which I think she will likely be happy about later in life.
- J is very, very concerned her belly button will end up an "outie"- I am not sure why this matter but J is very traumatized by outies...
- We are going to try a sleep sack and not a swaddle soon. She seems to like having her arms out when she naps.
- We had our first roll-down-the-cheek tears after she had a gagging episode on some spit up and it took a while for her to 'recover' - heartbreaking and scary, I used the snotsucker and cleared out her mouth and nose. Gross but it helped.
- She has alert periods in the evening and late morning usually. It's so much fun to have her awake and interactive without crying or being in (gas) pain. Lots of big eye contact! This was a little bit ago....
Me (43) and J (45) - same sex couple. And we don't feel 40+!
June'12 - First RE Visit
Sept. '12 - Tubes removed
Dec. '12 - Donor Egg/Donor Sperm IVF Cycle - 4 good embies!
Dec. '12 - Fresh transfer, BFP! EDD 8/29/13
Mar. '13 - Missed m/c at 16w1d, baby boy stopped growing at 15w4d
Loss due to umbilical cord clot...baby was perfect.
Jul '13 - FET#1 - c/p
Sept. '13 - FET#2 - BFN
Dec.' 2, 2013 - FET#3 with our last chance embie - BFP!!!
Dec' 26, 2013 - hb!!
EDD 8/20/14 with a baby girl!
Little S was born on 8/21/14 - 8lb, 14 oz and 20 inches long.
We live in Seattle and used SRM for our donor egg IVF cycle
Will is 16.5 weeks old -- he will be 4 months on Saturday! Where is the time going?!?!
We had a good, but busy weekend! I am also having a busy work day, so I don't have time to get into tons of details, but if I wait until later I am afraid I won't update at all, sooo.....two big updates from this weekend:
*We have a baby who rolls over! Woohooo!
*We also have a baby with a tooth, and the second tooth is now starting to poke through the gum!
Those are our big milestones for the moment. Will continues to be ridiculously awesome, and we love him more each day. At least once a day my wife and I look at each other and say "How did we get so lucky?!?!"
I might do some more general updates tomorrow in my TTT. I suspect I will have more time to Bump tomorrow!
QOTW: I hope our kids get J's goofy sense of humor, her creativity and her attention to detail. I hope they get my business sense, my ability to stay calm under pressure when it counts and my loyalty. I know that is more than one thing. I couldn't pick one. Woops!
Me - 30, My wife - 31 , Together for 10 yrs - Married August 2012
5 medicated IUIs w/ RE (March - July 2013) = BFN
Fresh IVF Cycle in September 2013 resulted in 18 mature eggs, 16 fertilized, 12 made it to day 5. Transfer of 2 Grade A blastocysts on 9/15/13, and 10 embryos in the freezer! *****BFP on 9/25/13 - betas: @10dp5dt = 232; @12dp5dt = 465; @15dp5dt = 1,581 *********William George born June 4, 2014*********Just when I think we have this sleep thing figured out... His sleep had been pretty great lately, but over the past few nights he has woken twice, rather than once (or even better, none). Typically, if he wakes before 2-ish, Z can get him back to sleep easily. Not the case these past few nights. She tries, but then eventually calls out to me. I'm quite cranky when I have to get up before midnight these days. It's physically and emotionally draining. I may or may not have snapped at Z last night and said something to the effect of, "Fine, I'll just nurse him forever."
In other news, a Ash started shaking his head in this past week. He doesn't associate with no, but it's super cute. Probably won't be cute in a year when he's shaking it no with a purpose, but for now it is.
He has two new teeth - his top two incisors. Not exactly sure when they popped through, but I noticed this weekend. He didn't have any of his typical teething symptoms, so I was completely unaware! Let's hope the rest of them are this easy!
That's about it! I have a couple of cute stories to share, but I think I'll save them for TTT tomorrow.
QOTW: I hope Ash gets the best of both worlds from us - my sense of obligation and organization, but Z's propensity for fun and silliness, her ability to make and maintain friendships easily, and her resourcefulness.
PIP: Ash excited about his Old Navy shipment!
CageyMack
37, married to my favorite person in the world, DW! One darling surfer-girl (12) and one darling, sweet boy born 3/16/13.
5/2013 Started TTC #3, DW's turn: 5/2013: Diagnostics (shg) and surgery (polyp rem.) for best chances. July-Oct: IUI # 1-4, medicated, monitored, triggered. All BFN. IVF in Jan May. Sheesh. Whoop! IVF#1 cycle started 4/2/14. 5/1: 19 eggs retrieved, 8 matured, ICSI'd. 4 fertilized. Only 2 to transfer/freeze stage. 5/6: Two embryos transferred. 5/15: Beta #1 9dp5dt is 134! BFP! 5/19: Beta #2 13dp5dt is 672! B'erFP! 5/21: Beta #3 15dp5dt is 1853. Yay!
"Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
We're most likely going to be in the market for a smallish suv when we finally get pregnant.... Only because we plan on "caging" in the trunk so we can put the dog back there instead of in the back seat. She occasionally gets crazy in the car, and, craziness aside, I just don't want her in the backseat with a baby....
We currently have 2 Kia Fortes, and I've actually only owns Kias (my first car was a Sephia.... It's been Fortes ever since) so I'm really interested in the Sorento or something similar from Kia
I hope W settles in soon. Big changes for him right now! Where did you find the sex ed class? I hope when the time comes, I find the right words to say!
I bought mine in February, brand new, with less than 100 miles on it. It has over 20,000 now, sadly. I had a Sportage before this and C has one now. I think they are both excellent vehicles. I drive a lot, obviously, and have never had any problems.
Me: 30 DW (aka C): 29
Together since 2/15/11 ~ Legally married in NY on 9/29/12
***CP mentioned***
We've been working on baby #1 since July 2013 using Open ID donor sperm. 8 IUI attempts with 5 actual IUIs and one chemical pregnancy. We have one fresh IVF cycle under our belts as well as a FET. I have endometriosis and a uterine septum that was corrected via surgery in November 2013.
11/14/14 - Second HSG shows that tubes are still clear and ute is looking good.
12/6/14 - Started BCPs in prep for IVF #2
12/22/14 - Saline u/s and endometrial scratch (All was clear and OUCH!)
1/2/15 - Began stimming for IVF #2
****All Welcome!****
We are Mommas to four fur babies - 3 dogs and 1 cat.
So I have no qualms recommending Kias to people. They are good cars and we never have had problems with them....
@Jazibel - glad you are moved! And glad that the pumping is going well! 12oz is way more than enough for that time period, so it's great to have some to freeze - that's always a good feeling!
R is 7 months.
We had a fun, busy weekend. On Sat we went to swim class. R continues to be the busiest kid in the class. He loves splashing in the water.
Sunday we went on our first family run. I was hesitating putting him in the jogging stroller before the recommended age but I thought at 7 months lets just see how he does. He did great. We went slow and the roads were smooth. My wife and I are both runners but running with a stroller is a whole new game. I'm still sore. I love that he can share a part in our favorite activity. I can't wait to sign up for races with him. Scratch that, I can't wait for my wife to race since I'll be prego :P Other than that we've got no sleep, no teeth. I've set a new rule no one in my family can ask me about sleep. We're still sleeping like a newborn, up every 2 hours. It's painful and we've hired a sleep consultant to get some ideas going. We're not at the end of our rope yet but we're getting there. It's hard being patient at night with him and each other. QOTW: we hope he gets our playfulness, love of travel, and giving back to the community. He better be a democrat!We have a BOB and the reccomended age is 8 months! We talked to our dr and physical therapist around 5-6 months who both recommeded waiting it out a little longer. Their issue isn't with neck control as much as that their little brains are being jostled around inside their heads. I've heard of people running sooner than 8 months, like 2 months. So I think it's just comes down to what you're comfortable with.
I bet the race was fun for you all. My wife asked if she could see us pushing him for a half. I laughed. The 5k we ran felt like a half to me!!
Day late, story of my life these days.
Gabe is 18 months.
Argh, so many things I want to respond to, but I'll get our update out there first and then see what I can do.
This has been a rough week for our little guy. He's been teething something fierce, reminiscent of @lolabelle515's recent experience. On Friday evening we tried to meet some friends out for dinner. We chose a kid-friendly place, with lots of outdoor space to run around. Our friends also have a kiddo, so they were kind of mentoring us on how to do the dining-out-with-child thing. Well, it was a complete disaster. We ended up having to get our food to go. Daycare had warned me at pick up time that G had seems "A little off," but that was a massive understatement.
Anyway, we had a supremeley grumpy weekend. Lots of drooling and lots of crying, but by Sunday morning there were 4 little buds to greet my finger when I finally got it into his mouth. Things have calmed down a little bit now, but we did have some added stress that G has also stopped willingly taking ibuprofin or teething tablets. Sigh. C'mon kid, you've gotta know it's going to make you feel better!!!
Since things were a bit better on Sunday we went to visit some friends that live on a farm outside of town. G had a fantastic time chasing chickens (yelling "Bawk bawk bawk" the whole time) and petting horses. He also got to pick a tomato (his favorite food of all time) and eat it right off the vine. It was a really nice way to spend a ridiculously warm Septmeber Sunday.
What else? We had G's 18 month checkup last week. Boy weights 27 lbs. No wonder I'm exhausted all the time! He got 1 vaccine, and handled it MUCH better than past shots. Apparently all the world's problems can be solved with a banana. Oh, and word EXPLOSION! @Cageymack, we could probably write each others' updates if necessary.
The less interesting, but equally important, adult issues are weighing on us big-time right now. S is exhausted at work. She's getting to a point where she's not sure how much longer she can stay in her industry. My company is going through some financial hard times as well, and layoffs are written on the wall (we just went through a round of them a few months back). $$ is stressful and while we're doing okay now, we seem to be unable to cut our bills and spending to put additional amounts away for a "Just in case" scenario. We have good retirement savings, and an emergency fund, but it would be a really good idea to have some other savings to dip into if necessary. If I wasn't so exhausted at night after getting G to bed, I'd spend some time crunching numbers and making a plan. If ...
I'll update in the TTC thread, but I have a procedure scheduled today to investigate whether my fibroids have grown back. It's a step we need to take prior to any TTC efforts, but due to the work instability and $$ concerns, I don't know if we'll ever get there. Too bad we waited so long to have our first, there's no option to just wait a while on #2. It's either do it now, or don't do it at all. Sigh.
QOTW: I hope that Gabe gets S's ability to make everything/anything fun, and I REALLY hope he gets her work ethic (I believe both of those things can be learned). Genetically from me I hope he gets my athletic and musical abilities, and maybe a little bit of my bleeding heart (but not the whole thing).
Married to my amazing wife 6/12/10
TTC since 6/11
Unmedicated IUI #1 - 6/28/11 - BFN
Unmedicated IUI #2 - 7/25/11 - BFN
Robotic Myomectomy (Fibroid Surgery) - 11/15/11
Unmedicated IUI #3 - 4/24/12 - BFN
Progesterone Supported Leuteal Phase IUI #4 - 6/21/12 - BFP!!
Baby Boy G Born 3/24/13
On to #2, are we crazy?
IUI #1 - 11/28/14 - BFP! Beta #1 (11DPO) 34, Beta #2 (13DPO) 101, Beta #3 (20DPO) 3043
Ultrasound at 6w4d shows a single, fluttering heartbeat. Say hello to Sticky Ricki!
We have a BOB and the reccomended age is 8 months! We talked to our dr and physical therapist around 5-6 months who both recommeded waiting it out a little longer. Their issue isn't with neck control as much as that their little brains are being jostled around inside their heads. I've heard of people running sooner than 8 months, like 2 months. So I think it's just comes down to what you're comfortable with.
I bet the race was fun for you all. My wife asked if she could see us pushing him for a half. I laughed. The 5k we ran felt like a half to me!!
-----------------Oh, great, now I have to worry about whether I jostled his little brain. #parentingfail
But, seriously, I'm not worried about it. We weren't off-roading with it. We have a BOB Ironman and it seems to be a smooth ride.
I definitely wouldn't push Ash for a half race, but we'll probably end up taking him on some long runs in the stroller if we ever want to get back to racing halfs or fulls, which I fully intend to.... someday!
I'm sure you're in the clear! I couldn't wait out the recommended age either. 8 months seems ridiculously old for waiting to go for a run. My guess is they're using a blanket age to cover all different types of terrain like you said. I couldn't believe how smooth the ride was. It's even smoother than a regular stroller.
Speaking of parenting fails, during a diaper change R started chewing on the electrical cord to the wipe warmer! #friedbrain
CageyMack
37, married to my favorite person in the world, DW! One darling surfer-girl (12) and one darling, sweet boy born 3/16/13.
5/2013 Started TTC #3, DW's turn: 5/2013: Diagnostics (shg) and surgery (polyp rem.) for best chances. July-Oct: IUI # 1-4, medicated, monitored, triggered. All BFN. IVF in Jan May. Sheesh. Whoop! IVF#1 cycle started 4/2/14. 5/1: 19 eggs retrieved, 8 matured, ICSI'd. 4 fertilized. Only 2 to transfer/freeze stage. 5/6: Two embryos transferred. 5/15: Beta #1 9dp5dt is 134! BFP! 5/19: Beta #2 13dp5dt is 672! B'erFP! 5/21: Beta #3 15dp5dt is 1853. Yay!
"Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
CageyMack
37, married to my favorite person in the world, DW! One darling surfer-girl (12) and one darling, sweet boy born 3/16/13.
5/2013 Started TTC #3, DW's turn: 5/2013: Diagnostics (shg) and surgery (polyp rem.) for best chances. July-Oct: IUI # 1-4, medicated, monitored, triggered. All BFN. IVF in Jan May. Sheesh. Whoop! IVF#1 cycle started 4/2/14. 5/1: 19 eggs retrieved, 8 matured, ICSI'd. 4 fertilized. Only 2 to transfer/freeze stage. 5/6: Two embryos transferred. 5/15: Beta #1 9dp5dt is 134! BFP! 5/19: Beta #2 13dp5dt is 672! B'erFP! 5/21: Beta #3 15dp5dt is 1853. Yay!
"Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
B is 3 months old!
I feel a little guilty about it, but so far the transition back to work hasn't been that bad. Now my wife isn't working this week, so she's handling daycare pick-up/drop-off, whereas I will be doing most of it under normal circumstances. So obviously things aren't quite as hectic as they will be, but the actual leaving-the-kid-for-the-day-part is still happening and it's been OK for me. I miss his face when I am at work and I am excited to see him and play with him when I get home, but I don't feel overwhelming sadness or regret about any of it. In fact, when I got off the bus downtown yesterday, I had this moment of "YES! I'm back!" which was kind of nice (part of it is that I live in the suburbs and missed being in the city, but I also enjoy the feeling of independence and interaction with adults). I'm also thrilled to report that I have a new commute and it is 30 minutes shorter in the evening and much easier. I should be able to pull of daycare pick-up/drop-off just fine, and we may even save a little money.
Do you find that people in hetero relationships are surprised by your family's parenting arrangements? Example - for the last two nights, my wife has taken full nighttime baby duty and let me sleep in the guest room so that I can be rested for work (I did the same thing when she went back to work. We probably won't do it all week, and things will be 50-50 when we're both working, but I can see us doing it in the future if someone is sick or needs extra sleep for some other reason). Yep, I have had 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for two nights in a row.
Anyway, we're doing well. B is only waking once during the night, and we've been slightly more successful lately at getting him to sleep in his bassinet for at least the first half of the night. He's super smiley and fun lately and is starting to get more interested in toys. A friend gave us a Baby Einstein music toy that he adores, and he's starting to hold on to the toys that hang from his activity gym. He's also rolled from tummy to back three times. We've transitioned him from swaddle to sleep sack and he seems fine with it. He is almost 12 lbs and just starting to outgrowing his 0-3 clothes, but I think his growth has picked up since we went all-formula and I'm eager to hear how things check out as his 4-month pedi appointment next month.
QOTW: S is not neurotic -- she doesn't usually get anxious about things, she doesn't obsess over things she can't control, and she doesn't compulsively over-analyze, all of which are things I do. I would love B to be more like S in that respect! I'd also like him to be as good at sports as she is. I would like him to do as well in school as I did, and to love reading and language the way I do. Who knows what we'll get!
9 IUIs = 9 BFNs
IVF October 2012: 22 eggs retrieved, 17 fertilized, 5 frozen
ET #1: 1 blast = BFP; Blighted ovum discovered at 7w5d; D&E
FET #1: 1 blast = BFP; Missed m/c discovered at 9w5d; D&E
Karyotyping: normal ~ RPL Testing: normal ~ Hysteroscopy: normal
FET #2: 1 blast transferred 10/25; BFP 10/31!
EDD 7/13/14 ~ Induced at 37w4d due to pre-eclampsia ~ Born on 6/28/14
*Everyone welcome*
And don't feel guilty about how good you feel returning back to work. The transition for me wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. And there are days now that I'm plum happy to drop him off! I love my time with him, but I'm not meant to be a SAHM.
A & K, married 7/1/13.
After 10 months of ttc via medicated IUIs and two early losses, we finally got our boys- Perfect premie twins born 5/27/14.