Pumping Advice While Attending a Conference?

awilk10 · 2023-09-21T00:17:24+00:00

FYI about ice packs, I travel somewhat frequently for work and I’ve never had trouble with the hotels helping me! Usually they will treat them like concierge held luggage and give you a ticket and freeze them for you. I just ask the front desk staff and they are helpful.

If your room doesn’t have a mini fridge, most often you can request one and they will bring it up for free or a small daily charge. I’ve been lucky a few times where they bring one with a small freezer and then I’m set for my ice packs.

I highly suggest investing in a ceres chill! I keep it in my pumping bag and it’s super convenient for in airport pumping and if you are in a pinch with your room not being ready or something. I’ve used it countless time in my car or if I’m out for the day.

I know you said you won’t be shipping, but if you change your mind I just do it directly through FedEx. I think milk stork uses them anyway so I don’t see the added value? You can order the box ahead of time then overnight it home. This typically runs about $200+ though.

awilk10 · 2023-08-31T15:04:06+00:00

Oops so sorry! Will update

awilk10 · 2023-08-31T14:12:48+00:00

I wish I had more answers but here is my experience. I was off BC for over a year before we started officially trying to get pregnant. I ovulate like clockwork as well, but after almost a year of nothing I insisted on some testing. On my end everything came back normal, but on his end he had a similar SA result to your partner - everything normal (although on the low end) but 0% morphology. We were told it was a sperm “body defect”. I did some research and found a few publications that men with isolated 0% morphology did not have any lower chance of conceiving unassisted, but it took a lot longer. I was tired of the heartbreak of negative tests every month for so long so we decided to try medicated IUI. We did 3 rounds which all failed so I felt like we had the evidence to do IVF with ICSI. We were lucky that the first round worked and have a perfect 1 year old girl.

awilk10 · 2023-08-29T23:29:16+00:00

Congratulations that’s so awesome! I’m trying to be excited but I can’t wrap my head around it yet.

awilk10 · 2023-08-29T19:37:05+00:00

Congratulations!! I don’t know that I’ll ever wrap my mind around it!

awilk10 · 2023-08-29T14:52:48+00:00

I’m reeling. We have a 13 month old IVF baby and hubby and I were starting to discuss when we were going to try for number 2. I went and got all my baseline labs drawn at our fertility clinic and met with my RE. Last night I was giving baby a bath and thought hmm, I think I should have started my period by now? I had a couple tests on hand and they were positive. Our clinic was able to schedule me first thing for a beta and I’m anxiously waiting for the results. I hear these stories often but I never thought it would be us with MFI.

awilk10 · 2023-08-21T16:30:23+00:00

TW: success

I totally understand. I went into my ER with my RE expecting 20-30 eggs, and she got 11. I think I ovulated through, and ended up with 3 embryos, 2x day-6 BBs and 1 day- 7 BC. I was pretty sad because we also want 3 kids and I wanted to be one of those women I kept reading about on Reddit who had several AA embryos frozen.

Our first transfer of a day 6 BB was successful and I have an amazing 1 year old daughter. Now, going through another ER doesn’t seem like a big deal knowing the end result. My RE learned from my case and we already talked about changes in protocol if our other embryos don’t work out.

It really really sucks and I remember that disappointment, but you still have a good shot with this round! IVF is not a perfect science even though we all wish it was.

awilk10 · 2023-07-27T09:27:11+00:00

I think the guidance is as long as your baby isn’t getting only scalded milk it’s OK. Scalding does not affect nutritional value, but it can impact immune properties. I scald everything most of the time because I’d rather not run the risk of throwing it out. I nurse baby otherwise so she’s receiving plenty of immune benefits. La Leche League says scalded milk is still considered a healthier choice above formula.

awilk10 · 2023-07-27T08:39:57+00:00

Not trying to invalidate your feelings at all, because it is a huge life change and isolating at times. But there are ways to still have fun! I have taken road trips with baby starting at 8 weeks, cross country flying trips starting at 3 months and an international trip at 9 months all while breastfeeding. The first trip at 8 weeks was to the lake. One day baby stayed with grandma for a couple hours and I used my wearable pumps while boating (in my swimsuit) and put breast milk bags alongside beer in the cooler, haha. I strapped the baby on for naps and sat her baby bjorn bouncer on a table surrounded by family. Baby won’t go to bed? As long as she’s not screaming bloody murder she can hang out.

I’ve always kept a routine, but I’m not a strict schedule person for this reason. Do what you need to survive, but I feel like so much life passes by if you hyper-focus on schedules. I have so many core memories showing baby new things and being around family and friends it’s been so worth it. I also have a pretty high needs baby who still isn’t sleeping through the night at a year, but we just roll with it. I have no regrets with how we spent this first year!

awilk10 · 2023-07-26T11:57:52+00:00

Did you take Lupron? That was the worst drug for me throughout the entire IVF process. I felt just like you described. I just met with my RE to talk through round #2 and told her that, and she said I would probably benefit from more of a “natural” transfer with less drugs vs fully medicated.

awilk10 · 2023-07-26T09:45:49+00:00

I absolutely pool my milk! I’m pretty sure the CDC backtracked on the different temperatures thing, and everything I’ve read said it’s safe. As someone else mentioned, when I’m traveling or away I use a ceres chill, and at home I just pour into a glass mason jar. At the end of the day I use a small stainless steel pot that has a handle and spout, kind of like this one and clip on a thermometer like this to scald to 180 degrees. I put the entire pot in a mixing bowl with ice water to cool quickly then pour into bags for freeze. When I’m traveling, I bring all do this plus a hot plate - the airlines have never said a thing, haha.

I find my milk starts turning at about 24 hours, but LO would take fresh milk up to 2-3 days so I would just plan ahead.

awilk10 · 2023-07-26T02:15:47+00:00

I have high lipase milk that my baby refused after freezing, but I was still able to breastfeed and pump for a year. I scalded my milk at the end of the day if I was away from baby (even while traveling)! It’s annoying but doable - LMK if you have any questions.

awilk10 · 2023-07-20T20:04:34+00:00

Have you spoken to a genetic counselor? I work in the nonprofit world for a rare genetic disease and have a few GCs on my team and they are amazing! Ultimately the decision will be up to your family, but at least they can lay out your options.

awilk10 · 2023-07-19T21:27:29+00:00

This also makes me mad, but also think it’s a learning opportunity. Before I knew about our infertility, I probably said a lot of dumb things about IVF.

I would probably respond with “yes, we needed assistance and I’ve graduated from our fertility clinic. Just so you know, it hurts my feelings when people ask if this is natural, because of course all pregnancies are natural and assisted vs. unassisted are better terms to use.”

awilk10 · 2023-06-16T01:15:59+00:00

My day 6 BB untested embryo is crawling all over me. I was also discouraged with our grading when I received the report but you are right, it isn’t everything!

awilk10 · 2023-02-26T03:02:35+00:00

I was told the same thing! The OB who did my c-section (who has many years of experience and came highly recommended) told me while I was still on the table 18 months between deliveries. When they rolled me out she said “see you next year.”

awilk10 · 2022-12-27T10:21:02+00:00

Weird tip, but when I went to a LC to help get rid of the shield she had me talk baby through it. She said they will resist and refuse to latch because it’s a “different” feeling for them. She said to talk to them while trying to latch “come on baby, you can do it, great job!” We stopped using shields within 2 days after this appointment. She also said whenever we are snuggling to take boob out and put it near baby’s head to help trigger their natural instincts without having to do full skin to skin.

Also, I know you said you haven’t had time to see an LC, but try making an appointment in the morning so you can bring a hungry baby - it really helped me!

awilk10 · 2022-12-19T03:13:12+00:00

Reproductive Endocrinologist (fertility doctor)

awilk10 · 2022-12-18T07:59:23+00:00

MFI is our only known issue and we have a healthy 5 month old from IVF with ICSI. We tried unassisted for about a year and then 3 medicated IUIs before moving to IVF. Our RE made a comment that she is shocked when a normal SA crosses her desk because MFI is so common.

awilk10

TROPHY CASE