*Assisted conception ladies due Jan/Feb/March 2017*

[Rq120]

Wow Ellie and Fern. Many blessings with the FET and trying for your second baby. I couldn't imagine trying for another right now, but I'm sure my perspective is different with twins. LOL

Finlo is super cute!

We are doing well. I would say we are pretty much settled in our new home but the garage still needs some work.
Claire and Oliver are doing great. Claire started crawling a few weeks after Oliver. Oliver is still a wild thing. We have a baby gate set up in the living room so they don't topple over and hit their head on the tile floor. But Oliver makes a break for it whenever he can and explores the house. He can really book it, and you hear his little hands slapping on the tile as he makes his way through the rooms and down the hallway. It just melts my heart when they crawl to me. Oliver will actually pull himself up on my legs and squeal for me to pick him up.
I would love to take them outside more than I do. However it is very hot here right now and there are a lot of fire ants. I don't want them crawling outside and get a painful ant bite. We do get in the pool and of course they love that.

A bit of an update for me. My endo is what caused my infertility. It was been way better since the pregnancy but I noticed it was (slowly) coming back since birth. I found a really great specialist 2 hours away from me and I'm finally getting the treatment I need. I have surgery scheduled for next month.
Also, my boss originally told me that while I can work from home our goal is to get me transferred to another department that is more suited to work from home. However, my boss has been so happy with my work that I am now safe at my current position. And furthermore, their is opportunity for a promotion.

Here are some 7 month pics.

 

[elliecain]

So cuuuuute!

 

[2have4kids]

Wow, so much news on this thread! I'm very excited for you ladies trying for seconds and RQ glad to hear you're getting treatment and a specialist is close to you. The pics are super cute ladies! Keep them coming!

Our little ladies are battling some sort of Endo virus this week. Teagan is down over a pound and has been having both vomiting and diahrea. Piper just diahrea. I took Teagan into urgent care We'd night and they gave her some anti-nausea meds. They have sort of worked but I think it's been too long with this and took her to get reassessed this morning. They took samples from her and we'll know more tomorrow. I hate to see them sick. MacKinley is learning to talk. She can almost go down stairs without holding a rail. She can say the alphabet and count to 20 ( I sing the alphabet along with her lullabies and we use counting as a sleep aid tool for her). When she can't sleep we can hear her counting lol it's very cute!
Teagan is like your Oliver and can really motor along. She follows me everywhere crawling and strong arming it. She's the smaller twin and really light and strong. Piper is strong but she's almost 2 pounds heavier and not as quick. She's our flirty one, always with huge smiles and loads of chunters. I'm really exhausted every day though from all three. I can't wait for them to all play together and be running around.

They say you never take as many photos with second children and we have made quit an effort to make that untrue for our family. Here are a few recent photos:

 

[Fern81]

So good to hear from all of you!! All the babies are so cute, beautiful and seem so extra special to me- maybe because of how specially they were made ♡♡.

Rq your work situation sounds ideal. I must say while my work is also a bit stressful, it's nice to work from home and have the nanny to help.

So my transfer date is set for next Tuesday! I had no follies so no natural FET cycle; my endometrial layer is thickening though so we can go the same route as ladies with donor eggs and donor embies. We'll test on the 12th and 14th of Sept so I will keep you all updated. Xx

 

[Fern81]

Ellie- good luck ttc to you too! It would be great if we could be bump buddies again!

 

[2have4kids]

Gl Fern!

 

[rebecca822]

So nice to read about all the kiddos, everyone seems to be doing so well!
Rq that's wonderful news about your job I hope you can get the promotion
Good luck fern on your transfer, wow I'm in awe of you!
I hope teagan and piper are feeling better, that can't be pleasant!
Joe and Alisa are great neither of them are crawling yet, but Alisa is close. They don't sit up yet either to we have PT scheduled for tomorrow and we'll see what they say. They babble and smile at everyone and are so adorable and fun.
I'm really struggling to get them on a good meal schedule, any suggestions?! The doctor wants them on 3 solids per day, up until now we've managed to have 1 solid per day. When do I feed them their solids and I'm running out of ideas to feed them, they dislike many of the baby jars. Do you ladies still feed bottles/breast every 3 hours or is it 4 hours now?

 

[froggyfrog]

Hi ladies!!! So glad to hear from everyone!!! It's so crazy how big our babies are getting. Time is flying by!

Rebecca, I just started Gage on his second solid per day. He eats lunch and dinner now. He is still pretty finicky about his bottles in the morning so I'm not sure he would be all that interested in solids for breakfast yet. For the most part he still drinks his bottle every three hours. The exception being night time and when he first wakes up. He sometimes doesn't finish a whole bottle until after lunch. I make his food, it's cheaper and pretty easy. I just purée it and freeze it in ice cube trays. That way I can make endless combinations for him. There are tons of ideas on Pinterest. He is not a fan of jar food. I bought some for a weekend trip thinking it would be easier, but he made faces after every bite. So indeed some cinnamon and mashed a little banana in it and warmed up it and he liked it much better. I'm starting to introduce him to be spices now. He has been getting cinnamon for awhile now. It's a natural anti inflammatory and I'm hoping it helps with his gums!

Gage it sitting up really well, and army crawls now. He is starting to get on his knees a lot more lately. I can see his bottom two teeth right below his gums. Poor guy is miserable so I hope they poke through soon. He is starting to mock us now which is too cute. He will fake a cough if he hears you cough and then start laughing because he knows it's funny lol. Such a clown! He also started shaking his head from side to side if we do it. Good luck to you ladies ttcing!! I hope to see good news on here soon!!!

 

[froggyfrog]

Here is my cutie!

 

[Fern81]

I have a passenger on board! One blastocyst, same grading as baby G had. We'll see if it sticks! The other embie did thaw but was not great quality (12 cell morula) so seeing as we do NOT want to take the chance of having twins, we donated that embie for scientific research. I'm feeling so much calmer and better now that the transfer is done!! All the hormones are not helping my mood swings lol.

Food- my son has a bottle every 4 hrs, 4 bottles total, but he refuses to drink a lot of milk. Then 3 meals, 2 hours between bottles. He eats GREAT. I feed him about 20 different types of food including protein with at least 1 meal; purees, soups, some lumpier than others, etc. To make up for his lack of milk intake, I make sure he gets protein in his meals & I give him a multivit supplement with iron, also omega 3 oil for babies. If he is really bad in drinking his milk I'll give him water with his meals and add milk powder to his food.

Gage is a cutie! My G has no teeth and is not attempting to crawl. He does everything at his own pace but he does it well! So I'm not worried! And his fine hand-eye coordination is amazing. He can pick up small pieces of baby melting biscuits etc. So he is just fine

Can't believe I'm pupo again lol. 32 weeks after G's birth.

 

[froggyfrog]

Ahh!!! So exciting fern! Congrats on being pupo!

So as of two days ago, we have a mobile baby! It's his own version of crawling, but boy is he quick!

 

[Rq120]

So much fun news on this board.

Fern - best of luck! so exciting.

Love the pics. They are all so cute!

2have - hoping your little ones start feeling better!!

Rebecca - Claire and Oliver still eat a full bottle (7oz) about every 3-4 hours. It's usually close to 3 hours. But they go 12 hours without a bottle 7pm to 7am. We are feeding them twice daily but they still don't eat a whole bunch of purees. We have made their food from the beginning. Peas, peaches, plums, sweet potato, yogurt pureed with fruit, green beans, pears, etc. We freeze in ice cube trays as mentioned.

AFM, we have a hurricane on the way...eek. Watching Irma closely to see where she is going to hit. It's a possibility she could come really close to us. I have a work trip planned that doesn't look like it is going to happen. Hubby is at the store right now stocking up on some non-perishables. Our local store is out of water, very low on soup, etc. Last time a hurricane hit this area they were out of power for 17 days. Prayers for everyone in the path and hopefully it will avoid land as much as possible.

 

[Fern81]

Ok so it's over. I got a heavy period at 7dpo. I'm guessing progesterone issues or idk, but we are now a one child family. Lost the embie. I cried my eyes out for hours in the early hours of the morning but then dh and I went to get our son from his crib to cuddle with us in bed, and forced ourselves to think of pros to having just one. Eg we'll have more money to spend on him, can take him on trips even overseas, spoil him rotten, send him to the best schools etc. If I don't try to look at the bright side I will be too horribly sad at losing my last embie and never having a sibling.
My son is clearly a miracle baby. And he is such a great lovie. I mean which other babies smile and laugh at you when they see you first thing in the morning after quietly sttn. He is always smiling. Just had a bad leap at 5 months for about 2 weeks and that was THAT. He'll never have a sibling but he can play with the neighbour's kids and hopefully not feel lonely.

 

[rebecca822]

Fern I'm so sorry! It's very dissapointing I'm sure. You are right to look at the bright side and enjoy your little baby G. There are many wonderful things about being an only child and I'm sure he will appreciate those things.

Rq stay safe from the hurricane! My aunt living in Boca, FL evacuated with her family. They are driving towards Chicago.
My babies also go from 7pm-7am without a bottle and then every 3-4 hours during the day.
So this week we tried a few more food items, yogurt, potato pudding, smashed chick peas, and new varieties of baby pures. Most of the food went over very well! Now I need to start preparing thick soups and freezing them

 

[Fern81]

Thanks rebecca. I admit I'm grieving and cry every morning when I wake up but really to try to appreciate every moment with ds even more now that I know I'll only have one baby.

Rq hope you are ok in the hurricane.

 

[froggyfrog]

Oh fern, I'm so sorry!! It's just not fair! I hope you can find some peace through everything. I'm sure your son will love being an only child, there certainly are perks!

Rq, I hope you are all finding a safe place to go. This thing is scary!

 

[2have4kids]

Hi ladies, Fern I'm so sorry to hear your bad news. I love your attitude though, looking to the positives is the only way to be. Our girls' Godmother only ever determinedly wanted one and it annoys her to no end when ppl ask her are you having another? Not all households need 2 kids! You can be that mom who has all the neighbourhood kids over, you can join different play groups, you'll have more time & energy to invest in his interests, you an certainly travel a whole lot easier. My friend took her son to Germany last spring and Iceland just these past two weeks. Let me tell you she takes full advantage, and being a single mother she's totally inspiring to me. Life is what you make of it and you will be fine because of your glass-half-full attitude. You still need to grieve though, you've had a huge loss. Allow yourself this and treat yourself kindly. Others may want to move on right away but this isn't something many might care so deeply about as a mother would. With each piece if clothing that no longer fits my girls I feel sooooo sad. And most of the time I'm saying to myself how ridiculous I am for feeling this way but it is the closure of a stage in our life. It's nothing compared to the loss you've just had but it still makes me tear up when I put an outgrown baby item in the sell box. Sending you hugs xx

 

[Fern81]

Thanks so much 2have. I know you all understand. I'm grieving much more than I thought I would and sometimes I feel guilty for it (I didn't have a miscarriage or SIDS etc which is so much worse ) but I just grieve for the life that never had a chance to progress. My embie didn't even have the opportunity to try and implant. I am giving myself time to grieve. I look in the mirror every morning and tell myself it will all be OK.
I don't know how I will cope with giving my son's newborn and 0-3mo clothes away, but my cousin needs them so I want to help her.
I'm really glad this FET is over, I was coming apart at the seams. Now to rebuild....

 

[Rq120]

So sorry Fern. I would prob react the same way.

We made it through Hurricane Irma and we are safe and no damage to our home. A big palm tree fell down next door but it didn't hurt their house. We also kept power through it all so I am very thankful.

Claire and Oliver are doing great as always. We started some whole solids this week (ie fruit cut up, puffs, etc). They don't eat very much at a time, but we are trying. They are BOTH cutting teeth this week and will have both their top teeth very soon. One of Claire's actually broke through already and Oliver's are right on the gum line. Oliver is clingy this week but Claire takes it all in stride.

 

[2have4kids]

Rq so glad to hear everyone is ok. I gave money to someone's gofundme who's going over to cuba to help with clean up. They have no power so their food has all gone bad. They're sll awaiting the gov't to fix things as the people have very few resources to work with. I hope this isn't the start of annual monster hurricanes and forest fires. We've had serious snoke air quality all summer. BC is on fire and now the fires from the US has crept into Alberta and has burned our Waterton Parks area. Not good!

Teagan and Piper have been on solids for a month or so now and we'vemanaged to get their night feeds down to every 3-4 hours. Piper is pulling hetsrlf up in her crib and on furniture now getting ready to walk. Teagan still props hetself up with a hand when she sits and is a very very quick crawler. MacKinley's second birthday is at the end of the month and I've done the theme around a dress (sparkly red rose/tea party theme) she'll be wearing. This is by far, the most fun part of the year for me. I love doing the cakes up and decorating the house. This is my fav time and Christmas (even though the hubbie and I are strong Athiests ). I'm making a 16" fondant cake with an 8" second layer (which I'll bring in to my Dad's nursing home for the staff) and some tea cup/pot sugar cookies. This is sort of the cake I'm attempting (see below with a 6" tea pot at the top) except a wider base to feed more people. I learned how to do fondant last year with her first birthday and just love the challenge of designing whatever I want and being able to make it too. I couldn't do anything super fancy last year because I couldn't stand long enough with the twin bump. The girls have a respite lady who's an expert cake maker who gave me a few extra tools and a better recipe this year so I'm grateful for the help. I don't get exciced that often but I'm so looking forward to celebrating this beautiful little cherub's life with our new (and old) friends and family!!