IUI & IVF success! Graduates from "TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided - all welcome!" thread #itcanwork #weareproof

[taydex]

Hi all,
Thought it was about time we had a thread for all those graduating from the IUI/IVF with pregnancies/babies.
Little introduction for those who don't know me:
Age: 37
Method: IUI due to being in same sex relationship
Clinic: Bourn Hall near Cambridge
Success: Baby girl born 20 October 2016 following 5 rounds of IUI (plus 2 more where I ovulated early so abandoned cycle). 4 medicated rounds then 1 unmedicated which is the one that worked.
TayDex x

Any questions, please ask away. X

Hi ladies, please can I join in? I haven't been very active on the other thread but a super lurker. My partner and I are almost 14 weeks following our second IUI attempt. We're a same sex couple and it's my partner that's pregnant. We've had the clinic scan at 7 weeks, NHS scan at 12 weeks, and the basic screening test and everything has been really positive so far. Neither of us has been pregnant before so it's all brand new and terrifying!

Of course Chasing. And congratulations! Same sex couple here too, any questions ask away x

Thanks Taydex How old is your little one now? My biggest question is when does it start to feel ok to relax??? Neither of us are particularly anxious in general but why does no one worry you how anxiety provoking pregnancy is?!

Hi Chasing. My little one is 16 weeks old now (where does the time go?!). She's absolutely amazing and I still can't quite believe this has happened for us and she's ours to keep (crazy, I know!).

Gosh, that's a question! I'd say there's several milestones, I relaxed a little more after each one. Definitely I'd say about a week after first AF missed, when preg tests became stronger, at the 7 week scan, at the 12 week scan (so I guess this is where you are), at the 20 week scan, when you hit 24 weeks (viability if little one was born this early, with a lot of medical help), in my head also 35 and 37 weeks where I felt little one had a much better chance if she were to be born early,... I won't lie to you, until she was finally born and checked over to see she was OK there was always some level of worry for me. And then once they arrive the worry changes he he he.

Sorry, that wasn't supposed to sound as negative as it perhaps did. I just meant to say I felt there were a few points when I felt a little more relaxed. Worrying is normal and just a great sign that you will be awesome parents! Once your partner/wife feels the baby moving that will be a comfort too, and also obviously when you feel it too (OMG, so many exciting things for you both!). You could buy a foetal heart rate monitor which could help to reduce worry. I picked a 2nd hand one up off a local Facebook selling post for a fiver. I found it helped me to reassure me she was still there and OK (although I have also seen people say these can cause more unnecessary worry if you can't find a heartbeat).

Hello!

It's been a while since I posted - time seriously gets away from you with a little one! I had my beautiful baby boy nearly 4 weeks ago and everything is perfect! Crazy, but perfect

Chasing Same sex couple here too. I was a serious worrier throughout pregnancy but luckily for me my wife is quite calm and the little one moved all the time from 17 weeks so I had a lot of reassurance that everything was OK with him. Didn't stop me worrying though! Just try not to Google symptoms - you'll regret it! The worry definitely changes once they're here - I've never thought so much about the temperature of my house!!

Hoping - I know how you feel about the other thread - I conceived first time too and felt guilty posting about it. Hope everything is going well with you.

Shoes You must be getting quite a bump now! Hope everything is well and the larger stages of pregnancy are treating you kindly.

Ha, shoes, that was supposed to say later stages of pregnancy, though larger is pretty apt too!

Morning Hoping

Gosh - 4 weeks! I'm so pleased that things are going well.

I'm starting to get nervous about those first few weeks with a newborn now! So many of my friends have had a distressing time getting feeding going for example.

I have an obstetrics appointment this morning (being monitored every 4 weeks as my blood oddities might make the baby anaemic) so I'm hoping that everything will look ok on today's scan. I'm 28 weeks today!

My bump is no longer hideable and is starting to get in the way a bit! My most immediate worry about being single is that I'm going to have cold feet when I get to the point I can't get my socks on. Please tell me I'll still be able to get my own socks on by the time I'm induced at 38 weeks!?

I'm struggling a bit at the moment and feel very tired and a bit low. I'm assuming its pregnancy hormones. I feel like I can't be bothered to do anything which really is not convenient timing because there is so much to do! Did anyone else experience this?

Welcome to the thread Chasing. I'm pleased to hear you're well passed the 12-week scan mark and that everything is going well

Hoping - unfortunately Hopingforalittleone had a chemical pregnancy, so she probably won't come back to this thread for a little while. Crossing my fingers for her that her next cycle is the one!

Hi all,

Shoes - you will be glad to hear I was able to put my socks on all the way to 39 weeks (when my baby was born). Your feet should be OK LOL. Besides, in 10 weeks time maybe it'll be warm enough to not need socks...? Are you planning on breastfeeding or using formula? If it's breastfeeding I can give you some tips. The first two weeks ish are hard but it soon becomes second nature. The tired and low, sounds like pregnancy hormones to me. Don't worry, it will pass. There's a lot going on in your body and this feeling is totally normal. Make sure you have some me time. Maybe a pregnancy friendly massage or facial? Enjoy this time for you before everything changes (for the better of course).

Chasing - I agree with Hoping, don't google symptoms!!!

Thank goodness re the socks! I love my socks. I don't like the feeling of my bare feet in shoes apart from wearing sandals on hot summer days!

I'm hoping to breastfeed. At 4 months, baby will need to go to a childminder for two short evenings (4pm-7pm) a week while I teach so I'm hoping I'll be able to express and baby will take a bottle of expressed milk by that point. The best laid plans...

Okey kokey. Well I'd recommend you get a few things in as prep. I would recommend Lansinoh (or any other make) lanolin nipple cream. This will help your nipples recover from their new job. Also I'd recommend you buy some nipple shields (I preferred the ones from Boots as they're quite thin). I was teetering on the edge of giving up 1 week in as it hurt (in theory it's not supposed to if you're doing it right but speaking to other mums it's actually quite common for the first few weeks), my sister came to visit and brought some nipple shields with her. They were a lifesaver. OK, so maybe not lifesaver but they certainly helped me to carry on. 17 weeks on my little one is still exclusively breast fed. Also get support wherever you can (midwives, facebook groups, friends who have breastfed...). I won't lie, I found those first 2-3 weeks challenging but totally worth it now we're a dab hand at this.

Expressing wise they recommend not doing before 6-8 weeks when your supply has stabilised. We started at 6 weeks and were really lucky our little one took to it straight away. Other mummy friends of mine have waited longer and their little ones have refused bottles. Guess it's part luck. My daughter has 1 or 2 bottles of expressed milk per week to keep her used to it.

Oh and nipple shields are a bit of a marmite subject. People either love them or hate them. For me I'm not sure how much longer I'd have managed without them so it was nipple shields or formula. We used them for a few weeks, gradually weaning her off them.

I haven't used Nipple Shields so can't comment on those but I started expressing when he was a week old as I needed to top up his feeds and he took bottles immediately with no issues and now can go from boob to bottle and back again without a problem. Get variflow teats though as they are much easier for a little one to handle. I think the expressing helped my nips toughen up as I was doing it 8 times a day for a few days plus feeding so they didn't hurt much after the first week. Taydex is right though, regardless of what people say it really does hurt that first week but it gets better. And yes, I could get my own socks on! Getting my boots off was tricky after a long day but I could manage it x

Thank you both for your BF advice!

I've bought some Lansinoh and have put nipple shields on the shopping list for my next Boots trip.

And I've made a mental note not to leave it too late to start expressing and trying to bottle feed.

I hope you're both having a good week and that your little ones are on good form

Happy mother's day ladies. Hope you are all well x

Ah thank you. All is well here. Hope you guys enjoyed your first Mothers' Day :)

Aha, found the thread again

Happy Mother's Day to you both

Taydex - thanks for your thoughts on the breech/CS/ECV thing on the other thread. Until this issue with my mum breaking her arm I'd firmly made the decision that if baby is still breech at my 36-week check that I'll have a CS.

My concern is that I've heard that some women are unable to carry their baby up and down stairs if their CS wound is bad, so I'm worried about there being three adults in my house, none of whom can lift the baby easily: my mum with her broken shoulder, my dad who has Parkinson's and me recovering from a CS if my wound is problematic.

I'm pretty stressed out about the situation now. I'm imagining it being a nightmare when I had been really looking forward to meeting my baby and enjoying having my parents around in those early days/weeks. Now I'm thinking that although I'll definitely appreciate my mum's moral support, aside from that having them there might create more work in some respects (for example, more people to cook for whereas the plan had been for my mum to do the cooking really).

Hi shoes,

I totally understand. Planned c sections tend to be less problematic as they have time to do a good/neat job of the cut/sewing up rather than when it's a crash/emergency and they might be working against a clock with a distressed little. No harm in thinking about what might happen though. I would recommend buyinh a Close Caboo carrier. You can carry the little one hands free from birth in this. It may well help.

Feel free to ask me any questions about the c section/recovery. I know all cases are different but mine's probably not that dissimilar to yours x

I was planning on getting a Close Caboo anyway so I'll order one of these now so that I know its available as soon as I need it.

Silently creeping back on the thread... 5 weeks and 6 days now but still slightly scared because of last month.

Xx

Oh hoping, normal to be scared. When do you have a scan?

shoes, having your parents there will help enormously - even if they can just watch the baby while you nap/shower/make a cuppa. I can't comment on the c-section vs turning aspect unfortunately as I had a well behaved baby who was in the right position & ready to go. I do agree though; a planned c-section does sound like recovery would be easier. Do you have any more scans? That would tell you if there's a reason for your LO to be the way round s/he is wouldn't it? They're probably just comfy and stubborn - some babies take till the last few weeks to turn.

With regards to food, get bulk cooking now and get it portioned out into tupperware (I recommend wilko 6 for £1 takeaway style) or good quality food bags, and frozen. It'll be a life saver when it comes to eating in the first couple of weeks as you just need to grab something out and chuck it in the microwave, and if you've packed it full of veggies you don't need to worry about the enormous amount of cake/chocolate you'll also want to consume! Get bread and milk in the freezer too so you don't need to go to the shop and get easily prepared lunches (soup, pasta in sauce etc) and easy accompaniments eg microwave rice, so that you've always got something that only takes 5 minutes. That's definitely helped here and there's 2 of us!

Taydex 5 months?! Bet that has flown by! Hope you're all well. I can't believe my boy is 9 weeks already!

Right - he's popped off the boob, time for winding :)

hoping - eep! Exciting stuff! Totally normal to be a little scared. Fingers and toes...

Other hoping - I totally agree with the batch cook idea. We filled our freezer up with spag bol, chilli, curry, etc. Just made a vat and froze a load, much easier to do before. Also a load of pizzas and bread. Get in loads of tins of soup etc. Maybe some freezer veggies or tins again. I also got in loads of nappies (various brands in case a particular brand didn't work for us. BTW so far Aldi ones are the best and super cheap) and wipes for the little one.

x

P.S. 9 weeks already? Where does the time go?! Crazy.

Hi all, I posted here a while ago, but this is first time since.

I was due to start an NHS cycle two weeks ago that was cancelled at the last minute due to them discovering through final blood test that I'm actually peri menopausal at 38. We've been told our only real serious chance now is through DE.

I have a call with Penny from Serum Athens this evening. Wondering if there are any Serum ladies on this thread who can advise please?