ERA EMMA ALICE infertility graduates/pregnancies thread 2

[Gardenlady543]

New thread @seven201 @Janefx40 @AM08 @thislittlebird @Spin101 @CB2805 @Dochas12111

@Janefx40 thank you so much for the offer - very kind. I have a gp appt about it on Friday so I'll see how that goes first. How's baby Leo doing?

How is everyone? @Gardenlady543 , how's the feeding?

I went for a coffee with 3 ladies I met at a baby group. One mum said her baby doesn't really cry but she was tired as the baby has a 1am feed and goes back to sleep til morning, another ones is always or smiling asleep when I see her and the other one has a baby who settles herself off to sleep day and night. Where do people get these babies from?? I at least deserve a refund for all the fertility and miscarriage prevention treatments . Only kidding, my baby is obviously wonderful and perfect to me.

@seven201 some of the mums from
the group I'm in have issues with their babies sleeping, one has a baby that screams all night long, my baby is currently a good sleeper, she has a 3am meal but otherwise sleeps, but then I have the nightmare feeding issues :(

I have had the dreaded mastitis, I went from noticing some redness and tenderness in my breast to being systemically unwell within hours, felt like I had an awful case of the flu, and alternated between being so cold my teeth were chattering and I was shivering and needed my heated throw on, to fever, I was sweating so badly my bedsheets were absolutely drenched and I couldn't change them in the night so I had to just cover the bed in towels. I never had a sudden unclogging of the duct so I assume it broke down gradually, I'm still on the antibiotics but feeling a lot better. My milk supply went down a bit but not too much and I had managed to freeze some milk which we didn't need but it was reassuring to know it was there. Feeding wise the baby is much better at latching, she can latch directly on one breast and we use the nipple shield on the other. But she still can't get the milk off, she's obviously getting something as it's visible in the nipple shield and she does all the right sucks and swallows but she then cries for her bottle after 1-2 hours of latching. I'm just hoping she gets stronger and can get the milk off. There would be so much more freedom if she can, at the moment we need to stick to 1.5 hour activities inbetween pumps. I'd really love to take her on holiday before my mat leave ends and there's no way I could with my pumping schedule.

@Gardenlady543 when were you asked to wean off your medications( progesterone, clexane, prednisolone, progynova ) after positive beta? And did you continue taking oral and vaginal probiotics everyday ?

How is everyone doing? Leo is 11 months today!

Hope you are all doing well xx

11 months! Time flies! How’s he doing? And the rest of your family?

We’re doing alright, baby is generally brilliant but last week had a few nights of what felt like the 4 month sleep regression. We’ve also been a bit bold and booked a month away (LA and Yosemite and then straight to the south of France) not sure if it’s the smartest move or if we’ll forever mess up babies sleep rhythm 😅

Would be lovely to hear how everyone doing?

Oh wow @AM08 that sounds amazing, we have a week booked away in May but to an all inclusive in Greece so far less exciting!

@APSR sorry I missed this, how are you doing?

I'd imagine we would have several more babies arrived by now?

@Janefx40 oh wow almost a year old!

My baby is 15 weeks now, everything has been about feeding, since she was admitted to hospital when she was 5 days old she just couldn't get back on the breast. So I became an exclusive pumper and it was hell, I couldn't plan anything because I'd always need pump parts coming out with me and an ice pack with milk and bottles. We were under the feeding team, lactation consultant and a breast feeding support group, I had to try and latch her multiple times every day even though she got nothing off me and then three days ago she managed to get it and we just do one bottle of expressed milk in the morning now. So far it is one million percent easier and I shudder when I see the pump, I still pump first thing but I hate it.

How's everyone doing?

@Gardenlady543 in doing good. Weaning off my fet medications so a bit anxious about it. Stopped evorel, progynova and prednisolone. Have been asked to start aspirin now. So currently on progesterone supplement and aspirin. Will be on Cyclogest and aspirin till about 32-34 weeks.

@Gardenlady543 glad she’s doing well!

I’m 34 weeks now, really not loving the third trimester. I’m plagued by things I can’t treat properly until the baby is here, it’s getting me down.

Seeing consultant in a couple of weeks to see if I need to start aspirin. They should have referred me much earlier based on my medical history so I’ve missed out on 28 and 32 week scans. Hopefully everything will be ok at 36w.

@APSR I came off aspirin at 36 weeks. I came off progesterone in the end at 28 weeks but some people carry it on until the birth.

@thislittlebird that's so frustrating since you've been asking for the referral since the beginning! The end of pregnancy was not fun for me, I had back pain, reflux, vomiting, I was just so uncomfortable. It goes away when you have the baby though.

@Gardenlady543 were you only on Cyclogest till 28 weeks ? I mean did you take any injectable ones or only the pessary.

@APSR I came off prontogest at 12 weeks and cyclogest x2 a day at 14 weeks, then tested and as low restarted just one pessary cyclogest a day.

Hello everyone!! Sorry for posting then disappearing!

@AM08 wow that holiday sounds ace! I'm sure you can just go with the flow a bit for a while. You can always get back on track after.

@Gardenlady543 15 weeks! I'm so impressed that you persevered so much with the pumping and feeding. So pleased too that it has finally clicked. Hope it is easy from here on in.

@APSR weaning off always feels scary but they wouldn't take you off if you needed it. I felt nervous both times but it was fine.

@thislittlebird 34 weeks is so close. It is a bit tough but 6 weeks and you'll be the other side. Sorry you feel rubbish tho

I'm too scared to book a trip! I think I'll have to wait and see how we're getting on but it might Cyprus or Greece, like @Gardenlady543! I was thinking if we go in Sept/Oct it might be ok, she'll be about 4/5 months?

Thanks @Janefx40. At the risk of TMI, all my issues seem to be immune and digestive system. First I had low-ish iron and the tablets played havoc with my digestive system (before I swapped to liquid iron). The iron issues gave me haemorrhoids (to my horror) and then I had awful, infected eczema, the same kind that I battled with between 2019-2021 and it suddenly came back a few weeks ago. I went on antibiotics for 11 days, and that wreaked yet more digestive havoc and everything just got worse and worse. I was in bed in so much pain on Sunday. So far, this week, things are a bit better since the doctor and pharmacist gave me some stuff. But it really hasn't been much fun.

@Gardenlady543 thanks for letting me know. I was on prontogest, lubion and Cyclogest till 12 weeks. Now will be taking Cyclogest as advised twice a day.
@Janefx40 yeah, I know the clinic knows what they are doing. But with ivf it’s really a big struggle. Good to know things were ok with you when you stopped the medications. I’ll be on Cyclogest for a long time now.

@thislittlebird I'm there with you :( my ferritin meant I needed to go on iron tablets but it made the vomiting that I was already on medication for worse. I ended up paying for an iron infusion, I went to Edgbaston wellness clinic, really glad I did as the blood loss in my c section was classed as a post partum hemorrhage so getting my iron to a good level pre birth would have definitely helped with my recovery. Also developed the hemorrhoids, they were horrible in pregnancy but post birth the symptoms ease a lot, I'm seeing a surgeon privately to see if I can get it sorted as if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again I don't want to be stuck with the symptoms, I wonder if the hard pessaries might have caused the issue, I used some fertility safe lubricant in the end as it was painful using them.

@Gardenlady543 so glad you’ve got there with the feeding and your holiday sounds lovely. What are you doing sleep wise? We’ve been cosleeping (I’ve taken the easy route on everything so far) We’ve hit the 4 month sleep regression and it’s just bonkers. Back to being up at 1am and 5.30am! Not keen whatsoever and we’re going to Rome next weekend which feels like bad timing

@AM08 we have 2 X halo swivels, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. My husband sleeps in the bedroom with baby and I sleep alone in another room. The baby goes to sleep around 8-9pm and sleeps for 12 hours, waking around 6am for a feed, my husband gives her a bottle of expressed milk. We haven't had any sleep regressions yet luckily. I sleep in a different room because I had to pump every 3 hours including all night so it made more sense for me to be in a different room. I think it helps for me to not be in the room, my husband is a heavy sleeper so I think he sleeps through light stirring which has helped her sleep through the night, I wonder if her not smelling the milk on me has helped and I think mothers are also wired to wake up very easily, I still feel very tired, because I now don't pump over night I wake up really engorged and I think that means I sleep lightly waking up because it's uncomfortable. I don't know if there can be sleep regressions that only affect the day time sleeping, as we have that, she's teething and that seems to interfere. So the other day no matter what she wouldn't nap in the day and got more and more tired and it makes the feeding really difficult.

What sort of level did you get your iron to @Gardenlady543? I’m quite worried about blood loss and getting scared of the c section. I’m booked in for May 24th.

I’ve looked at private options for the haemorrhoids too, I think I’ll pay for one of the options just to get rid. I know they say you should wait until after you’ve finished having kids because they can come back but I won’t be having more kids so I will get something done. I can’t wait until I’m carrying less wait and there’s less pressure on my body!

What suppositories were you using? Hormonal ones? I was using suppositories for the haemorrhoids initially but then at one stage it got much worse and I couldn’t use them anymore.

I think we may end up in separate bedrooms when the baby is here. We already are because of his snoring and my waking up a lot, but I can’t see how it’ll work once he’s back to work and I’m on leave getting up a lot.

@thislittlebird the ferritin goes very high, into the hundreds right after the infusion. I hope they sort out the hemorrhoids for me even though I hope to have another baby. It's just uncomfortable :( it was the cyclogest pessaries that I used PR. I used the germoloid treatment in pregnancy to help with the symptoms. Lots of couples split the night even when one parent is back at work. It's really tiring looking after the baby in the day, if anything the person going to work has it easier. In the early days if pumping I would be up much longer than DH pumping than him doing the nappy and bottle.

@Gardenlady543 it sounds like you’ve got a great arrangement for sleep - we have the halo swivel too but our baby hasn’t even had more than one sleep in it (he naps in his pram.) We went from him going to bed between 8-9pm to about 5 to now waking up again at 1 or 2 then at 5 - not sure if we can fix it or if this will pass. We may just have to go with it and when we’re back from our trips hire a sleep consultant to sort out our mess 😂

@Gardenlady543 well, I’m not pumping as much as you because we’re mix feeding but it’s been less than 3 weeks and I’m very much over it. Baby arrived earlier than planned at 38 + 2 when my waters broke but we still opted for a semi-elective c section. The recovery has been pretty great tbh, very straightforward and off painkillers by day 5. We’ve called her Eliza and she’s a pretty chilled baby so far, which is nice and has helped the transition. Very happy to sleep anywhere and on anything, sleeps ok at night either side of food and so on.

@thislittlebird congratulations on the arrival!! In the first few weeks you need to pump 8 times a day to get the milk supply up. And the middle of the night pump is really important as it's all driven by prolactin early on. It is so rubbish though. My baby learned to feed off me at 4 months and it has been so much easier since. I pump once a day in the morning now so DH can do a bottle of expressed milk first thing.

@Gardenlady543 thanks! yeah I’m aware of the pumping routine, I just really don’t like it. Feel like I’m doing this all the time and nothing fun. Baby also has a tongue tie and they won’t snip it for her because we aren’t exclusively bfing, so that’s fun, and I only have one normal boob, the other had a large, benign tumour removed over a decade ago and they did some reconstructive surgery at the same time, so it’s definitely less productive. She can use nipple shields but I’m finding feeding very stressful and wish it was easier.

I doubt we’ll be still doing this routine at 4 months, I’ll be lucky if there’s 4 weeks in me.

@thislittlebird I feel this, the first few months was definitely all about feeding, everybody else seemed to have no problem with it except me. I'm not sure how I did it now looking back because it just took up so much time. I was constantly attached to a pump and I couldn't do anything while pumping, it took up so much time. Also having to leave the home with sterile bottles and milk on ice in a two hour window before I needed to be back to pump again was so annoying. I felt bad because others seemed to be doing things like reading to their babies and going to baby groups and all I was doing was skin to skin and latching practice alongside the pumping. But someone said to me that at her age all she cares about is eating and being close to me so it was fine.

The tongue tie clinic let me down as well, it took seven weeks for me to get an appointment with them because I wasn't prioritized as babies that aren't having any bottles are prioritised. This is ridiculous as it clearly will prioritise babies with very minor issues because if they haven't required a bottle then it can't be that bad, I had no choice but to use a bottle, my baby wouldn't have survived with the weight loss that she had. By the time we finally saw them in the clinic she was getting about 1/3 of her intake directly off me and I didn't want to go backward so we didn't do the operation. Have you considered seeing someone privately, they seem to do a package deal where they assess the situation and cut it there and then. I wish that I've done that early on, but everyone had told me that there was no clearcut sign of a tongue tie, they haven't been able to give any other explanation for why it took so long for her to be able to feed off me. It is a lot easier now that she can, in particular because she will only go to sleep from breast-feeding. it's also very helpful if we're at a café, etc and she's crying to pop her on the boob because she will be quiet then. I also have a difficult breast, my right one is the slacker. I've had multiple biopsies from it in the past and the nipple is flatter, although she can latch and feed off both. I also had to use nipple shields for a while, in the end they weren't really helping, but they were useful tool on the journey to get to where I am now.