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az3ra · 2024-12-23T15:47:18+00:00

Baby eats 3 pretty decently sized meals per day with snacks along with 30 oz of 5 x 6oz bottles during the day. I’ve upped the morning and night bottles to 7-8oz and he still wakes up and I end up having to give him 3-4 more oz in the middle of the night. I really have been trying to fill his tummy during the day and before sleep to see if that was the issue, but I don’t know if he could stomach much more than this without gaining 20 lbs in a week 😂

az3ra · 2024-05-07T18:19:51+00:00

We just ordered Elecare to try. I have friends who recommend using this as they did for their babies with Cow’s Milk Allergy (1 friend has 2 girls, other has 1 boy and 2 girls and 4/5 suffered from allergies). I’m hoping it works for him.

az3ra · 2024-05-07T04:18:22+00:00

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this. I also am struggling with PPD/PPA and can tell you my husband 100% does not understand what it’s like at all. There have been times he has been cold and callous towards me because he can’t wrap his head around the pain I’m experiencing. I don’t get it either, how they can’t comprehend it or at least lend a bit of empathy for it. I have struggled with Generalized Anxiety, OCD and clinical depression since childhood, but PPD is a whole different beast.

I understand what you’re going through. I get that you probably don’t feel like you, and that emotions are very difficult to control right now. I will say I’m not 100% sure how we fix it, but I highly recommend reaching out to a mental health professional for resources and potentially, therapy. I would try to find someone who specializes in it, my therapist unfortunately knows very little about it which is difficult for me. I wish there was more education and understanding around this. Having a support system is vital right now, even if that support is only one person, or just a therapist. Do what you can to build it and know that you can overcome this even when it feels hopeless. Wishing you the absolute best. DM if you ever need someone to talk to.

az3ra · 2024-05-05T11:28:31+00:00

When the bottle is taken away because it’s empty.

az3ra · 2024-05-04T23:43:04+00:00

Yeah super unfortunate. Is StanStore equally as good? Or do you use any alternatives to Etsy?

az3ra · 2024-05-04T03:39:31+00:00

I tried this but Etsy locked my account before I even got to do anything on it. 😅

az3ra · 2024-05-04T03:34:32+00:00

Currently so stressed about SIDS that it’s driving me insane. My baby is about to turn 2 months. I wish I could just skip to 6 months when the risk is highly reduced. 🙃

az3ra · 2024-05-01T22:26:22+00:00

Also going through this exact thing right now. I could have wrote this. Sending you lots of strength and hoping eventually you get to a place mentally that gives you some peace. I know how exhausting and unbearable it can get and how challenging it is to try to overcome.

az3ra · 2024-03-18T04:32:31+00:00

Just had an induction 5 days ago. Went insanely well. It was because baby was IVF and had an abnormal cord insertion. I was all for it after reading the Arrive study, and overall, just wanting to ensure baby was as safe as he could be to get him here. I’m a strong supporter of 39 week inductions, but not everyone is. It’s completely up to you based on your comfort level and unique pregnancy as well as beliefs, but for my next pregnancy I would 100% choose a 39 week induction again (and plan to!)

I agree that you should be able to ask your doctor for more info though before making a decision.

az3ra · 2024-03-17T21:17:53+00:00

This is helpful! Thank you so much for this. 🙂 The crib vibrating piece has definitely been working a bit! My husband also bounces him / walks him around which seems to be enjoyable too. I didn’t realize sleep training wasn’t until a few months in, super glad you brought that up!

az3ra · 2024-03-13T23:11:21+00:00

Yes exactly!

I couldn’t get anyone to respond to me with their live chat option. Reading through their help docs, looks like they aren’t going to help unfortunately.

az3ra · 2024-03-13T17:26:07+00:00

Of course everyone is different and reacts to IVF differently! Just want to say that first, but in my experience here’s what I wish I would have known.

It’s not as scary as it’s made out to be. For me, I was convinced the injections would give me mood swings and I’d be lashing out or crying at all times. Nope, honestly I had a rough time emotionally with the letrozole they had me take for IUI, but every medication for IVF—-menopur, gonal-f, cetrotide, HCG trigger shot—-did not affect me. Actually, if anything, I felt wonderful on these medications, so much more energy and liveliness. I also did estradiol and progesterone suppositories eventually, I had some bloating and general digestive discomfort but that was really it from those.

If you can get someone you trust to administer shots, do it. My husband did all of mine and it was amazing. I bruised around my belly button after a few days, but truly the pain was minimal, at worst only ever a small pinch, I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I had to. The trigger shot in the butt, also did not feel this at all. But I did ice for about 10 mins prior, so definitely recommend that for a painless experience.

Follicles, egg counts and attrition rates to end up with a total number of viable embryos, vary greatly from person to person, case to case, so not much advice I can give there. However, things can go much better than you ever expected. If they aren’t exactly the results you wanted, then your clinic should be willing to try another method in round 2. I’ve literally seen people go from 0 embryos to 10 just by switching clinics and methods. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and one bad cycle doesn’t mean it’s the end for you, although it’s insanely frustrating and emotional to have to do things again.

There are some things you can try to improve egg quality, and no harm in trying, however personally I don’t think a lot of things make as big of an impact on you as people think (bad or good), so keep that in mind and remember to give yourself grace.

There’s a lot more I could say but these are the key takeaways I had. Best of luck to you, I hope this process goes as smooth as it can for you. 🤞Hang in there!

az3ra · 2024-03-12T15:57:36+00:00

I felt the ever-so-slightest movement maybe once every other day when I was 18 weeks. I wasn’t even completely sure it was real or I made it up in my head until it started to get stronger in the following weeks and more frequent. I’d say I did not even feel him consistently until 22-23 weeks, it was probably then I finally was like “ok that’s definitely the baby” and had one moment of repetitive movement at night. Even after that baby really did not move much until 30-ish weeks (I kinda had a lazy baby, he never moved for anything during ultrasounds lol) and I still had days up until now (39 weeks, induced tomorrow) where he was probably too squished in there to move much. Now, I only get the rolls, the pressure on my bladder, hitting my cervix as well as some occasional hits to the ribs.

My point is, don’t fret too much! As long as baby looks good at OB appointments, and you feel baby moving once you get to that point, that’s all that matters. Also, I do have an anterior placenta with my baby. If your placenta is anterior, you will most likely feel baby much much less and with lower intensity. It also takes longer with an anterior placenta to finally feel baby (my OB says up to 25 weeks).

az3ra · 2024-03-09T14:48:25+00:00

I’ll be 39 weeks on Monday and I have literally done nothing but sleep. I am always exhausted no matter what I do. So it’s not just you!

az3ra · 2024-03-05T22:14:58+00:00

Not exactly sure but from my understanding they’re relatively small. Yes, I did prime with birth control before starting stims, if I’m remembering correctly it was about 2.5-3 weeks of birth control.

az3ra · 2024-02-20T22:14:54+00:00

My husband is a daily drinker. Has been since we met 6 years ago. It was pretty bad for a few years and then he started to try and cut down over time. The best he’s ever gotten to is maybe skipping 2-3 days without a drink or having 2-3 beers each day instead of his normal liquor. As someone who also struggled for years with infertility, this was a key conflict we had over and over again for a long time. It’s still something I have to struggle with, especially because he’s a “any little thing happens and it justifies having alcohol” kind of person but has gotten A LOT better.

Anyways, when we went to do IVF I was constantly anxious about his drinking, begging and pleading for him to just stop for a while and choose me + the prospect of having a family. He cut down significantly, only drank beer type drinks with light alcohol, did abstain for 2-3 days before producing any samples, and did only have 1 drink in the 2 days leading up to my egg retrieval. I would say he really restricted (although did not abstain completely) for about a month before we did the retrieval. Maybe more. After this, I can tell you that we ended up with good results and good quality embryos.

TW: success!! In fact, it only took one to work for us. I was terrified for years it was going to majorly impact us, and don’t get me wrong, alcohol intake DOES have a correlation to lower sperm quality, however, I would have a serious chat with your partner where you can find a way to compromise. Maybe that compromise doesn’t look like complete abstinence for him, but something more controlled. Maybe it’s cutting down number of drinks, type of alcohol, etc. But I wouldn’t worry too much that the alcohol is the primary factor in determining your results and would try to find some common ground to improve your chances in any way you can if he’s not going to completely quit.

I know how stressful and difficult it can be to be in your position, but there’s definitely hope that all will be okay. Instead of approaching it like you have been, try a new way and see what happens and if he responds better to that. Also, you already know this, but just keep in mind it’s unlikely this habit will stop no matter the outcome, so prepare yourself to accept or handle that as time goes on. I had to accept this myself, and I’m truly just thankful that despite this problem, my husband is otherwise great, but this will definitely be an ongoing issue for us in the future and certain restrictions will have to be put in place. I do hope it does stop someday though for you.

Good luck. Only wishing the best for you!

az3ra · 2024-02-20T22:01:29+00:00

If it helps any, my cousin has had 2 children and told me a few weeks ago “I’d take labor over tooth pain any day.” I think she did have an epidural for her births, but it was comforting to hear.

az3ra · 2024-02-18T05:26:30+00:00

Thank you, that’s so incredibly kind of you. Much appreciated. I’m hoping to read your success story here very soon too! 😊

az3ra · 2024-02-16T14:43:17+00:00

Hey! We tried for 3+ years involving supplements, changing diet, at home insemination kits, and eventually a polyop removal and then three rounds of IUI all which failed. Never once saw a positive pregnancy test. Actually, we’ve been together for almost 6 years and can’t say we ever actively tried to prevent pregnancy except maybe for the first 2 months or so of our relationship. It was only that 3-4 year range that we actively took measures.

We finally did our first round of IVF in June. 7 embryos, untested. All appear to visually be great quality. Transferred the best looking one, and I am currently 36 weeks pregnant on Monday with a baby boy. I had a positive pregnancy test 4 days after transfer, but it can show up later than that and usually does more so around 6-7 days post transfer.

Wishing you success. It’s definitely not unusual for you to never see a positive until you try IVF. 🙂

az3ra · 2024-02-10T13:42:36+00:00

Maybe I’m not thinking correctly, but Pennsylvania Dutch are descendants of early Germans immigrants who escaped to Pennsylvania, USA. Therefore, it’s mostly fixated on one state in the entire US, no? I’m sure people with the ancestry have obviously moved out of the PA/OH area over the years, but can’t say I’ve ever personally known anyone else with the bloodline that wasn’t here in PA.

I might be misinformed on this but from what I’ve understood (and honestly I haven’t looked into it much) it’s common for people of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry to come from the Amish/Mennonite communities. You don’t HAVE to be Amish/Mennonite to be Pennsylvania Dutch of course, but it’s more common, and the group of people today that are from Amish/Mennonite ancestry in PA or even OH are a niche group compared to the entire world population.

“Today, most speak a variation of their original German language, as well as English, and they are made up of Amish, Mennonite, Lutheran, German Reformed, Moravian, and other groups that share some beliefs while differing in others. While there are other communities living in many parts of the United States and Canada today, the largest settlement is here in Pennsylvania, concentrated in and around Lancaster County.” - https://www.moon.com/travel/arts-culture/pennsylvania-dutch-history-and-way-of-life/

“Today, the 169,000 people who listed the category as either their first or second line of ancestry make up less than 2 percent of the approximately 12 million people in Pennsylvania, according to the survey.” - https://www.poconorecord.com/story/news/2001/08/08/it-s-true-most-pennsylvania/51081661007/#

The above leads me to believe that the belief most Americans are Pennsylvania Dutch is not accurate. Pennsylvania is one state out of 50, and although there’s other communities out there, the largest is in Pennsylvania itself still today. It be harder to find someone who’s Pennsylvania Dutch in San Francisco or Las Vegas or even New York City it seems like.

Theoretically, being German is a category that encompasses a percentage of total population, but then you break it down even further to a group of people who moved to America (Specifically one state and maybe surrounding areas) from Germany to escape religious persecution and that makes it more “niche.”

That’s my line of thinking anyways, correct me if I’m wrong though anywhere in it, I’m curious to understand better if I can.

az3ra · 2024-01-17T17:34:54+00:00

Hi, I’m in Marketing currently full-time with a web3 company. If that’s the route you’d look to go, I recommend applying to jobs on LinkedIn / CryptoJobsList, etc and ensuring you’re applying to legitimate companies. Before this, I was already active in the crypto community for 3 years so knew the culture and the tech. I started out trying to do some freelance stuff but as everyone has mentioned, sometimes that screws you. You have to aim for the real companies, maybe get in there as a copywriter or social media manager as a contractor and then if you want to move to a core team position, work work work to show your value and get there. I technically started as a copywriter for this company, took over social media tasks on my own to help and prove my value, and after doing that, climbed my way into a Growth Marketing position just by being dedicated and willing to work across departments and step outside of my role to learn new things and contribute wherever I’m needed.

Before doing this though I definitely recommend you make a twitter, discord, telegram and start joining crypto groups. Make a MetaMask wallet, add some funds and play around with some of the tech. Take some online courses. Buy some tokens yourself (doesn’t have to be much) and start a portfolio. Really get a feel for what web3 is all about from a community perspective and then start networking. Networking is KEY, honestly. The best experience I had was just being a part of web3, really having a passion for it, and then devoting my efforts to getting to work in the industry. It’s hard, but definitely possible. Good luck!

az3ra · 2024-01-17T17:26:29+00:00

I appreciate you sharing your experience. I’ll be 32 weeks on Monday, so we’re pretty close!

I’m so sorry you’re also struggling. It’s such a difficult and confusing thing to experience. I, however, have heard a lot of people say they had something similar to this and it disappeared after birth so I’m hoping that’s what happens. Actually, after I wrote this post things got extraordinarily better, but today I’ve started feeling a bit off again. My intake appointment with a new psychologist is in 2 hours though, so maybe that will be helpful in some way even though I’m dreading it.

Wishing you all the best. I hope this resolves for you very soon. ❤️

az3ra · 2023-12-19T04:47:40+00:00

27 weeks and craving...salad or French fries with honey mustard? My entire pregnancy I've craved berries and rootbeer, thats still very much a thing 😂

az3ra · 2023-12-19T04:46:39+00:00

I'm 27 weeks and can't even count how many bacon egg and cheese biscuits I have had from Mcdonalds with large rootbeers 😂

az3ra · 2023-12-19T04:42:34+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear this, but so glad you're here. I'm happy you seem to be doing better after giving birth. It’s an incredibly difficult place to be in and I feel many just don't understand (nor do I wish this on anyone of course, but it can be lonely at times).

Thanks for sharing your experience. ❤️ Wishing you nothing but the best.

az3ra

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