ERA EMMA ALICE infertility graduates/pregnancies thread 2

[Gardenlady543]

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

Hi everybody!
thanks for checking in @Janefx40
Etta is 6.5 months! She’s crawling, standing and cruising. She’s an incredibly active baby which is lovely but can also be so so tiring.

were struggling a bit with sleep at the moment, co-slept from 1 week old to now. But been trying to transition to cot over the last month and she get incredibly upset, separation eczema, and her eating changes when we do long stints in there. Feel really torn about what to do next. Sleep training keeps being suggested but she’s already reacting pretty badly to being alone I would hate to cause her more upset. But desp for my bed back and some calmer nights.

I wonder if her being active and alert is linked to her need for closeness at night?

s x

Hi all, so lovely to read your updates, can’t believe how fast time is flying. That sounds so good @Janefx40 about the sleep consultant, did she give any game changing advice?

@Gardenlady543 wow, that is coming around quickly, how are you feeling about having an addition to the family?

@Sar1010 im sorry the nights have been so difficult, my little one is very similar, started crawling at 5 months on the dot and was 3 weeks early which was a bit mind blowing - the transition from crawling to walking has been easy for me though as I’ve been used to having such an active baby.

Noah is 14 months, we’ve have had a terrible night but generally we have 2 wake ups and we’ve been ok with that as we’ve been cosleeping. He’s generally just a bundle of energy and so fun and smiley, but can be hard work at times - our lives have done a complete u turn and we’ve reduced travel and meals out and are just focussing on making the little one happy as we’ve had a few bad experiences recently and realised that him being happy is really key to us having any enjoyable experiences :)

@AM08 wow 14 months. So gorgeous. Glad you are having fun with him. Sometimes it's more fun to do whatever makes the kids happy! Personally I love a soft play - they're happy and I can have a (terrible!!) coffee.

@Sar1010 I co-slept with Leo until he was about 15 months I think. Then we ended up doing a mixture. It just shifted naturally. She's still very young so things may shift.

Sleep consultant tips? Dark room (it was already dark), earlier nap in cot (we did lots of falling asleep in car before and tho he slept the same amount of time, she recommended cot), earlier bedtime, this inevitably also means earlier meal times, new night time routine, no feeding in the night, own room. Gradually teaching him to self-settle - he could do it on first going down already but not during the night. That was most of it!!

We had to wait to start the training as we were going for weekends away. In the meantime we moved his bedtime earlier on her advice and it immediately made some difference. So that was a revelation as he never seemed tired before. But the big changes came when we put it all together.

Honestly it was like magic. She started with a baby who woke up every few hours and gave us back one who sleeps!

(Metaphorically speaking - she didn't actually come to the house. It was phone consultations!)

lovely to hear all of your updates ❤️❤️

@Gardenlady543 so pleased for you and the arrival in May ❤️❤️ Will be amazing to have two bubbas soon.

I can’t believe I have an 11 month old. She’s crawling slowly and I’m happy for her to take her time with standing and walking. It’ll be chaos 😂 We’ve been co sleeping. That wasn’t the plan but it works out better for both of us, less awakenings and we both feel more rested. I am considering sleep training but not sure when. @Sar1010 she’s going through separation anxiety too so I’m reluctant to start atm.

I hope you’re all loving life and its challenges. Thank you so much for all the support you’ve provided me with xx

hi everyone! Hope you’re all well. And congrats to @Gardenlady543 on the new arrival in May. Thanks for the tag @Janefx40 - good to hear Leo doing well, what age did you start taking him to soft play? I know mums who are going to our local one already but the (perhaps misinformed?) staff told me over 1 year when I asked. I’m keen to take her because she seems happy when we’re out but often can be moany indoors.

We've been very lucky that Eliza really loves her sleep and slept in her own bedside cot and went through the night from 5 weeks old. She has the odd blip or regression (months 4 and 8 were a challenge so far) but overall the past 9.5 months have been pretty good. Feeding was a challenge for us but since I gave up on pumping and beating myself up about not breastfeeding it got much better and now I have all the same weaning woes as other mums as far as I can tell.

I also have a very active one! I think she’ll be walking soon, crawled as soon as she hit 7 months and standing freely now so assume walking is a month or two away. I think she’s going through separation anxiety a bit??? She keeps crying as soon as I leave the room lately, or if I put her in her cot for safety while I do stuff. Transition to nursery should be fun 😅

She’ll be one year in May and it’s going very fast, I go back to work in 8 weeks 😭

@Janefx40 hello! So nice to hear from you. Wow, Leo is nearly 2!! I'm glad he's gorgeous and wonderful - do you feel complete as a family now? My DD is 16 months and wakes up about 6 times a night, sometimes more, for a quick comfort breastfeed and has developed a fear of her cot (she starts shaking and just looks terrified if you try and put her in one) so she hogs our bed and we're all exhausted. We're going to try putting her in her own room with a single sized mattress on the floor (and secure/safe room) with bed guards and see how that goes, but may end up getting a sleep consultant. My eye bags are unreal! Anyone else struggling with the nursery bugs? I swear my baby for the first 4 months picked up a new bug once a week! She didn't gain weight for months and was just never herself but we turned a corner in the new year and it's been better. Although I am at home with her today as she has a new sickness bug!

@Gardenlady543 another baby!!!!! Amazing. Massive news - do you know if the baby is a girl or boy? Where is your surrogate based? My dd only started walking at 15 months, and is loving toddling about now.

@AM08 you have to do what works for your family. I found it too hard taking my baby out and about on my own as she hates cars and push chairs, and I just found it too stressful. Much easier when there's someone there to share carrying the baby etc.

Congratulations @Sar1010

@Spin101 it seems most of us are struggling with the sleep! Good job they're so cute to make up for it.

@thislittlebird time goes so fast doesn't it. Enjoy that precious mat leave.

Love to all

@thislittlebird so lovely to hear from you. Amazing that Eliza sleeps so well. I took Leo to soft play pretty young but mostly because I was talking DD. I'd say he started actually enjoying it once he was a confident walker!

@seven201 if you want me to connect you to my sleep consultant I'd be happy to. I'll DM you her website anyway and you can decide. It's all on the phone anyway so don't think distance would matter.

And yes, we do feel complete as a family. I don't crave babies like I did before although, knowing he's my last, I do get quite soppy over little babies when I see them! Leo gets all the bugs too btw!

@Spin101 lovely to hear from you too! 11 months goes so fast. Sounds like she is doing great!

@seven201 oh apparently I can't DM people at the moment! But I'm sure there are plenty of other sleep consultants too

@Janefx40 I’m so glad that her advice has worked for you and Leo - she sounds great! Thank you for sharing the advice, some food for thought. Do you have any tips on stopping night feeds? Right now we’re ok sleep wise but if we need someone to help I might reach out for their details (right now I’m a little reluctant as we paid for quite a well known sleep consultant and she wasn’t our cup of tea, very much saying to fill him up with carbs when he was 7 months old and just very rigid.)

@seven201 it definitely seems to be the trick to work around your baby rather than the other way round. Sorry about the nursery bugs - I haven’t went back to work (retraining career wise and thinking of having another little one next year fingers crossed) but my little one seems to catch everything, he’s so vivacious, at the baby groups he just gets up close with everyone and everything and it’s just back to back bugs for us too xx

@AM08 stopping night feeds was easy but I'm not sure Leo really wanted it anyway. It was more my shortcut to getting him back to sleep. I literally just switched feeding to rocking and shhhing. It was only on one particularly bad night that he seemed to want it at which point I switched over with DP. He is that bit older than Noah tho. 21 months when we did the training and that might make a difference.

Hello Ladies. I have dipped in and out of these conversations over the last couple of years. I hope you are all doing well. I had a baby in January last year which was a blessing.

Unfortunately I have been back on the infertility wagon since then with three failed transfers of euploid embryos. I’m now seeing dr Gorgy for immune treatment. Also trying to get my microbiome right. Had three bad results from Emma/alice but finally got my microbiome ok through fertilysis protocol at Christmas from 2 weeks of metronidazole.

I’m due to transfer again in June and I’m considering redoing the 2 week metronidazole course with probiotics and then retesting through fertilysis at start of June to check everything ok. Do people see any issues with taking metronidazole this close to transfer? I understand it spares lactobacillus so hoping it doesn’t wipe them out.

Grateful for any views and @Gardenlady543 i know you have done a lot of research on this topic so would really appreciate any thoughts you have.

Many thanks

Hi everyone :) second baby girl is here, we are out of the country sorting documents to come home.

hi @Diamondpearl123if you know from your tests that you are prone to anaerobic bacteria that metronidazole works for then you could do what I did, I would take 7 days of metronidazole after my period in the cycle before the FET, then daily vaginal probiotic and acid tablets for 7 days. In the FET I took a daily vaginal probiotic, I didn’t take around transfer day. I think maybe a day before and two days after I didn’t take. Then started again. I also took doxycycline 200mg twice a day starting two days before transfer for three days.

@Gardenlady543 thank you so much for responding. I really admire the time you take to help others.

Wow congratulations on the birth of your second daughter, what a blessing. I hope you are enjoying your time with your lovely girls x

Hi guys, completely randomly found this thread!! Delighted to read everyone’s updates’ waves to @Janefx40 😃 I now have a little boy and a little girl. 3 months and 3 years old! I’ll take a DM of that sleep consultant Jane! Little man barely sleeps. We had a v rough ride this pregnancy. Some potential long term impacts for my health. But we are emerging the other side and baby is doing well. Definitely done with IVF and pregnancy for us. Glad to be done tbh.

congrats on the new arrival @Gardenlady543

@Gardenlady543 congratulations! Amazing news!! I hope you and your girls are well

Thanks guys :) @Dochas12111 congratulations on your little one! Sorry to hear about the health implications.

Having a newborn again is so nice, I don’t want it to be the last time :( I have 5 more euploid embryos scattered in 3 different counties! I’ll need to decide in the future if I want to try with them and if I do if I want to do surrogacy or try in me again. I had a scan a few months ago and I have a small c section niche and there’s fluid in the uterus from that. I think @seven201 that you had this and was treated by Dr Lower. So there is surgery in my future if I do want to try and then all the immune treatment again. One things for sure I can’t afford either option for a long time!

@Gardenlady543congratulations! So excited for you. Enjoy the new baby cuddles.

@Dochas12111congrats to you too. Sorry I don’t check in and often so only just seen this. Sorry you’ve had some health issues. Hope you’re doing ok now.