First time IVF - Started Lupron last Thurs - Would Love some Buddies

[ERosePW]

ERose-Can I still be hanging out and fabulous? I feel like I'm not a part of the group.

Of course!! Sorry, Love... I was recalling an old note you sent me a while back telling me to just take you off. I should've checked first. Happy to put you back on!! You'll always be part of the group. It would NOT be the same without you.

 

[beaglemom]

Terri I don't think it's possible for you to not be fabulous It's also impossible for us to know think of you as part of the group.

 

[LadySosa]

Hey ladies! Terri of course u are a part of the group!! We would not be the same without you.

Today was my 20 week scan and everything went well! It was so fun to see her tiny feet and fingers and toes! Erin, it's a girl, we found out a few weeks ago during an elective ultrasound. Today just confirmed it (thankfully!). We did end up getting the blood test (I think the Harmony test) since they said even w the PGS there is a slight chance of Down's syndrome that a blood test should rule out, so we just went ahead w it. Now that it all feels real we are moving forward w the nursery decorations and planning for daycare. We need to crunch the numbers and see how the costs will fit in our budget.

Amy- thinking of you sweetie! Can't wait for beta #2 tomorrow!! How are you feeling? Has your cold passed yet?

 

[KrissyB]

ER - Good luck house hunting! We love our place too, but we know it's a little small even just for the three of us, so it'd be nice to strike while the interest rates are still low.

Terri - You are absolutely part of the group no matter what!

Lady - Glad to hear the scan went well! And after all we've been through, I think it's well worth it just to be thorough with any testing.

AFM - Had my echocardiogram yesterday. It was perfect - her growth is fine, her heart is fine, and my blood placental blood flow is fine. It was the first appointment I think I've gone to this entire pregnancy where we had the scan and the doctor came in to tell us the results and said "Everything is perfectly normal" and then looked at us like "Why are you still here". There was no follow ups, no questions, no worries - just a clean bill of health. It was euphoric

 

[ERosePW]

Krissy, yay on the great appointment and clean bill of health!! I'm sure that's so refreshing! I'm so glad.

You're so right about the interest rates... from what i'm hearing, they're expected to rise really soon. I almost feel like we shouldn't be as casual about looking as we have been...

Lady, awesome on the great scan! I know you loved that. Now on to the fun stuff with the nursery!

Amy, are you hanging in there? I'm sure you're on pins and needles waiting for that next beta. I'm sure everything is great though! But just wanted to check on ya.

So I'm starting to get a little antsy... after my maternity leave, and then getting back into the work groove, and now that the holidays are over, all I can think about is when hubby and I can take Owen on a little mini trip. We're meeting my whole family (parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews) in Madeira Beach in July. It's about 3 hrs south of where I live in FL now. My parents are retired, so they pick random places, rent condos, and invite us all to come, haha. That should be a TON of fun. Owen will get to be around all of his cousins in one place, meeting a few of them for the first time. But July is too far away, so I'm thinking I might go up to see them in KY first in the spring. Hubby won't be able to make that trip though, so I'm not sure if I'll make the super long drive, or just fly. The babies fly free until they're 2 anyway...

 

[beaglemom]

Erin I don't know how owen is but I would not drive that far on my own. You would have to stop for diaper changes and feedings. It would add a lot to your drive. I personally would fly if you had to do a solo trip.

I keep thinking of our first family vacation. So exciting. It will be labor day week. Two years ago for the same trip was my first commits cycle.

 

[ERosePW]

Erin I don't know how owen is but I would not drive that far on my own. You would have to stop for diaper changes and feedings. It would add a lot to your drive. I personally would fly if you had to do a solo trip.

I keep thinking of our first family vacation. So exciting. It will be labor day week. Two years ago for the same trip was my first commits cycle.

Yep, it would def add a couple of hours to the trip, so it would be one of those things where I take my time getting there and not stress about being there by a certain time. I'd likely break the trip up over night as well. My sister has already done the drive w/ both her babies... the first was 6 months old a few yrs ago, and the second was just last month and she was 5 mths old. If I make the drive up there in April/May timeframe, Owen will be 8-9 mths old, so probably a little easier than if I were to make the trip right now. Now, she did have her DH w/ her, but that doesn't change how often she would've had to stop for diaper changes and feeding. It just made pumping gas and checking into a hotel easier. That said, what i dont know is whether or not Owen will hate a car ride... I've seen some babies who hate cars and scream for hours, and i've seen others who are pretty chill and then sleep for hours. I don't know what kind of baby he'll be by that age, so I'll make up my mind closer to time. If I fly, I'm lucky because I dont have to drag a car seat and Pack N Play with me.... my parents have had 6 other grandbabies, one of which was just born a couple months before Owen. They have an extra car seat and Pack N Play and high chair and everything I'd need.

 

[Amy1976]

I just got my second beta results back and they were 5,582 That's a 41 hour doubling rate YAY!! My ultrasound is scheduled for next Wednesday. I'll be 6w4d.

Erin - It was so good to hear from you. I'm so glad you and baby Owen are doing well and that he adjusted so well to you going back to work. My update for the front page would be FET on 12/17/15 and BFP on 12/24/15 HPT (7dp5dt).

Beaglemom - The only thing I've heard for baby's getting shots is to give baby Motrin or baby Tylenol about 45 mins before the appointment. Not sure how well it works though. Thanks for all the info on the breast pumps. That is really good info to know.

LadySosa - Congratulations on your 20-week scan. I'm so happy for you. I can't believe you're half way there already. Now the fun decorating begins!!

KrissyB - Congratulations on your echocardiogram. I'm so glad everything looked great and that you and baby are doing good.

Terri - YOU are one of the best parts of this group!

Hi to everyone else. I hope everyone had a great New Year.

AFM - Today is the first day I feel 100% back to normal. I was knocked on my ass for a whole week there. I tried really hard but after the first two days I gave in and took cold medicine. I was SOO congested I could not breathe. My nose was so congested yet it kept running, then I kept sneezing, the sneezing stopped and then I started coughing. UGH! I finally told DH, I can't take it, you're going to have to go get me something. I only took it a few times so I'm sure it will be ok.

 

[kfs1]

Amy - Wooohooo. Congratulations! Such a great beta. You must feel such relief. Glad to hear that you're feeling better.

Krissy/Lady - Congratulations on the great appointments. So nice to hear!

Erose - So good to hear from you. Love the new pic of Owen - such a cutie!

Beagle - Adeline has had 2 set of shots and both times, I gave her tylenol right when we got home and then right before bed and she seemed to be OK. She was definitely mushy and her cry was different (so heartbreaking) but it seemed to keep her fever down and helped her to sleep.

Terri - Of course you're still part of this group, girl!!!!!!!!!! We'd come and find you if you disappeared.

Not much to report here ladies. It was so nice having off for the holidays so I'm still adjusting to being back at work. Adeline has another cold but I guess that's just how it's going to be with her being in daycare during the winter, right? Other than that, just living life and trying to save for a house. We're in a rental still and it's just a little lake bungalow so we reaaallly need to watch our spending so we can buy within the next year or two. That said, we're going through yet another re-org where I work (just had one back in 2013) so I'm praying that I won't lose my job. I really hate working for a big corporation sometimes.

Here's a pic of Adeline from Christmas.

 

[Babywhisperer]

Amy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so flippin happy for you! Great beta! I hope it's smooth sailing from here on. xo

Lady I'm glad you're 20 week appt went well and all is going great. What a relief it is after that appt....it took most of my anxiety away from that point on.

krissy I'm happy the echo was normal. I loved feeling the baby move. it made me feel like everything was as it should be. Happy to hear you're feeling good.

I love seeing all the pics of the perfect babies on here. I hope it continues to be a blessed thread.

Afm life is good and busy. We had Jack's 2nd bday party which I cooked and baked for on the 19th and boom Christmas. I got 90% of my cards out on time, the others well, I just don't care. I've let it go and promise to be better next year. Jack is talking more and is obsessed with rockets, space, the moon and all the things he can't/shouldn't have his little hands on. Emma is great, she's laughing a lot and such a sweet baby. She stares at me and cranes her neck to see where I go. We fed her cereal this weekend and she loved it. I can't believe how fast it's going this time around. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's.

 

[Babywhisperer]

Totally her dad

 

[terripeachy]

Congrats Amy!! That is wonderful news...I bet the wait was terrible especially considering you felt like you got hit by a truck. When is your next test/checkup? I can't remember whether you know the sex or not at this point. Anyway, I'm eager to hear about everything.

BabyW-Emma looks adorable. She looks very similar to Jack as well, and happy birthday to him.

kfs1-YUck...layoffs. Why do they do that at the beginning of the year? I hope you are not on the list, and I hope you andyour DH can get some money saved for a house. Are you thinking new, or new to you? Thanks for sharing Adeline's picture. What a doll.

AFM-I just spent a ton on shoes and they were delivered today. The end. HA!!HA!!

 

[ERosePW]

Hi babyW! Emma is SOO stinking cute! I can't believe how fast all the babies are growing! And I'm glad you didn't stress over the xmas cards... I barely got mine out just in time, which is sad considering I have Shutterfly do it all (even addressing and mailing).

kfs, HI! Adeline is beautiful. What a pretty little dress she has on. So cute. Fingers crossed no layoff for you... sorry to hear you have to stress over that right now. Btw, Owen has had a cold for a while now too... It seemed to hang on for weeks, and then we went in for his 4-mth checkup and he had an ear infection. He didn't have any symptoms of an ear infection at all, so that surprised me... anyway, ear infection is gone, and the cold is finally a lot better too. I've been giving him Hyland's Baby Vitamin C tabs in his bottles, but who really knows if that helped or not.

terri, what kind of shoes did you get?? I love some shoe shopping!

Amy, congrats on the great beta! Thanks for your info, I'll update you on the front page. I'm sorry you were so sick. That makes things so miserable! I got a slight cold while Owen was sick, but it only lasted 2-3 days, thank goodness. I hate being sick.

beagle, we didn't have any fever or fussiness or anything after Owen's 2-month vaccines. He slept more that day, but that was it. With his 4-mth vaccines, we still didn't have any fever... but he was fussy all day long afterward. I think he might've had some aching at the injection site that time. The nurse didn't seem as good the second time as the first time, so maybe that had something to do with it, I'm not sure. He was fine again by about 7pm. And yes, I think you can feed them to soothe them, but not sure if its during or just immediately after... I'm sure they'd let you if you want to. We didn't need to do anything like that though, because he only cried for a minute and then was smiling again.

 

[ERosePW]

Oh beagle, one more thing... one of the vaccines is oral, so if you do choose to feed to soothe, you'd have to let them do that one first. They usually do that one first anyway, just to get it out of the way before they start crying. Or at least, I'm assuming all doctors use the same oral vaccines...?

Too bad they aren't all oral... sure would be easier on the babies, and the moms!

 

[beaglemom]

So Derek weighs 15 lbs & is 24 inches long! Big boy! He did fine with his shots. The oral was fine & the first shot was fine. The second shot was bad. I just decided I would feed him immediately after. But honestly he seemed to calm down pretty quickly. I still nursed him for a few minutes though. We stopped by a couple of stores quickly & then went home. He mostly slept. I had forgotten all about Tylenol. I wish I had remembered to bring some with me to give him immediately after. On the way home he cried a couple of times & you could tell it was a different type of cry. So I just sat in back with him & talked to him. I gave him Tylenol when we got home. He seems fine.

 

[Amy1976]

I LOVE all the baby pictures. They are all SO cute!!

Terri - My first ultrasound is scheduled for next Wednesday. We transferred two embryos, one boy and one girl, so we have no idea what the sex is for now (unless there's twins lol).

 

[sars930]

Amy, what wonderful news! I'm so thrilled for you. Can't wait to see how the ultrasound goes. I've been following along although I haven't been posting.

Erin, it is wonderful to hear how great your transition back to work has been. I loved my job before I got pregnant. Some changes in the last year have me wishy, washy and I'm curious to see how I feel going back.

Krissy, that's wonderful everything looked great. I hear you on the interest rates and being able to move more easily now.Your daughter is so adorable in your profile photo.

Terri, how is the marathon training going?

KFS: Adeline is so, so beautiful! Praying for you that you're unscathed in this new reorg. I've been through too many of those in recent years.

LadySosa: I can't believe you're already halfway there!

Beagle: So glad to hear you love the Spectra! I have the S1. My insurance covered the S2 and I paid (I think) $75 to upgrade to the S1, which has a battery, so it doesn't need to be plugged in. I'm still EBF and pumping and I can't speak highly enough about it.I had 3.5 ounces tonight after 8 minutes. I hope your transition back to breast feeding works out well. I have to say despite the trouble I had at first, breastfeeding is one of my favorite parts of motherhood. Our daycare strongly recommends doing a trial run or 5 (haha) about a week before you return to work. That way you can work out any hiccups in the AM routine and sob alone in the comfort of your home.

It is funny how busy being home with a baby is. I so rarely feel like I have a moment to check in here and I miss you ladies. Bri is continuing to be such a wonderful easy baby. But over the holidays with all of our travel he has started boycotting naps at home. He slept 45 minutes for me this morning but four hours when I took him out in his car seat today, ran errands and came home. He's sleeping great at night, waking once around 4 a.m. to feed, but he's fighting the naps and getting really fussy. He's practically sitting up on his own and full of laughs and smiles (they're just the best)

I asked to extend my maternity leave (unpaid) until Jan. 28 and it was approved. I'm feeling much more at peace about returning to work then. I thought I had to go back Jan. 8. I was wrong it was the 15th but I feel better about 1/28. It is a Thursday so I have a short week. Then DH is taking the next two weeks off and he'll start day care mid-February.

If all of this wasn't enough of a change. We bought a new house! We're currently in a row home and we bought a single family home two blocks away. It's about 2,200 square feet, 4 bedrooms (plus a bonus finished third floor room that could be a bedroom), 1.5 bath with a 2 car garage in the rear and a fenced-in backyard. We're still in our little city and it's the best of everything. We have the inspection Friday and close Feb. 19. It was a whirlwind.

We saw it right before Xmas but the second floor needed a lot more work than anticipated (no photos in the listing). We were a bit disappointed, so we held off. But we went back to see it this Saturday.

I really wanted to put in an offer but DH was on the fence, not so much about the house, more so he idea of moving with a newborn. He got on board Sunday afternoon but by the time our realtor reached out there was another offer. Our realtor made a verbal offer, which they turned down.

The next morning we get a call that the deal is going south and they want us to submit a formal offer. To complicate things, our realtor's mom died and we, understandably, are dealing with a new agent, who never has seen the house. We go see it, he agrees we should stick with our Sunday offer but suggests adding in an escalation clause. I'd never heard of this but it is how we got the house.

We made our initial offer but agreed to beat the other offer on the table by $1,000 up to a set threshold. We offered a 45-day close, $5K in earnest money and were putting 20 percent down. The other realtor indicated negotiations were hung up on a seller-assist on the closing costs. The escalation clause uses the net offer (offer-less closing cost request etc.) from the other potential buyer. While the other buyer's offer was $10K above ours, when you factored in the closing cost assist they were only $2,000 above us and they were only putting 5 percent down. So, we got the house for $3K more than we initially offered and almost $12K below what we were willing to pay.

I went from total mourning over the house to total joy in less than 24 hours. It's been an emotional roller coaster. And I really feel bad for the other potential buyers in all of this having experienced losing this house emotionally myself.

The one nice thing is that the sellers, who are getting divorced, responded to the letter we wrote them. They said they were moved and were very happy that we were ending up with their home.

So, if a new baby and going back to work weren't enough, I'm going to try to sell our house, renovate the second floor of this house and move! Wish me luck =) I really am going to try to be better about checking in here!

 

[ERosePW]

beagle, I'm glad Derek did well with his vaccines. And yes, he's such a big boy! Owen is big for his age, but Derek is really up there! Maybe he'll be a professional athlete.

sars, congrats on the house! I get excited just reading your post because I know what a happy time it is to find a house you love and get it! Good for you guys. Keep us posted on the moving progress... it might be a tad chaotic with a newborn, but it will be so fun and exciting, you probably won't even care.

Amy, I can't wait for your u/s! And you could SO easily have twins in there. I hope it is. We did have one twin pregnancy on here (knitgirl) a while back, but I dont think we've heard from her in a very, very long time, so we never found out the gender(s) or how things turned out, so I removed her from the front page. So you would have our first set of twins if it is.

So girls, after updating the front page, I realized we don't have anymore IVF cycles or transfers. Does anyone think the administrators might, at some point, make us leave the TTC forums and go to the pregnancy/baby forums? Or should we anyway? Out of respect for the TTCers? I don't really know, but you guys tell me your thoughts. I thought about moving us over there so we can all stay in touch like this. All of our babies have IVF in common, and I don't know anyone in my non-virtual life who has had IVF, so I really, really want us all to keep in touch. Terri, would you stay with us if we moved to a different forum? Because i'm def not going anywhere without you (for as long as you will have us!).

 

[ERosePW]

terri, i just looked at your journal to find out about your shoes, and I'm super jelly.... LOVE Louboutin.

 

[terripeachy]

I'm fine with moving wherever you guys move, just let me know. I figured sooner or later they would probably move us too, like they did with Oldies but goodies, but who knows.

sars-So good to hear from you.

Amy-Ok..next Wednesday it is!

:wave: to everyone else!