[aphelendra]

Hello delibelly!

Nausea sucks sucks sucks sucks. The only thing I found very helpful (besides not listening to everyone' very silly suggestions, ha ha) was eating constantly, mostly carb-y things. Anyway, I gained 13 pounds in my first trimester, mostly by way of bagels, so maybe I'm not the lady to take advice from.

I do second the saltines in the morning advice, for what it's worth. A nurse at my doc's office also suggested eating a cracker every time I got up to pee in the middle of the night (which was many many times), this seemed to help with morning queasies. Although more than once I woke up with half a soggy saltine in my mouth. Yuck.

Zelda - I remember my mom had skin tags with her last pregnancy. I remember this because she took me with her to have them removed, and it was kind of bizarre. The dermatologist used some sort of stringy device to remove them, which again, was kind of bizarre to watch, but it didn't appear to hurt her very much. Take all this with a grain of salt though, the perceptions of a seven year old probably aren't the most reliable . . . .

p.s. - I take your seven pound weight gain in a month and raise you three pounds . . . sigh. I was doing better, swimming every day and all, but then I got a stupid cold and haven't exercised in days. And why is it that pregnancy + hunger = reckless abandon when it comes to food? Ok, maybe not reckless abandon, but I certainly didn't need that rather thick slice of coffee cake a half hour before bed.

Cristine - I agree! I am way the hell too young to know all this and I wish I didn't have to. On the up side, I had to give an oral presentation on some aspect of medical technology last semester for one of my bio classes. Guess who didn't have to do an ounce of research and still got an A? Mr A said to me, just explain all this stuff to them like you explained it to me . . . .

Michelina - Good luck this cycle!

I'm off to sleepy town. Thanks for all the well wishes and sending the good vibes out to all . . . .

[eyelet]

delibelly-just popping in to say that when I was on this board in early pregnancy in late '08, I was the only one who seemed to have nausea. It was all day and terrible and nothing helped. I got to the point where I only ate packaged peanut butter crackers (not healthy), bananas, and lemonade or sprite with crushed ice. To avoid gaining too much weight like I did, you might try saltines or wheat thins with a thin layer of PB and fizzy water with lemon instead of Sprite. My nausea came to a sudden halt at 12 weeks (or maybe it was 14, can't say for sure now). It was wondrous.

zelda-I had skin tags all over too. They went away after the birth in a matter of days. Try keeping that nipple moisturized with oil. I used almond oil all over breasts and belly the whole pregnancy and don't have a single stretch mark (but I think that's genetic and compensation for how bad I had the nausea).

[zelda]

Hello everyone and welcome delibelly...you are totally welcome to post here. There are new moms, pregnant ladies, ladies TTC or adopt...just come on in. As long as you don't talk about baby dust. ;-)

I'm 33, pregnant with my first and am at 25 weeks. Didn't ever have nausea (don't hate me)...my aunt swore by eating saltines before she ever got out of bed in the morning. Hopefully it will pass soon.

Hope everyone is doing well. Ponyo/Elliott is doing great and kicking a lot. It is such a comforting feeling!

I have one weird and annoying symptom that popped up this week. I've been getting skin tags (common in pregnancy) under my armpits. Now I have one on my left nipple and it is irritated and itches a LOT. I mean, my nipple HURTS. Not sure what I should put on it or do...right now I am just walking around without a bra or top and letting it air out...and when you have inflated pregnancy boobs, that's not necessarily a comfortable look.

Oh well...if it doesn't go away by next week, I'll call the doctor.

I'm worrying about my weight gain...I don't feel like I've cut back this month at all despite the 7 pound weight gain and my doctor's (nice) suggestion to slow down. I've upped my prenatal workouts, but dang my sweet tooth is constantly in overdrive and the Girl Scout cookies we have in the house do not help!

Glad to see so many new names and faces on this thread...laurenz, hope to hear good news from you soon! It's so hard to not test early...my advice is if you can hold out, do it...the first two months of TTC, I tested early multiple times and drove myself nuts. I always found getting my period (as depressing as it was) to be a million times easier to take than a negative test. Good luck!

[delibelly]

About 7 1/2 weeks pregnant w/ no. 2. So many people here trying so hard to get pregnant, I wish you all luck. Probably the last thing you want to hear is my moaning but I came here to introduce myself and to unload:


Waaaaaaah! Hour upon hour of nausea every day! Waaaaaaaah! Headaches! Waaaah!


That should do it. Feeling sorry for myself today. I feel fucking awful.

Much non-nauseous pregnancy vibes for everyone!

[Michelina]

Aphelendra, thank you for your words - they were very comforting. You are right - we will all get there in our own way at some time. You write beautifully, by the way.

Fookie, it sounds like things are really advancing for you guys. I know there could still be a significant wait now, but it seems like that is not necessarily the case. Can't wait to hear your news!

Yumyum, great to hear from you. Can't believe you are almost at the end of your pregnancy already. I look forward to hearing your news too!

Lauren, sounds very optimistic. Please keep us posted. Thinking of you.

Sib, thanks for popping in. I still need to look that up. But whatever will help Mr. M's swimmers sounds good to me.

Zelda, I too think Elliott is a great name. I also am reminded of the boy from ET. That is the first movie I remember watching and I was obsessed with it as a child. I also like it because it is neither really common nor really obscure. I imagine most could pronounce and spell it no prob. How is the nursery coming?

Cristine, Mr M and I use preseed. I really like it. I have other lube for non-fertile times and it really sucks compared to the preseed. I think it's worth the extra money. I hope you shake that cold soon.

Nickclick, how are you?

Guess I don't need to worry about preseed anymore now that babymaking is being attempted in the clinic! I am quite anxious to get into my doctor next week. Our plan is to get another sperm analysis, start Clomid this cycle with IUI, switch to injectables for a cycle or two, then get to the IVF clinic. I figure 3 attempts is enough. I just don't think I can handle a ton of IUIs, especially considering that I will now be super stressed about the count each time going in. We would like to start IVF this summer because Mr M doesn't have school. But we really cannot plan everything. I had to remind myself of that several times last night while we were talking about it. So much depends on the waiting list, where my cycle is, the fact that we have some holidays this summer, etc. It may not start at an ideal time, but we need to just go with it. Trying not to be a Type A planner right now and just see what happens.

[yumyum]

Christine- Me too (regarding the preseed). Just be carefull what you take for your cold- decongestants can dry up your cervical fluid. I tried Guaifenesin a few cycles, but not the one I conceived in. I say it's worth a shot!

Just wanted to pop in and say "hi" to everyone. I'm still around, just not posting much these days. I'm 33 weeks and 4 days today. Baby seems to be doing well, and I am tired. Welcome aphelendra!

[zelda]

Much more later, but wanted to answer Cristine's question...yes, we used Preseed every month we TTC.

[Cristine]

Aphelendra, you know so much more than you should have to at your age... thanks so much for posting here & congratulations on your little buggo!

Michelina, how are you doing?

I tried to post yesterday and I guess it's a good thing it didn't work cuz I was in such a shitty mood yesterday. So today is my first peak day, but wouldn't you know, I started to get a cold last night! I feel like crap today and I'm sure that won't be better by tomorrow. But the fight must go on! So it looks like Mr. C (who gave me the cold & is now over it) will be doing all the work this round! And I've never tried the Guaifenesin experiment but it looks like I actually have reason to this time.

Zelda, one question, did you use PreSeed the month you conceived? I hope all is well with little Ponyo!

[aphelendra]

Yay for the crazy ladies trying to get preggers before 25!!!!!

I hope your test goes well, it sounds like something is going on . . . .

I had all kinds of crazy symptoms that started a good few days before my RE actually tested me.

Good luck!!!!!!

[Laurenzorro]

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since I've posted, been trying to keep a low profile and not think about the 'getting pregnant' thing too much lately but have still been checking in to see how you all are!

Although, I reappear now because I am due to test the day after tomorrow...this has been a funny month, we had sex about 4 days before I O'd so I thought it was a no go. BUT THEN all sorts of irregular signs keep popping up.... cm didn't dry up after ovulation, nipples so sensitive they hurt under the shower, pulling cramps, constipation, headaches for the past few days and when I woke up the other morning I almost fainted! Had to lie down on the floor for 5 minutes till it passed. Very strange as most of these things never/rarely happen to me. Anyway, so I had another temp spike a few days ago and it has stayed unusually high even though I took it at 6am today....rather than 8am or so.

I'm trying desperately to resist doing a test NOW because I know it may end in a sad night for me!....plus I kind of want to hold off until at least saturday so that I know I'm not testing too early. The disappointment is always so much worse when you convince yourself that this HAS TO BE IT!

Anyway, it's driving me crazy....I find myself just staring at my chart hoping something will jump out at me that is painfully obvious just so I can figure out what happens next!

Aphelendra, welcome! I love your posts, you have a great way with words! It's nice to know that other people under 25 want babies too!

Michelina, I'm sorry things haven't been progressing much for you this month. It's important to remain positive and know that it will happen for you, sometimes it just takes a bit of time. I can't even imagine the amount of love you will have for your future child after having gone through such a process to get to there.

[Fookie]

Aphelendra, thank you. That was really sweet. Made me cry at work

Funny and Zelda, thanks for the advice and perspective. At this point, despite our amazing adoption profile book, we've decided to step back from private adoption and see what happens via the public route. So it won't be so much about a birth parent choosing us, but about the children's aid society deeming us to be a good fit with a child under 18 months (that's our age request).

Basically what will happen is that we'll be presented with a profile. We can decide to say no thanks, get more info, or go ahead. So we'll see how it goes.

Zelda, did I mention yet how much I love the name Elliott? It's great in English and French, which is something I always think about

[Lunalu]

Hello Michelina,

I'm not new to the bust lounge, and i have been following all the pregnancy discussion and everything so i feel like I know most of you, I just haven't had the chance to contribute to it, as I'm not planning a pregnancy in near future for health reasons, but anyway I just wanted to drop in and say that I heard from my naturapath that bee pollen has amazing effects on men's health and especially in increasing sperm count. I thought I would just lurk in and let you know. Good luck!

Thanks for the support. This has hit us hard and it's so nice to have a place to talk (write) about it.

Mr M and I talked about the analysis yesterday. He feels pretty down about it. We are puzzled about it, but because his count was not much above the lower limit of normal on the first analysis, I am not all that surprised about the number. The motility drop is much more puzzling. I suggested that Mr M quit tobacco altogether and order some weed. I suggested that he just smoke a tiny bit to take the edge off. It seems to me that 2 hoots of weed is better than 4 or 5 cigs per day. He is going to think about it, and has already committed to weaning himself on cigs. It doesn't explain everything, but it's a start. And like you say, Zelda, maybe it was just an outlier and does not truly reflect his swimmers. My bet is that the next count will be around 20 - just right on the border.

I have this feeling that we are both subfertile. Two subfertile people = infertility. If one of us was super fertile, we may have had a little one on the way by now.

I am going to suggest another analysis before we head out on our vacation. Now that we are followed in the clinic, we'll get same day results. That way I'll know if it's any use to go on Clomid next cycle. If the next count and motility are still that low, let's just get that referral and get going.

I would have gone ballistic if we had this news last summer. But now that we are one year in, a part of me feels some relief and wants this to be a sperm issue. We both agreed that it's better to be Mr M than me who has the "problem" as this is remedied easily with IVF. He also wants to do everything we can to get our baby while maintaining our sanity.

Funnybird, if you are concerned and it's on your mind, I don't see why Mr F shouldn't be able to have another analysis. It makes sense after all you have been through. If there are issues, it's so much better to know about it.

[nickclick]

aphelendra, thanks for the kind words and happy tears!

[aphelendra]

Hello all!

First off, I totally feel everyone who's TTC and having trouble being around babies/baby stuff. In the the year and a half between finding out I had endo and actually conceiving the bug, I had three friends become pregnant by accident. What do you mean you made a baby by accident!?!? What is that?!?!?

It took me one surgery, one excruciating recovery, the hardest decision I ever had to make, a million ultrasounds, needle pokes and gross lozenges, giving up what was left of my youth, and thousands of dollars to do something that you did WITHOUT EVEN TRYING!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. I will now collect myself. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Fookie - I am so excited to hear that everything is proceeding on your road to mommyhood! Mr. A and I hope very much to adopt at least once after the bio babe, even if it turns out we can conceive again. It sounds like such an amazing process and I am so excited to be able to follow your story.
Don't worry too much about accepting/not accepting a babe at this point. I can imagine that the right decision will feel right and therefore be ok . . . .And who knows, it very well may be a dilemma you aren't even faced with . . . .

Zelda - I love love love Elliot! And I love a green nursery, I think that's what we're going for, boy or girl . . . .

Funnybird - I have to second the info on sperm counts. Mr. A had slightly below normal motility (I forget exact percentage) at his first SA and it wasn't looking too promising, possibly due to a pretty substantial varicocele (seriously, we are ******* 23/24! I have to entertain the possibility that we are just bum models, and should not be procreating anyway . . . .) But on the day of my insemination they were able to inject me with 52 million motile sperm. He more than doubled his motile count. We just lucked out that this was the day we were scheduled for IUI.

We also had a boxer/brief dilemma. Mr. A had a possible brief episode of torsion, and was told by his doc to switch to briefs. We were just beginning to TTC, and I rashly decided that until we had a bun in the oven this was not an option. The Mr. still teases that Buggo could have cost him a testicle!

Nick - Hang in there! Not conceiving after a single month is certainly no reason at all to be concerned but I know it can be a nerve wracking process no matter how far in you are!

And of course to Michelina - I am so so so sorry to hear about the latest bump in the road. But remember, that's all it is, just a bump in the road! Some of us have only a few, and unfortunately some of us have a few more.

I totally understand the urge to move straight to IVF. We were only given six months to try on our own anyway, and there are some people with totally normal reproductive systems that don't conceive in that time frame. I wanted to just skip the heartache of all the negative results and jump straight into IVF. But our doc thought it was worth a shot and we decided to go with his advice, and here we are. We spared ourselves a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of medication. If your doc thinks you have a shot, then you probably do! It's worth a try, even if that's all it is, a try. Your chances with IVF will likely be the same if you wait just a bit longer anyway. And the Clomid round is sure to greatly increase your chances.

For you and funnybird and fookie :

A message from the other side . . . .
I know how much this hurts, but you will be a parent some day and some way, if that is what you truly want. By the time your child is in your belly or your arms so much of this pain will melt away. Some of it feels like a bad dream, and some of it stays with you always. The pain that does stay with you always reminds you how lucky you are. You all are going to treasure the experience of raising your families in a way that I think a lot of people don't get to.

Crap. Now I've made myself ( and Mr A who is hovering over my shoulder) cry.

Wishing you all health, happiness, and babies!

[nickclick]

Elliott is such a great name! i had a major crush on Elliott from E.T.

so one month down. period is due next weekend and i feel cramps and have seen some usual preliminary spotting.

[zelda]

Funny, you are not a sap at all! When we were TTC I couldn't look at baby or maternity clothes...I think it's very human. Architect Boy's numbers sound great...70% motility is excellent...like I said, Mr. Z was 40% which some consider borderline fertile (although his count was very, very high...can't remember now exactly what it was).

To cheer you....had dinner with a dear friend tonight who revealed she is 13 weeks pregnant. She had a miscarriage in early summer and it took about 8 months to conceive again...it had taken about 9 months the first time. I have very good feelings for you...

Fookie, I am so glad you like your practitioner and I echo Funny's suggestion that you talk to your practitioner about your feelings. Remember that the odds are still very high that you will be chosen by a birth mother who is healthy and has a healthy baby. I know it's only natural to jump to a worst case scenario, but I think it's so good that your practitioner said you were so desirable...and I think you need to be kind to yourself. I don't know any pregnant woman who hasn't wondered, "If if found out this baby had a major problem, would I keep it?" In a sense, you are having the same feelings....if you were offered a baby with major issues, would you say yes? But I don't even think it will come to that...and if it does, I trust you and Mr. Fookie and your great relationship will set a great foundation for answering that question in a loving and honest way.

Michelina, I am curious what Mr. M's counts will be the next time...I'm glad you can get the results so fast. I still have hope this was an anomaly. I've heard caffeine helps also...Mr. Z was drinking a lot of Red Bull when we conceived....I wonder if this helped his motility! Please keep us updated and as always I am thinking good thoughts.

Ponyo/Elliott (we think!) was moving around a lot this morning and is slightly more mellow this evening although he still moves around. I picked out the paint color for the nursery and painted a swatch on the wall...I think it looks pretty nice...it's a pale green. Hopefullly it will look as good when the entire room is painted that color!

[funnybird]

Zelda, AB made three 'deposits', one before the surgery and two after. The first had a count of 19 million/ml, which was apparently very good considering all that was going on down there at the time (plus we hadn't been as abstinent beforehand as recommended). The second was a few weeks after surgery and 22 million/ml, and the last was 17 million/ml. All three had 70% motility. Although the counts were all a bit 'borderline', the Doctor at the sperm bank told AB that they were fine under the circumstances and that his sperm were exceptional swimmers, so I was quite happy. 6 months later I'm not quite so sure...

I'm hoping that the vitamins and cutting back on alcohol will boost things a bit. If I'm still not pregnant by May (12 months since the miscarriage) I'll talk to my GP and hopefully get us started on some tests.

I am reassured to hear from Fookie that counts can vary so much. And nagging our menfolk about taking vitamins has to be great practice for parenthood, right?

Fookie - I can completely understand your concern that being considered open to the possibility of a child with issues might lead you out of your depth (so to speak). Can you talk to your practitioner about this, as it sounds like you have great relationship with her? I'm glad to hear that your and Mr F's awesomeness has been duly noted!

My confession of the day - I ventured in to Baby Gap today to find gifts for my beloved little nephews (aged 4 and 1) but had to leave without buying anything as the the piles on tiny clothes just made my heart hurt too much. Gah, I'm such a sap...

[Fookie]

Hi everyone,

((((Michelina)))) Oh grief, what a blindside! I don't want to give you false hope, and I imagine the clinic could elaborate on possible issues ... but, we did five cycles of back to back IUIs (that means Mr. F. had to provide samples two days in a row each time). So I have 10 points of reference for knowing his sperm count ... and boy was it all over the place. You'd expect that the second day would always have the lowest number, but that wasn't always the case.

Most times the first day he was around 20-30 million after the wash. Second day he would be at around 10-15 million. On one of the cycles he had 13 million the first day and 35 million the second day!!! We were always well over the five million they like to see at minimum, but if you could jump that much either way between days and months ... maybe Mr. M. did just happen to have a really bad random day?

Also, has anyone talked to you about caffeine for motility? We had read about it and been told about it. Mr. F. would down espressos the morning of.

To everyone else out there, our endo told us that for some reason the StressTabs brand of multivitamins for men seemed to improve things on the man's side (Mr. F. had been eager to do something from his part and she'd mentioned to us that in cases with male factor they were recommending this and it wouldn't hurt for him to take it for an extra boost).

We had our last homestudy meeting on Thursday. It went great. Our practitioner loves us and we love her and we're so hopeful. We have decided to try to adopt solely through children's aid for the next year and see where that brings us. There are some things about us that apparently make us desirable and may mean we get matched faster than the wait times they like to state (we have two languages, we're young relative to most couples in the adoption pool, etc.). I am also working through the concept of indebting ourselves for five years to adopt privately. I have issues with this. I'd really rather put that money into an education fund and savings so that we can provide opportunities that i didn't have (i'm not talking about superficial things or extravagant non-superficial things, but something as simple as summer camp) as a child.

We are apparently, though I didn't feel like it, considered to be fairly open to certain issues that can make some infants hard to place. We have incredible benefits, so are very open to anything physical that is thought to be resolvable, and b/c we've both had family members deal successfully with depression, we're more open than most to a birth parent with a history of it. Basically for almost all the questions, we never said "no way" just that we'd consider it depending on the amount of details and info available concerning whatever issue it was that they needed us to think about.

So.... on the one hand I'm optimistic, on the other I guess I'm worried that we'll only be thought of for issues other won't consider and since I don't feel like we're all that open I'm terrified of having to say "no thanks" and live with the consequences of knowing that we turned a baby away. (and i KNOW that we don't have to feel guilt for a number of reasons, i just feel horrified knowing that after everything we've been through it is very likely that we will be put in a situation of having to say "no" or consider saying "no" to finally having a child).

Wishing you all the best.

[Michelina]

Thanks for the support. This has hit us hard and it's so nice to have a place to talk (write) about it.

Mr M and I talked about the analysis yesterday. He feels pretty down about it. We are puzzled about it, but because his count was not much above the lower limit of normal on the first analysis, I am not all that surprised about the number. The motility drop is much more puzzling. I suggested that Mr M quit tobacco altogether and order some weed. I suggested that he just smoke a tiny bit to take the edge off. It seems to me that 2 hoots of weed is better than 4 or 5 cigs per day. He is going to think about it, and has already committed to weaning himself on cigs. It doesn't explain everything, but it's a start. And like you say, Zelda, maybe it was just an outlier and does not truly reflect his swimmers. My bet is that the next count will be around 20 - just right on the border.

I have this feeling that we are both subfertile. Two subfertile people = infertility. If one of us was super fertile, we may have had a little one on the way by now.

I am going to suggest another analysis before we head out on our vacation. Now that we are followed in the clinic, we'll get same day results. That way I'll know if it's any use to go on Clomid next cycle. If the next count and motility are still that low, let's just get that referral and get going.

I would have gone ballistic if we had this news last summer. But now that we are one year in, a part of me feels some relief and wants this to be a sperm issue. We both agreed that it's better to be Mr M than me who has the "problem" as this is remedied easily with IVF. He also wants to do everything we can to get our baby while maintaining our sanity.

Funnybird, if you are concerned and it's on your mind, I don't see why Mr F shouldn't be able to have another analysis. It makes sense after all you have been through. If there are issues, it's so much better to know about it.

[zelda]

I, too, am confused by Mr. M's results since he had normal ones the first time around. I remember with Mr. Z, the clinic wanted to do two SA tests even though his first results came back normal. (We never did the second test because we conceived...now I'm sort of wondering what the results would have been!)

I read around that time that it is very common to do two tests because of anomalies in men's sperm. I read that when a man has a normal first SA, the second test is sometimes skipped because it is really rare for a man with "bad" sperm to have a random good day...however it is MUCH more likely for a man with healthy, normal sperm to have a random "bad" day...so if they test you once and you have a bad result the first time but a normal result the second time, they can be pretty sure the first test result was just a fluke.

It still seems like this is what could have happened with Mr. M. It seems much more likely that this is the case than that smoking a few cigarettes having such an impact.

Funny, was Mr. F tested after his treatment? It might give you peace of mind to know his current results. I ran around after Mr. Z with vitamins, too!!!

Ultimately, Michelina, Mr. M is making sperm and some are viable. This is still good news as some men literally don't make any (although I've heard even THOSE men can be helped with sperm retrieval surgery where they go into the testicles and get some oh my God I cannot believe I know this). ANYWAY, Mr. M is making and delivering some viable sperm, and that is good....I look forward to hearing what your doc says about IVF.

Thinking about you and still believing you will have your baby soon...