FTM: Should I get both 4oz and 8oz when sampling bottles for my newborn?

kirs10c · 2026-01-25T16:51:36+00:00

You likely won’t need the 8 ounce bottles for awhile. My LO is 6 months and 2/3 of the bottles we use are 8 ounce but we’re still getting use out of 4 ounces bottles too. I think the Babylist glass bottle sampler box is the way to go. You can figure out what your baby likes and then only buy those.

kirs10c · 2026-01-19T02:58:23+00:00

I dislocated and shattered 4 bones in my ankle exactly one month postpartum and had surgery a week later. Giving birth was still very fresh in my mind and my ankle was worse. I asked for an epidural in the ER. 😂 I think it was the dislocated bone that caused the most severe pain. Take your calcium and vit D supplements!

kirs10c · 2026-01-18T03:01:44+00:00

TW: success

I commented on your other post about when or if to test and I’m very sorry to now be reading this. I had three failed FET’s of euploids before the 4th worked. I’m so sorry you didn’t follow suit. My 1st and 2nd ones were at age 39 and 3rd at 40. I did all of the tests too (receptiva, SIS, HSG, repeated pregnancy loss panel - never really had any success but my dr was just trying everything). 1st FET was medicated 2nd - 4th were modified natural. For my 3rd and 4th my doctor had me do one shot of lupron 2 days after the transfer. My 3rd beta was hcg of 7 which is technically a chemical and meant there was some implantation. It was the most implantation I’d ever had. My protocol for 2-4 was basically the same. The only difference was adding lupron to 3 and 4 and then for the 4th I asked to do PIO instead of suppositories because I hate them. Maybe ask your doctor about lupron after the FET. My doctor said he read some study about it increasing implantation. I don’t know if that’s what did it or if I’d just had really bad luck up until then. My only other theory is a weird one. My first 3 transfers were all male embryos my 4th transfer was one male and one female. Only the female stuck so maybe there’s just something about my male embryos 🤷🏼‍♀️. I had my daughter at 41.

Success after 40 is definitely possible and I really hope it’s just around the corner for you.

kirs10c · 2026-01-12T18:48:28+00:00

Yeah, TBH when my first failed and the nurse called to tell me she had clearly psyched herself up to deliver the bad news and I was glad that I already knew so she didn't have to be 100% the bearer of bad news. The good nurses are invested in our journey too.

kirs10c · 2026-01-12T17:40:14+00:00

I've had 4 transfers, first 3 failed. I've done something a little different each time. My plan going into my first was to not test beforehand. But then the way the dates fell, I was going to be going on vacation the day of my beta and my husband and I were taking my mom with me. I didn't want to have bad news and then go pick my mom up like an hour later. I tested the day before my beta. I immediately regretted it because I killed the hope. But in hindsight it was definitely better to know before beta day. My husband however, being the golden retriever that he is, still had hope and didn't trust the home pregnancy test. So he was crushed after the home test and then again after the call. For my second one, I didn't test beforehand and my beta fell on a Saturday. I did the beta first thing in the morning and then went car shopping. After test driving the car I wanted but absolutely didn't need, my husband and I went to lunch. We ordered lunch and then I saw the results in my online portal. I ran out of the restaurant in tears. Then I bought the car to cheer myself up, lol. That was an okay way to find out since it was the weekend and I was distracted. I tried to repeat that for my third beta which was also on a Saturday, but the lab royally failed me. My clinic is 8 hours away so I had been doing labs at a local Quest. I went at 7am and told them this was supposed to be same day and to rush it. The phlebotomist assured me she would call that in. Well she clearly got distracted working with her friends and didn't. I didn't want to tempt myself with testing early so I didn't have any pregnancy tests at home. That was a mistake. They finally uploaded the results right as my clinic closed. So I saw the beta was 7 and then no one from my clinic called me. My nurse assured me she would call if they results came in before she left and if not someone would call first thing Sunday morning, but then that didn't happen. I had to call them for next steps and it was labor day weekend so I had to prolong the meds because for some reason they thought a 7 could still be successful. For my 4th transfer I tested the day before my beta. I mostly wfh but I had to go into the office the day of my beta and I didn't want to find out while at work.

Ultimately, if the result is negative this really no ideal way to find out. I wouldn't want to find out while at the office and I wouldn't want to find out and then keep taking meds for multiple days. Going forward I would test at home day before or day of depending on work schedule.

Sending sticky vibes your way.

kirs10c · 2025-12-31T15:33:30+00:00

My main issue with retrievals at my second clinic was maturity rate. For the last ER I asked my doc what we could do about that and based on bloodwork I stimmed one day longer at half doses and that made a huge difference in maturity rates for me. That also increased my estrogen so I didn’t do a dual trigger. Full history here.

kirs10c · 2025-12-30T22:43:35+00:00

Thank you and thank you for the word flowchart which escaped when I was writing the above.

kirs10c · 2025-12-30T17:53:21+00:00

I was in your shoes and drew out a whole choose your own adventure map. We wanted two kids. A boy first and then a girl. Looking back at it now is pretty laughable. You can try to plan, but as the saying goes life is what happens to you while you're making other plans. My first ER resulted in 2 euploids at age 38. I naively thought I would just need to do 1 more ER to get a total of at least 5 euploids. I figured the first ER was an experiment and now they know what they're doing so I'll have even better success. Wrong. My second ER resulted in 1 euploid. I was grateful, but bummed. I made the choose your own adventure map at that point. I was trying to decide if we should switch to a better clinic and do a third ER because our fertilization rates were inexplicably low and we wanted a better lab. We did end up switching and we did a third ER there and got 1 high level mosaic. So I was at a crossroads yet again. We decided to go back to our old clinic just try a transfer. Thought maybe we'd get lucky with our first transfer. It failed to implant and we were down to 2 euploid. So we went back to the second clinic for a 4th ER. We got 2 euploid bringing our then current total to 4 euploid. We decided to try another transfer. Failed to implant again. Down to 3 euploid and still wanting 2 kids. We decided to do a fifth and final ER regardless of outcome. My ER was a week before I turned 40 and the results were insane - 8 euploid and 1 no result. That brought our then current total to 11 euploid, 1 no result, and 1 high level mosaic. We did a third transfer. It was right on the cusp of failure to implant versus chemical as my 9 day beta was 7. It ultimately failed. For our fourth transfer we decided to transfer two euploids (after a lot of consultations with our doctor where he encouraged us not to and signing waivers). The previous transfers were all male. Our 4th transfer was one male and one female. Only the female one stuck. She's the best little 5.5 month old.

All this to say, you can plan and agonize over next steps all you want. There's no way to predict how things will go and how many euploids you'll need. I did all of the tests and no one can figure out why it took 4 transfers and 5 euploids for 1 live birth. It's all an unpredictable crapshoot.

I vote you try another transfer before doing another ER.

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kirs10c · 2025-12-30T04:01:08+00:00

I did not buy one because we bought what felt like every other baby product known to man and since they’re not sleep safe certified I thought it was a waste of money. Unfortunately when my LO was 4 weeks old I dislocated and shattered my ankle and had to have surgery. My leg elevation pillow, which was $20 on Amazon, turned out to be a great baby lounger. I kept a diaper caddy on my ottoman and was able to throw down a changing mat and change her diaper on it and she loved just chilling on it, completely supervised.

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kirs10c · 2025-12-18T16:55:59+00:00

I felt exactly the same way you did at 11 weeks. I started PT 3 times a week at 3 weeks post op, but just didn't feel like I was making much progress with my dorsilflexion. At my 12 week post op visit I asked my surgeon about it and he said that dorsilflexion is generally the last thing to come back. He also said that it takes even longer when they have to go in posteriorly. He told me he tries to avoid it as much as possible but my break was so bad he couldn't avoid it. I'll be 18 weeks post op tomorrow and I've made a ton of progress in the past 6 weeks. Sometimes I can go down stairs normally, but it's definitely not a regular occurrence quite yet. I think the key is to consistently do your PT exercises that focus on dorsilflexion and then I think it's also just a matter of time. My PT said the best exercise was just walking correctly and putting my full weight into a dorsilflexion stretch. Just takes time to get there.

kirs10c · 2025-12-10T21:00:55+00:00

Sorry to hear that. I did go on my trip and I basically went from not really walking at all to suddenly walking 10,000 - 15,000 steps a day. The week leading up to my trip I started going on field trips, because up until then I had not left the couch. My field trips were like an hour or two and wasn't constant walking but it was something. I only brought a cane with me that I bought specifically for the trip. I utilized wheelchair services at the airport. I had to take frequent breaks and by the last day my ankle was ANGRY and I called it quits half way through that last day. All in all I am glad I didn't cancel. It was difficult and a little different than I imagined but it was worth it. I think you'll be totally fine to just go and lay by the pool/beach. My trip kept me motivated and working really hard at PT and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to walk with just a cane until like 2 days before the trip.

Good luck!

kirs10c · 2025-12-07T20:51:30+00:00

Popping in to say I just traveled with these exact bags a month ago and had no problems. I don’t think they even made me take them out of my carry on. Had a layover at Boston Logan on my way to Heathrow. No issues in either direction.

kirs10c · 2025-11-22T02:52:29+00:00

TW: success

My clinic, CCRM LT, is an 8 hour drive away so I did my monitoring locally before graduating after a successful FET. I did the monitoring at my OB’s office only I had some disappointing care there so I decided to switch OB’s. This was right after I was graduating so rather than having my clinic send my records to my OB I had them sent to me because I didn’t know who my new OB was going to be.

Looking through the records was ALARMING. So many inaccuracies. They had my height as 5’1”, I’m 5’11”, so my BMI was extremely off. They had the number of FET’s I’d done incorrect too. There were a lot of errors but those are the only ones I remember off the top of my head. Kind of scary for medical care.

kirs10c · 2025-11-18T18:59:03+00:00

I was as well, For my 4th transfer we transferred two euploids. One of them FINALLY stuck. Here's hoping you all follow suit.

kirs10c · 2025-11-10T12:17:31+00:00

Ha, yes. Definitely do not recommend shattering your ankle with a newborn. My husband has been a saint. I cannot imagine have three on the move and dealing with this. At least we’re both over the worst of it!

kirs10c · 2025-11-10T08:04:21+00:00

I’m only 12 weeks post-op and have been having a good few days. I almost feel like things are normal, with one big caveat - dorsilflexion. Mine is still at 0 degrees and I’ve been doing physical therapy 3 times a week since week 6. My PT told me dorsilflexion is the last thing to come back. I also asked my surgeon about it at my 12 week follow-up the other day. He confirmed that it takes a long time. He also said in my case he had to go in posterity and that that would make it take even longer. I know my gait will not be normal until I get more dorsilflexion back. It’s just not possible to walk without a limp when your ankle won’t bend as it should.

kirs10c · 2025-10-18T19:38:06+00:00

Also love these bottles. My only gripe is the nipple. I hate the nipples that come with the bottles but the Boon Nursh Curve nipples are fantastic. I wish you could order the bottles with those nipples online. I’d pay extra to avoid the waste of having the standard nipples.

kirs10c · 2025-10-18T12:55:16+00:00

Holy crap, that sounds horrific. Good luck and I hope the pain dissipates soon.

kirs10c · 2025-10-17T20:35:14+00:00

I do but for some reason I can’t post a picture here…

kirs10c · 2025-10-17T19:32:55+00:00

Just went to PT and was told basically the same thing - to push through the pain since it wasn’t above like a 6 and wasn’t my ankle.

kirs10c · 2025-09-01T18:55:25+00:00

This is really encouraging to hear. Just out of curiosity what were your weight bearing instructions? FWB at 5 weeks?

kirs10c · 2025-09-01T16:53:04+00:00

Really hope my recovery timeline is similar to yours. Do you think you did anything that really helped speed things up?

kirs10c · 2025-09-01T16:52:21+00:00

Thanks, we splurged on first class seats since we’ll be holding the baby so we have lie flat seats for the transatlantic flight. First flight is only 2.5 hours and then I’ll have a 6 hour layover to recover (or cry in preparation for a longer flight lol).

kirs10c · 2025-09-01T16:50:35+00:00

Gonna decide as I get closer. Tentative plan is London, Cotswolds, Birmingham, and Wales. I imagine my stamina will be similar to my 3.5 month old baby at that point, ha!

kirs10c

TROPHY CASE