BUMPIN' 08 - Fall Mommies

[TwinMommy]

Michele: TOO CUTE! She is a cutie pie! I would give her a kiss on the cheek if I could!!

[Mellie_1233]

Sorry I don't have time for personals today. We are off to Colorado tonight for our 1-day of diagnostic tests and meetings tomorrow. We'll meet with Dr. Schoolcraft at the end of the day.

I went through my "fertility notebook" last night where I have my documentation on medical stuff. I'll try to compose my questions for Dr. S. sometime tonight, too.

Fortunately, my brother lives in Denver so he will pick us up from the airport and we can stay with him.

We're coming back tomorrow night. Only gone for one day. I'll miss my little sweetie but I know she'll have fun with Grandma.

Please pray for us!

[TwinMommy]

Mellie: GOOD LUCK! Best wishes! Gosh, I can not even imagine another child so soon...I think I might tear my hair out! lol

Any ideas on how to make Brooke nap better? She honestly wakes up after 45 minutes each nap and I either make her cry herself back to sleep (if she is not screaming TOO loud) or I get her up for a bit, let her play, look for sleep cues and put her back to bed. But it is getting old! I mean she has to wake up and burp...she screams until I go in there and burp her. I try to put her back down but she yells so loud she wakes up Kenzie most of the time so I had to stop doing that. There is no room in our apartment to put her anywhere else or I would. So she just does not nap well during the day.

So last night, my husband (he leaves for work at 3:30AM) comes back in the room before leaving and states....MACKENZIE IS ON HER STOMACH! I am like, yeah ok flip her back over....he does that then comes back in...SHE FLIPPED AGAIN!! So I am like ok well go get her crib wedge and put it under her so she will not do it. He does that and I hear him leave for work. 5 seconds later I hear...bababa oooo aahhhh....I am like CRAP he woke her up!! So I go check on her in the living room and sure enough she is awake!! She stayed awake for like 30 minutes. Would not have been bad but he woke me up too with all that commotion! I called and told him that next time, use his head and get the wedge himself or just let her be or do whatever you want to but do not wake me up unless it is an emergency! It takes me FOREVER to fall back asleep!

But here comes the question...should I let her sleep on her stomach? I mean the only thing I have against it is SIDS but I think she has gotten out of the danger zone with that? Also, she can not get herself off her tummy so I am sure when she woke up she would yell at me wanting to get back over onto her back. (She can only do back to tummy...I know she did it backwards than "normal" development).

[tinaO]

Suga - I feel for you! Noah is a poor napper as well. He only naps usually for 45 min as well. He always has! I have gotten used to it because it appears to be all he needs and he isn't fussy. I wish he would go longer, but we just have never been able to get him to take longer ones.

As far as sleeping on the tummy, they really do say that after 2-4 mos, the risk of SIDS is greatly reduced. Once they have the strength to lift their heads and roll over, sleeping on their tummy is supposed to be ok. Noah will not sleep any other way since the beginning of Jan. He only wants to sleep on his tummy! I did buy that monitor that CTMichele stated and we love it. It has given us peace of mind. Rolling over Noah is not an option beause he absolutely won't sleep on his back anymore. Noah can roll both ways, but usually when he wakes up, he just calls for us anyway.

Hi to everyone else! We are going to see a doc for Noah's flat head next week. I am a little worried! Other than that, Noah is doing great. But he woke up screaming at 1 a.m. last night - uuugghhhh!! He seemed hungry, so I gave him a bottle. Oh well.

[KatieG]

Tina im right with you Parker has not been sleeping all night. All the sudden he is waking up at 5 and I was trying for over an hour to get bim back to sleep. Finally we gave him a bottle and he went right back. So after two nights of that I just prepared one and he did fine. I think its just a growth spurt. Hopefully it wont last b/c I was loving the all night sleep the past 2 1/2 months.

Everyone seem to be doing good. Good luck Mellie!!!

[CT_Michele]

Hey Everyone-

Mellie- Good luck in Colorado! I bet we will be cycling pretty close together. As long as I don;t hit any more bumps in the road, I will start stims on 4/10, like 3 weeks away.

Suga- Ella sleeps on her tummy now. I allow it mostly because the monitor that senses motion really does give me the peace of mind too, but I also can't stop her form doing it. Risk of sids is way down now, but I take all other precautions, nothing in the crib at all, keep a fan running in the room, monitor the temp. in the room, and she sleeps with a pacifier. She also did her rolling backwards and way early, she was rolling from back to tummy at around 3 months and from tummy to back around 4 and a half. She sleeps so well on her tummy, makes it 8-10 hours everynight.

She also does not nap well though, and it may be because she is such a good night sleeper. Her naps are usually 45 min- 1 hour. On rare occassions, up to 2 hours, but that is very rare.

Well Ella had her 6 mo appt today, even though she is 6 mo and 3 wks. She weighed 14 lbs 7.5 oz, was 26.5 inches long and her head was 16.75 in. She is in the 25th percentile for weight, 50th for head size and 75th for length. We figured she would be tall since we both are. She had more shots today and of course cried. Dr said everything looks great and gave us the ok to start stage 2 foods and some puffs or cheerios, or the tot teething cookies. Still no sign of teeth for her yet, but she is a crazy drooler.

ok, I am so tired, gotta go get some sleep. I am taking Ella in the morning to go meet with my parents group. We are going to a pottery/ceramic craft place. I think I am going to make something with Ella's hand or foot prints on it to go in her room or the play porch we are working on for her. To all the mommas I missed, hope you and your little ones are doing great...I will catch up with everyone again soon!

[loopie]

Mellie- good luck to you!!!
suga- go with your instinct on the sleep thing- you know the girls- if they flip over, no sense in waking them to put them on their backs again. They are big and strong, and if there isn't anything in the crib that they could choke on , i don't see why you should worry. - pulman has been sleeping on his side from very early on, and i just put him down 1 way or the other so that he doesn't get a flat spot on his noggin.

tina- great to hear from you- sorry about the flat head thing- are they really worried? what will they do for Noah? if he sleeps on his tummy- how did he get a flat head?

kbear- it's spring!!!!! hooray for the vernal equinox!!!! perhaps we can get together in another month or so- as the weather sure doesn't feel like it - i love the giggles and laughs, too!

rio- how's it going?
tammy?
weezie?
katie?
Corny?
Cinci?
Gecko?
Jomae?
kelly?
Sassy?
I'm missing my gals- all too busy with the beans, i guess!!
hope you are all well

pulman is doing great- just fed him his 1st applesauce- he thought it was ok, but he preferred his oatmeal for sure!
he's loving swimming and books, and chewing, and laughing and making this ungodly high squeal that makes me think he's contacting alien life forms- other than that- he's a super sleeper and pretty nice guy!
Ladies- POST MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!!!!!
i'll post some when i get em off the camera

happy EQUINOX!!

loopie

[geckogirl]

Hi Everyone!

I am sorry that I haven't posted in soooo long, but we have been sick, sick, sick, and I am barely keeping my head above water. Declan got sick a week after starting daycare and gave it to DH and I. That was the first week of February. Since then DH and I have been super sick with whatever he gave us - yep, for over 5 weeks. We also got the stomach flu (Dek missed that one), and poor baby has had an ear infection that will NOT go away. He is on his third antibiotic and we have a recheck next Monday. I hope it is gone. The doctor also did a nasal swab to test whatever we all still have and it came back as negative for influenza a and b and RSV. Whew. I guess it is just a really bad cold. DH and I have sinus infections and are on antibiotics too. I am still trying to go to work everyday and thankfully, Dek's daycare takes them sick (as long as they have no fever or something really catchy like chicken pox), otherwise I'd have missed the last month of work.

On a better note, Dek is on to solid food - stage one and cereal and loves it! Last night he acutally slept through the night too. Something that rarely happens anymore. He seems to need a midnight bottle- sometimes two. Perhaps eating the baby food will fill him up more and he will continue to sleep. I sure hope so - it was nice. He is growing lots - 20lbs so far and I think he will be tall. He is already too long for many of the 6-9 month outfits I have for him. The doctor calls him "healthy" lol!

I promise to do personals later and post some updated photos on photobucket. I just bought a new camera so I'm still experimenting.

Happy Friday!

[CT_Michele]

loopie- haha...ella makes that same loud ear piercing shreak...maybe pullman and her are trying to communicate!

gecko- so sorry to hear about everyone being sick. I hope declans ear infection goes away soon. I can't imagine having a really sick baby, even though I am sure it will happen to us sooner or later. Ella got through this whole season with just 2 days worth of sniffles.

Declan definitely sound "healthy." lol...he must be a good eater. I think he is a month younger than ella and has about 6 pounds on her...but it is definitley better to have a healthy eater as opposed to a child who refuses to eat. Hopefully the solids will keep him fuller and you will get him to sleep through the night every night.

Happy spring to everyone. I can not wat for the weather to get really nice so I can start going for some stroller walks on the beach. Talk to you all soon.

[jomae]

Hi Guys
Katie has her first two teeth they've popped in the last day or so she's been off her bottles more than usual and a little grizzly but other wise they didn't bother her too badly. At her 5 month check katie weighed 6.730kilos i don't know what that is in pounds but she's definately feeling heavier. Time is sure flying by. I had Katie on her belly the other day and i noticed her pulling her legs up under her and scooting backwards so possibly crawling won't be far off either then the fun really begins trying to keep them generally in the one place or at least close to where you left them

Gecko sorry to hear about declans ears my boy use to and still does get ears infections quite often when a bub and it's really nasty hopefully the antibiotics have done the job and he's feeling better.

sorry have to run Hi all Bye all Jomae

[TwinMommy]

I do not have time for personals at the moment but I wanted to share the great news....Brooke is sitting up all on her own!! No more falling over! She grabs toys and brings them to her now as well. Mackenzie is sitting up but she still has to put her hands down for support. So exciting!!! Also, when Brooke is on her tummy she kicks her legs so hard so she is trying to move!! No teeth yet but they are definitely teething! Drool everywhere, chewing on everything, honory, etc!

This weekend was not the best weekend as we went to my moms house and they got all messed up schedule and nap wise. You can read my blog if you want to know about it (http://machellearrison.blogspot.com/) UGH! lol

But we are home now!

[Mellie_1233]

Suga - The blog looks great. The girls are adorable. So photogenic. And you, my dear, were a beee-utiful bride! (Yay for the sitting up progress!)

Tina - Hope you get good news about the flat head. Does Noah have a bald spot? Evie has a total bald spot on the back of her head. DH and I can't help but laugh about it sometimes.

Katie - Thanks for the good wishes. Sounds like you have a hungry boy there, huh?

CT_Michele - Good luck with your cycle! You will be a bit ahead of me. Looks like I won't be stimming until May. Time flies doesn't it? Here we go again................

Loopie - Evie prefers her cereal to veggies or bananas so far, too. I think my girl is contacting alien life forms, too -- only I've been calling it "cat opera" b/c it sounds to me like a cat singing opera.

Gecko - Hope you guys are all feeling better soon. Dek likes his food? Evie is not amused by this whole non-bottle feeding business. She'll eat her cereal but so far she has not liked peas, carrots, or bananas. She'll eat them but she is not liking it and really seems to prefer her bottle.

Jomae - Wow, teeth! We are teething, too, but so far just lots of drool.

Well, ladies, we had our one day work-up in Colorado and I am happy and yet dumbfounded. Going into our first cycle Dr. Schoolcraft said that my odds were only about 1/2 that of other IVF women my age (which at CCRM gave me 33% chance) b/c of my diminished ovarian reserve.

When we were out there for our successful cycle I stimmed poorly but somehow I produced these very good embryos. My cycle with CCRM was all very strange but good b/c up until they actually looked at my embryos it looked like things were not gonna work out.

Well, at the end of the day after all our testing we met w/Dr. S. and I asked him my odds of a live birth per retrieval and he said...............drum roll.............................50-60% if my embryos look like last time! WHAAA???????? I asked whether or not he expected my embryos to look like last time and he said yes. HUH????????????????

An RE giving me good news? Am I on the wrong planet?

So, I said, "If I have good eggs and I'm ovulating every month, why am I not getting pregnant?" and he said "That's a good question. You could have endometriosis. You could have scar tissue. The egg and sperm may have trouble getting together. We don't know. We could only know if we did a laparoscopy and I don't see any reason to do that."

He said I still have the diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve, though, b/c it's the only thing we do know (poor stimming, slightly high FSH, crappy AMH -- it was 0.6 back in Oct '07 and 1.5 is normal)

I am afraid to get my hopes up but I have just been on a cloud ever since. A second baby is a possibility. It's still sinking in I guess.

Now, we have to decide on strategy. I want to get some opinions from you experts but atm I need to get ready to head out the door so I will post more later.

[TwinMommy]

Mellie: So there is no hope at you getting pregnant on your own? Could you do clomid or something? I do not know about all the levels and such you were talking about, they never discussed that with me. But holy cow that is a high percentage rate that you can get another baby(ies)!!! You are going to do May?? Gosh, I feel left out! lol. I am not putting my frozens in until the girls are 2.

Jomae: Like a tooth tooth sticking out!? My husband had teeth at 4 months. Mine are just in the drool stage. Sometimes they get so much spit in their mouth they choke on it and it has led to vomits when they cough it up *sigh*

My girls never liked cereal and still do not to this day. They LOVE veggies (green beans esp) and fruit. Mackenzie likes a lot of different foods more than Brooke does.

[KatieG]

mellie thats great I am very excited for you!!!!! I know that must feel great. Good lucka nd keep us posted.

[tinaO]

Hello all! I will let you know what happens with the flat head issue. It really isn't that flat, but it stresses my husband out because it should have "popped" out by now. I agree - esp since Noah sleeps on his tummy. We shall see.

Noah is a pig and eats everything you put in front of him - including remote controls, coasters, calculators - everything! ha ha. But seriously, so far he likes green beans, peas, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, everything!! He just opens his chubby little mouth and in it goes. Sometimes if he doesn't seem interested, I open my mouth and pretend I am eating his food. Then all of a sudden he hangs his mouth open like he might have been missing out on something. It cracks me up! I take Noah walking in the evenings and the neighbors always laugh and say he is the most chill baby...and he is! But geez - do NOT be late with his bottle when he is hungry. He woke up yesterday from a nap starving and I was trying to hold him and make the bottle. The damn bottle fell on the floor and formula went EVERYWHERE! UUGGHHHH!!! I was so frustrated. So, I went to lay him down in his crib real quick so I could make another and wipe up the mess. Well, he proceeds to LET LOOSE!!! My husband walks in and Noah is screaming, I am running around trying to make the bottle...formula is everywhere. It was quite the scene! Well, five minutes into his bottle Noah gets this big smile on his face like, "Ah - you figured it out"! I am like, "Look kid, I HAD figured it out - you just have no patience!!!" It was pretty funny.

I can't believe some of you are already on to your next one!! I am still trying to figure out how to balance this one!!! I wish you the BEST of luck. I just can't see starting the whole process again right now. We only have one frozen one. Not sure what the odds are with just one.

Ok, take care all! I better get back to work!

Tina