tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59460601290777364462024-03-18T04:48:50.816-05:00baby Ridley bump.Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comBlogger532125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-69857364011020261062020-03-10T11:59:00.002-05:002020-03-10T11:59:17.265-05:00FETx3 Failed Cycle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Wow, it has been a long time
since I've posted in this space!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blogging
has definitely been put on the backburner over the last couple years since
becoming a mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's amazing how much
where your time goes to changes when there's a child involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still want to dedicate this space to
infertility and motherhood so I'm here with an update, one that I'm not too
happy to be sharing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">After our ERA late last summer
the original plan was to transfer in the fall, but we decided to wait it out
and do our next transfer after the holidays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once February came around and things slowed down we began our
cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We opted for a "natural"
cycle this time which means that you allow your body to grow your lining rather
than taking estrogen to help it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a
lot less meds but more monitoring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was something we had never tried before so we figured we'd give it a shot since
I've never had an issue with my lining in the past. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">CD1 came on Thursday Feb 13<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup>
so on Monday Feb 17<sup>th</sup> I was in for my baseline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My lining was at 6mm and I had a follicle already
and they wondered if I still maybe had a few days of my cycle left, I told them
it was unlikely as my periods were normally about 4 days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had me come back on Wednesday and they
told me that my lining was continuing to thicken & the follicle was
continuing to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also had some
fluid in my uterus which they wanted to keep their eye on so they had me return
on Friday Feb 21<sup>st</sup> where they determined I would probably end up
triggering (triggering ovulation during a natural cycle to help the lining
further) that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fluid had moved
and the follicle had grown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My lining by
that point was over 8mm and things progressed about a week sooner than I had
anticipated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We ended up triggering and 6
days later on Friday Feb 28<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup> we had our first embryo transfer with
our new clinic in Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
overall kind of frustrating because they told me to be there at 11:45 for a
12:30 transfer and to come with a full bladder so I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They weren't able to get us in for our transfer
until 2:30, they had allowed me to empty my bladder just a bit right before but
it was an agonizing couple of hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
make matters somewhat more chaotic, we were heading out of town for the weekend
to Wisconsin Dells and were trying to beat the traffic out of the city on a Friday
afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Overall the transfer went
smooth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The embryologist came in to tell
us the embryo looked good and was re-expanding as expected after being frozen
(they dehydrate them when they freeze them) and all looked good so we were
happy to hear that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some
technical difficulties during the transfer, the normal catheter they use kept
going into what they referred to as a "false passage" because of my
retroverted uterus so they had to use a special kind that is more flexible to
get the placement where they wanted it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They also wanted to show us the embryo on camera to verify it was ours but
the camera was not working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctors
and team seemed to be pleased with how smooth everything went and I think we
both had high hopes that this transfer would work despite some of the chaos in
the beginning and the delays that we had on the day of transfer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We spent the weekend in the
Dells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did as much resting as I
possibly could but it's hard when you have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a 3 year old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joe was pretty much
in charge of caring for her while I did my best to relax but also help out when
I could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The weekend was fun but went
quickly, by day 3 I knew I should be feeling some cramping, that's what I had
always felt in the past with the cycles that I did end up pregnant, but this
time I felt nothing the entire 10 days after my transfer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew early on that it probably didn't
take, I just felt it in my gut and knowing what my past symptoms were &
having experienced none of them this round I knew it was likely the embryo
didn't implant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On Monday I went in early for
my beta but never heard by the time I left work so I went home where I knew I
had 1 pregnancy test stashed away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
took it and immediately it was negative, there was no sign of pregnancy at all
on the test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctors office finally
called me around 5pm to confirm what I had already known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My doctor told me that she would continue to
look for missing pieces but I'm not really sure there are any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm just chalking it up to an abnormal embryo
at this point. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's not the news I had hoped
to share, but I am glad that it was just a clear negative and not another
chemical or miscarriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was very
fearful of having to experience that agony again and I'll be honest, there's
some relief that that wasn't the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pregnancy loss is a big part of what held me back for so long on
continuing to move forward with any transfers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think recovery from this most recent one will be a lot easier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I know everyone wants to know
right away what the plan is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it were
up to me and my pocketbook was endless we'd just do another round right away but
unfortunately that isn't the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
just spent $4500 on basically nothing so we will have to come up with that
amount again before we can consider another transfer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are definitely some projects around our
house that we want to get done this spring too, our back patio being one of
them so it may take us awhile, it's all pretty much up in the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'd hope to do another one in a couple months
but there's really no way to know at this point. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We still have two embryos
left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once we use these last two it will
be the end of our journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm trying to
remain hopeful that there's still a take home baby between one of these two
that we have left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know these two are
the worst quality of the 6 we had, but when I say "worst" I mean they
are still relatively good quality, my previous clinic graded them at 3.5AA, our
new clinic said they'd be a lot more conservative on their grading so they're
probably considered 3AA by our new clinic or maybe less than that, however they
are still pretty good quality embryos as far as we can tell without further
testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Emotionally I feel a lot
better about the outcome of this cycle than expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It still really freaking sucks, it doesn't
hurt any less than previous failed transfers, but I am happy that it wasn't a
beta hell, chemical/miscarriage, stuck in limbo, type scenario—I just don't
know if I have it in me to go through that again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's funny I became that naïve girl again
just like I was in the beginning of IVF when I thought the first round would
work, I thought the same thing about a sibling cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it would be SO EASY, and yet here
we are, 3 transfers in, a chemical pregnancy, a miscarriage and D&C, and
now a failed transfer and still no second baby; beginning to linger dangerously
close to being done with infertility treatments all together and the real
possibility of never being able to experience pregnancy again, never giving
Georgia the sibling we always hoped we would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It's truly unfair and I will question every single day why this has to
be so hard for the people who want it so badly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I will try to be better about updating
here with any future transfers, if not for anyone who is still reading this,
for myself to remember how things played out as the years go by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I appreciate everyone who still comes here to
read this, we have so many still cheering us on and supporting us so many years
later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blog will be 8 years old
come May and some of you have been here since the beginning and we can't thank
you enough for all that support!</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-63181124435770114602019-11-13T08:46:00.000-06:002019-11-13T08:46:01.606-06:00Postponing...again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, we decided yet again to delay our next embryo transfer that was scheduled to happen basically now. If you guys recall I had a slight delay because of my body breaking through the suppression hormones where the Lupron that I was on that shut down my hormones wasn't able to stop by body from producing a follicle which in turn caused my lining to thicken when we actually wanted it to thin down to about 5mm. After it thinned down I would start estrogen pills daily to build the lining back up, but unfortunately that follicle was found to be our culprit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Basically what I decided to do was to stop the Lupron, wait for a period to start & then start over again. I was in the midst of this on the verge of my period when Georgia and I hit a very large buck in my car on Friday October 18th & my car ended up being totaled. Luckily we were both OK, but it was at 6am, in the pitch black out in the country out by our house. Both my air bag and the side curtain airbags deployed which was extremely scary. Georgia is still recanting the story over and over each day so it clearly somewhat traumatized her. The next day I was extremely sore and of course my period started. It was in that moment that Joe and I had a hard talk about the necessity of the transfer at this point in time. Although it took everything in me to get myself to the point of being ready to finally transfer after almost a year, we both felt in our hearts and guts that it was best to just wait. We weren't stopping mid-cycle or anything like that so the timing was perfect but we did have to make a decision pretty quickly but we both felt it was for the best. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I texted my doctor that weekend and explained and she was extremely understanding of our feelings which was so helpful. We feel like we should get through the holidays and then transfer early next year, I'm hopeful for January. Part of me wishes that we had still moved forward but my gut told me it was best. Not only was this cycle not going smooth, but Georgia had been battling a UTI for two weeks + a fever, she had been at the doctor twice, there was a lot of stress around our drywall business, and then I hit the deer. Things just seemed to be piling up and we were both so unbelievably stressed. I didn't want to go into the transfer being as stressed as I was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this point the storm has seemed to calm; Georgia is feeling better and for now is healthy, I got a new car, and the stress of running our own business isn't as bad at the moment. Sometimes when I think about it I think to myself, such is life--there will never be a perfect time with no stress and nothing going on, I realize that, but there will be a better time, a time when things are a little more settled & I think right after the holidays, first of the year will be exponentially better for us. We are so excited for Christmas this year & all of the festivities that we will get to enjoy with Georgia. It will be soo magical. She's been talking about Santa and presents, and cutting down a tree for a month now so when the season begins (which isn't allowed in our house til after Thanksgiving) I know she's going to be soo excited and fun!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These decisions are never easy, but from years of being infertile, we've made harder ones for sure. I'm not sure why it has taken us so long to do this transfer--life, being a parent, healing, work, starting our own business, etc. I'm sure are some of the big reasons why but also fear of it not working again too. As always we have gotten so much support for every decision we have made on this journey from our family, friends, and family and we appreciate it so much!</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com56tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-48405642719954393502019-11-04T07:47:00.000-06:002019-11-04T07:47:10.193-06:00Daily Dental Routine with Smile Brilliant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">f you guys recall a few months back I did a collaboration with <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/#babyridleybump">Smile Brilliant</a> using their teeth whitening system. I couldn't believe how white my teeth got and how professional their whitening kit was. I'm excited to continue working with Smile Brilliant, this time with their <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/product/electric-toothbrush#babyridleybump">cariPRO Ultrasonic electric toothbrush</a>.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll be completely honest here—dental care is not my strong point. I've never been a big fan of having to brush my teeth, it just feels more like a chore to me. I hate the dentist so you'd think I'd do a better job of it to try and avoid anything more than just a cleaning but that isn't the case. I've had issues since I was a kid, I'm prone to cavities, and have several fillings. I also had braces and spacers at a very young age, and overall just haven't done a great job of caring for my teeth. This brush is super helpful if you have a lot of plaque buildup which is also something I struggle with because of how terrible I am when it comes to brushing my teeth. <u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hadn't used an electric toothbrush in at least a decade and because I have a lot of room for improvement in this area of my personal care, I figured I'd give this one a shot. You guys, the last time I used an electric toothbrush it had one mode, on or off; with the <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/product/electric-toothbrush#babyridleybump">cariPRO</a> there are FIVE brush modes—Clean, White, Massage, Gum Care, and Sensitive. It also has a 30 day battery life, an auto-interval timer, and a wireless charging doc. I can't believe how much cleaner I am able to get my teeth after using this toothbrush. I'm notorious for not getting my back teeth very well but with this brush I am able to thanks to the 40,000 vibrations/minute cleaning action. The Massage and Gum Care modes are two that I have been using daily.<u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My preferred setting for now is the sensitive. It does take a little bit of time to get used to the feeling of an electric toothbrush vs. a manual so the although the regular "clean" mode is really effective, I had to start off with the "sensitive" mode for a few days. I am totally sold on the cleaning power of the <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/product/electric-toothbrush#babyridleybump">cariPRO brush</a> vs. a manual brush. Also being a wine and coffee drinker, using this system helps to keep my teeth white. <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm so excited to offer my readers a 20% discount with code <b>20babyridleybump</b> at checkout on all the <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/product/electric-toothbrush#babyridleybump">cariPRO Ultrasonic electric toothbrush</a> packages. This would make a great Christmas gift for a spouse or even a gift to yourself or better yet, the couples package which would be $150 with my discount! Joe was pretty jealous when I received mine in the mail so maybe he'll get one as a Christmas gift this year!<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not only do I have the discount, I am also GIVING AWAY a cariPRO electronic toothbrush with an additional brush head & charger to one lucky reader valued at $119! <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/gb/babyridleybump">CLICK HERE TO ENTER!</a></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com140tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-69524052822887101592019-10-09T18:13:00.000-05:002019-10-09T18:13:23.722-05:00ERA Results & FET Delay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On September 16th & 18th I had the biopsies taken for the ERA test. If you guys recall we moved clinics and decided to proceed with the Endometrial Receptivity Assessment (ERA) before we proceeded with any further transfers. We had our embryos moved up here to Chicago from Georgia and decided on a September ERA with an October transfer. Along with the ERA I also had a hysteroscopy at the same time on the 18th and all was good and clear. My new doctor, Dr. Jeelani wanted to get a clear picture of what my uterus was looking like more in depth. She wanted to check for polyps and other possible issues but luckily I had none! Sometimes results like that can actually be a little disappointing because you're secretly hopeful that something is wrong and there's a reason as to why things aren't working out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On 9/27 I had a follow up with Dr. Jeelani and we discussed my results of the hysteroscopy which she said were perfect. We also discussed transferring 1 or 2 embryos and we decided on just 1 as we always have. Dr. Jeelani said I could expect my ERA results on Monday. When my results were uploaded into my patient portal I quickly logged in to see that they were "receptive" -- basically meaning that the progesterone protocol that we used for the ERA/mock cycle was sufficient for an embryo to be received. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I was hoping that maybe there was an issue with my window of receptivity and the answer to why previous FETs had resulted in miscarriage, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. I know the results aren't the end of the world and some people may welcome these results but ultimately for us it causes more questions than answers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At my follow up on 9/27 we did a baseline but found that my lining was 11mm so they were unable to consider that a "baseline" as my period had not quite started yet (it started the next day) and they wanted my lining to be around 5mm before starting estrogen to rebuild my lining for transfer. My period started the next day so I scheduled a second baseline for 10/1. I went in but my lining was still too thick, it was around 7/8mm so Dr. Jeelani told me to go back again. I went back on Thursday 10/3 to find my lining had only decreased to 6mm. My doctor knew I was getting frustrated but reminded me of the importance of a "clean slate" to start rebuilding on. I scheduled a 4th baseline for Monday 10/7 and kept my fingers crossed that by that time it would go back down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the midst of my mock cycle we started to potty train Georgia which went extremely well this time around compared to when we tried the first time back in January. She did so well and really seemed to grasp the concept this time around which was very rewarding for us. I noticed that Georgia was beginning to protest going to the bathroom, sometimes for hours upon hours so on Friday 10/4 I had my mom take her to urgent care where they took a sample of her urine. They told us that it looked like she had elevated white blood cells but wouldn't know til the lab tested the culture so we were to push fluids over the weekend and wait for a follow up call Monday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Monday rolled around and I had spent Sunday night deathly ill with a fever and vomiting. I went to work because I basically had to but luckily was feeling well enough to go into work at least for a few hours before I would head to my baseline. The doctors office called to say that Georgia's results came back consistent with a UTI so when I left work for my baseline I headed to the pharmacy to pick up her antibiotic. I made the 1.5 hour drive down to Peoria for my baseline where the tech measured my lining at .87cm or almost 9mm, my lining had actually thickened! I texted my doctor (I do my monitoring in Peoria which is closer for me than my doctor in Chicago) and she was baffled. She told me that I was somehow getting estrogen through the Lupron which happens in less than 10% of patients. She told me she'd review the images and results of my bloodwork from baseline & call me back. I spent the drive home crying and feeling like absolute death. I couldn't wait to get home & was so discouraged.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A few hours later I received a call from her saying she had found the culprit. A follicle had been growing and producing estrogen which was causing my lining to thicken, exactly as it should be if I wasn't taking Lupron. My body broke through the Lupron suppression which is extremely rare, but can happen. She gave me two options--continue with the lining that we had or stop meds, induce a period, and start back over. I knew what the right and best decision was and that of course was to delay and start fresh giving my embryo the best chance for implantation. My doctor agreed and said that is what she believes is best even though it's not what we expected. My coordinator called me shortly after and told me to stop the 10 units of Lupron I had been taking and begin Estrace that night. Then on Friday I will begin taking 20 units of Lupron this time along with 200mg of Prometrium (progesterone) for 7 days. Once I stop those on 10/17 I should have a bleed a few days later and hopefully be ready for a successful baseline with a lining at 5mm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been an exhausting and frustrating process so far at the fault of no one but my uncooperative body. Everything that has been going on with this cycle plus being sick and dealing with Georgia's UTI and growth spurt she seems to be going through have made for a rough few days. I know that getting myself and Georgia health and getting my lining where it needs to be is the most important thing right now and I'm at peace with that now. I really appreciate everyones outpouring of love and encouragement with the news of this delay. It certainly isn't the end of the world by any means but another hurdle that just seems to accompany every round of IVF that we have gone through. We are no stranger to bumps in the road and this one isn't the worst we've ever dealt with. As of right now we don't have a new transfer date but I will do my best to keep this space up to date for those who still come by to read!</span><br />
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-35591061926554589282019-08-19T17:24:00.001-05:002019-08-19T17:24:43.718-05:00ERA & Embryo Transfer Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After two failed transfers last year I knew that I wanted to have some further testing done before wasting any more money or embryos. When I spoke at the Infertile AF summit this spring in Rosemont I had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Roohi Jeelani talk about her clinic Vios Fertility and immediately decided that I was going to reach out to her when the time came. She and I had been Instagram friends for a few months and I got to meet her in person at the summit. She is so sweet and I just felt right then and there like she could help us.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fast forward to now—I decided to reach out to her about an ERA. For those of you who aren't familiar, it's one of the few tests we haven't done yet and it stands for Endometrial Receptivity Assessment or Assay. Basically what it boils down to is a mock cycle and instead of transferring the embryo, a biopsy of the lining is taken to see if it's either "pre-receptive", "receptive", or "post-receptive". This past Thursday we had our consultation with Dr. Jeelani and she explained that embryos can implant on day 5, 6, or 7; when you have a natural pregnancy, your body is triggered to start creating enough progesterone to support the embryo no matter what day it implants, but when you're artificially creating a pregnancy, progesterone has to be taken and this test will determine if enough progesterone is given at the right time. I may need progesterone sooner for instance, if I am pre-receptive. The biopsy will take place on day 5 and then a potential for a follow up biopsy on day 7 could be possible if the lab performing the tests requires extra specimen. I may end up having a hysteroscopy at that time as well to check that my uterus is looking ok.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Something else that we would do differently going forward is an antihistamine protocol which adds Claritin and Pepcid into the mix along with Lupron, estrogen patches & pills, and progesterone in oil form, oral form, and vaginal form! Dr. Jeelani said that immunity issues can be treated with the antihistamine even if we aren't certain there are issues. I can have my NK cells tested, but it's not necessary. So for my upcoming ERA I will do the exact protocol that I would do with my next transfer. Typically the transfer should follow the month after the ERA as well. The ERA is really best for people who have had multiple implantation failure or like in my case had a chromosomally normal tested baby miscarry—she said this indicates that something is probably wrong inside. Most of this kind of testing (ERA, immunity, etc.) is very out of the box and has very little research to back it, but I know that the ERA is gaining popularity and it seems to have been a big piece of the puzzle for a lot of people in the community that I've spoken to about it. <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr. Jeelani said she'd be happy to work with our clinic in Georgia as long as they were willing to change up my protocol. I spoke to my IVF coordinator there & they were willing to adjust as necessary, but a part of me was telling me that we probably needed to consider relocating our embryos closer to home. Our donor has since moved from Augusta back to her hometown in South Carolina so we wouldn't get to spend as much time with them as we have in the past. It was a hard decision but I think in our hearts we knew it what was best so we have decided to transport our embryos from Augusta up here to Chicago so that logistically things are less chaotic. The thought of having 2 different clinics plus a monitoring clinic for 1 cycle really just seemed overwhelming.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Things are moving pretty quickly. They drew my blood at our appointment Thursday and said as long as I had ovulated already (which I had) I could start Lupron asap. I was able to track down someone in my tiny home town of 3,000 that actually had some to give and started 10cc on Saturday night. I will continue with the Lupron until my period starts and then I can call and schedule my baseline and get my protocol. I've been sooo blessed again by our community with donated meds and appreciate all that everyone has done to help me track down what we need. I was able to get quite a few estrogen patches and PIO as well but I am still on the hunt for another Lupron kit if anyone has any available. It's truly unfortunate that we lost our coverage last year. We were so lucky to have it for a few years and I will never take for granted the fact that we did 3 full fresh retrievals and so many transfers that were all covered. Now I am feeling the effects of what most people are and that is the financial burden that comes along with this journey. I priced a Lupron kit with my pharmacy and its $987 for just a two week kit. It's very much appreciated that this community is so open to sharing! <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So the plan looks like this: Lurpon now, period, baseline, start estrogen, start progesterone, ERA/biopsy, wait for results, and then can begin meds for an October transfer. Like I said, things are moving VERY quickly but I am excited to see what this new chapter of our journey brings. It will take about a week for Cryostork to make the arrangements with the clinics once they receive the paperwork from me. They have 2 levels, Basic and Premium and then they also offer 2 levels of insurance. We have decided on the Basic package which is slower shipping time (cost is $750) and the level 1 insurance which covers a max of $25,000 for lost or damaged items. Since we aren't in a huge rush to get them here and have over a month we thought that would be the best option for our pockets. <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again, just want to thank everyone who continues to ride this roller coaster with us. It's been over 5 years of blogging about infertility and so many of you have been around from the beginning and continue to support us and be our cheerleaders and it's truly amazing. If anyone has questions about Vios Fertility Institute or Cryostork or the ERA please email me at <a href="mailto:babyridleybump@gmail.com" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">babyridleybump@gmail.com</a><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-47704570719678578712019-08-07T19:40:00.002-05:002019-08-07T19:40:48.340-05:00Next Steps Towards Expanding Our Family<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It took me a lot longer to type this post than I ever expected. After our two losses last year, one in July and the other in November, I for sure thought we'd have another transfer under our belts come March of this year. Life kind of threw us (or at least me) for a loop. Joe decided to start his own drywall business the day after we found out we lost our baby in November. It was a long time coming but I was definitely surprised. Then in February Georgia turned 2 and life got a little hectic. We attempted potty training, we were learning how to run a business of our own, and we had a spirited little toddler in our house that was keeping us on our toes every day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eventually I decided to just wait. I wanted to enjoy our summer season as much as possible with Georgia. We got her a play set and I knew that we were going to be taking some little trips and just adventuring and exploring as much as possible as a family and I didn't want to take anything away from her and those experiences for a few months. So I decided that we would just put everything on hold until this fall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fall is truly just around the corner. For the first time ever in my treatment, I am hesitant to move forward. I've never ever wanted to wait for anything on this journey. I always pushed hard to progress quickly through every cycle and every procedure. Even with our two FET's last year I did them both back to back very quickly, but now that I've taken a break and enjoyed these last several months, I find myself often questioning if one child is all that we really need. We are so blessed to have her. There were many times that I doubted if we would ever become parents, but then our donor came into our lives and everything changed. That is what also reminded me of how important it is to give the other 3 remaining embryos a chance. We are SOOO lucky to have them and I have to make sure they all get a chance because of the chances we were given by our donor for them to be our children. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before we move forward with any transfers I wanted to make sure we covered all of our bases. After a chemical pregnancy last July and 7w miscarriage in November of a chromosomally normal embryo I wanted some answers. I know that not all embryos are viable which is what I chalk up our chemical pregnancy to, but our miscarriage was another story. That embryo actually split in two and maybe that's why it didn't work out, but the test results came back normal so I just felt like we needed to pursue further answers. I had a second RPL (recurrent pregnancy loss) panel of bloodwork done after our D&C last year which came back normal as I expected it would. One of the only other tests I could think of that would benefit us that we hadn't done over our years of treatment was an ERA. An ERA is an Endometrial Receptivity Analysis, it basically evaluates the the endometrial receptivity to prevent implantation failure. It's often used for people who have had multiple implantation failure or someone like me with a miscarriage of a normal embryo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spoke to my clinic in Georgia and unfortunately they don't do the ERA testing at their clinic. I decided to reach out to Dr. Roohi Jeelani at Vios Fertility in Chicago, its a relatively newer clinic and I'm only about 2 hours from their offices. I listened to Dr. Jeelani speak at the Infertile AF Summit in April and she does an amazing job on Instagram of educating her followers as she herself also suffers from infertility. We spoke through some DM's on Instagram and she helped me get set up at her clinic. She is amazing and beyond compassionate and I cannot wait to start treatment with her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For now the only step we are taking is the ERA. I've considered moving my embryos back here to Illinois and Dr. Jeelani's clinic will take them, but transfers are a lot cheaper in Georgia and it always gives us and opportunity to see our donor and her family. I want Georgia to know them and develop a relationship with them as she gets older so it's important to me that we stay close and connected so I'm not sure if we will move them yet. If we were to move them it would cost us about the same amount (roughly 5k) whether we do the transfer here or in Augusta. Although the transfer is cheaper at our current clinic ($3025) the cost of travel/accommodations brings it closer to about 5k so it's a decision we will have to think about soon, but at this point in time I'm not quite ready. I'm definitely taking my time this time around & excited to be checking things off the list little by little and hopefully getting some answers! We meet with Dr. Jeelani on August 15th for our first consultation! </span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-88393108106926467072019-07-19T07:13:00.000-05:002019-07-19T07:13:54.352-05:00Life Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hello to all my blog
readers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been entirely too long
since I've written anything for this space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Time (as usual) has been flying and we've been so busy this summer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My last post was all about sleep training
which went really well for the first 3-4 weeks and then unfortunately fell
apart and has not gotten much better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
fight and struggle A LOT about bed still and it's very frustrating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel like I've followed the plan provided
by our consultant and been consistent (my life thrives on routine too) with
everything and we have made very little progress back to where we were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We've done it all; weighted blanket, earlier
bed time, later bed time, bed rails, bath time before bed, a full belly,
diffused oils, white noise, black out blinds, black out curtains, melatonin,
CIO, gentle CIO, no CIO… you name it we have tried it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anyone has any other tips I'd appreciate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've been really focusing on the plan that we
did in the beginning which worked really well—it was basically dinner, bath,
brush teeth, book, bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, now
Georgia has also developed a hate for bath time too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SEND HELP!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since my last post we have
done quite a bit this summer so far!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joe
and I got on the bike and took a ride out of town for Memorial Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the first time I've been on the bike
since right before I got pregnant with Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a great time and the weather was beautiful!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple weekends later we celebrated my 33<sup>rd</sup>
birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have a TON of June
birthday's in the family and we had some out of town family home so we had a
big party at our house and celebrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two of my best friends also added new babies to our list of June
birthdays so I've been soaking up all the newborn snuggles I can as has
Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loves the babies too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's been fun to watch her interact with
them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We also took a trip to the
Dells at the end of June, we celebrated Joe's birthday while we were there and
had a great time with some friends of ours and their kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stayed at the Wilderness on the Lake
(we've stayed there twice now) in a 2 bedroom condo which is perfect for
families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has 2 bedrooms, 2
bathrooms, a kitchenette, a living room, and a lanai with a TV, fireplace, and
hot tub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is our second time going
with our friends, they have 2 boys and it works out really well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My MIL came both times and stayed over on
Friday night and watched the kids for us so we could do dinner and get some adult
time too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year we only saw
fireworks once but it's one of Georgia's new favorite words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loved them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We've been doing a ton of swimming now that
it's finally warmed up, we seriously did not get warm summer weather until July
and it came in HOTTT. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also got
Georgia a wood play set back in the spring and Joe got that put together for
her and she's been loving it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
also working on our back patio, it's been a very slow work in progress, in part
due to the terrible weather we had for most of the beginning of summer, I
cannot wait til it's done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's going to
be perfect for drinking a glass of wine on while watching G play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Speaking of G, she has been
growing like a weed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is about 34lbs
and lost most of her baby fat and is now a skinnier toddler. We recently switched her car seat to forward facing! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She talks CONSTANTLY, like the girl never
shuts up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She knows sooo many words and
it's truly amazing to listen to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
will go on and on with some words she knows and some you have no idea what the
hell she's saying but it's so fun to listen to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her favorites are "ice cream truck",
"garbage truck", "bike", "swimming",
"quacky", "baby shark", "ice cream cone",
"ketchup", "water tower" (don’t ask lol), oh and
"mommy" of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to
take her for her first blood draw last week for a lead screening she was
supposed to have done when she was between 12-18 mos. (doctors office dropped
the ball) and it was pretty horrific since the phlebotomist accidentally pulled
the butterfly out of Georgia's arm before she was done drawing for both
vials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had to restick her in the
other arm and it was awful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple
days later Georgia got bit in the face by a dog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She stepped on the dogs tail accidentally and
the dog nipped her and cut her cheek and bridge of her nose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are both fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a dog that we love and trust and the
dog felt terrible and was scared after it happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Georgia was fine and over it in about 5
minutes but it was a stressful week that is for sure!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our drywall business has been
doing well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's been stressful at times
but overall we are figuring things out as we go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a post drafted about our decision to
start the business but I never hit publish on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you didn't know, last year right after our
miscarriage in November Joe decided to finally quit his job and start his own
drywall business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had done drywall
for several years in the past with both his dad and his uncle before getting
into the laborers union where he did field tiling for close to 10 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had tossed around the idea for about a
year to start his own business doing drywall and he finally bit the bullet and
went for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Owning a business is a ton
of work and a ton of commitment and money, but overall it gives him some
freedoms he hasn't had in a long time and it's going well so far!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As far as expanding our
family, we are still on hold for that at this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's been on my heart a lot lately but there
are two new babies in our tribe that have probably just put me in my feelings
about another baby for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really want
to have the ERA done but my clinic in Georgia doesn't do them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've been talking a lot with an RE that I connected
with on Instagram who is located in Chicago and she says that based on my
history I'm the perfect candidate for the procedure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ERA is endometrial receptivity assay and
you basically go through a mock cycle and they do a biopsy of your endometrium
to determine if you're getting the right amount of progesterone at the right
time for implantation to occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cost
is about $2000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have 3 frozen embryos
left in Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've even looked into
possibly relocating them back to Chicago which would cost about $750 to get
them moved but we would have less travel costs for future transfers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hardest part of all of that is that we
wouldn't get to see our donor nearly as often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having our embryos in Georgia allows us all time to get together and
visit with each other and allows Georgia an opportunity to be with her genetic
siblings and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not quite ready
to make any decisions about it yet, I still want to get through the summer and
through a few other big financial things (property taxes) before we make any
decisions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
Taking a break from treatments has been hard but necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly I thought by now we'd definitely have
another transfer under our belts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, I
thought I'd have another baby in my arms too but that just isn't the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thought of the finances alone frustrates
me so much, I am so bitter about losing our infertility treatment insurance
coverage last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I think
about how much fun we have had this summer and how challenging some of the days
have been with Georgia I know we made the right decision in waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is such a free-spirited, free-thinking, independent
little person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her emotions are BIG right
now and she is extremely defiant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
marches to the beat of her own drum and in the long run I know this quality
will be really important to who she becomes in the future but right now it is
exhausting and frustrating some days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Constant no's from her, sass, not listening, and fighting me on so many
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've got a wild child that's all
I can say. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hope everyone who reads this
is doing well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I have to continue to turn off commenting because I get an influx of spam comments and I don't know how to stop them. If you have any ideas or have a comment or question for me please feel free to email me at babyridleybump@gmail.com</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-89120431292618506192019-05-28T19:38:00.002-05:002019-05-28T19:38:36.317-05:00Sleep Training Progress & Success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I want to give a little
disclaimer with this as I usually do with these types of post topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am referring to this as "sleep
training" however I know that term typically gets associated with the cry
it out (CIO) method and this simply is NOT any form of CIO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do not leave Georgia unattended to cry for
lengthy periods of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The longest we
let her cry was 2 minute intervals and I was right next to her when we did
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is just our personal
preference</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In
my <a href="http://www.babyridleybump.com/2019/05/the-scoop-on-sleep.html">last post</a> I discussed how our sleep struggles started; what our habits and routine
were since we brought her home, and how she became dependent on me being next
to her in order to go to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall
it has caused a lot of stress and unnecessary frustration because bed time
success relied heavily on me and could sometimes take up to an hour so I finally decided to get help from a <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">pediatric sleep consultant</a>.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">A few weeks ago Carla and I spoke and she gave us our 17 page plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It came full of details about what her sleep
space should be like, what her naps and day should look like, how to deal with
crying at bed time, and what her routine would be going forward. She also gave me suggestions (with Amazon links) for certain products that might help the process be easier!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The routine she presented</span> wasn't much different than what we were
already doing, but we needed to stay committed and consistent with what she was
telling us in order for this to be successful.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">We
began on Saturday May 4th. <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">Carla</a> and I had our consult that morning and afterwards I dropped Georgia off at my parents and explained the new routine to them. No more would they be allowed to put her in the car and drive her around til she fell asleep. I told them that they would have to lay her down in her bed with the lights off, curtains drawn, and leave her by herself. I explained that they could be in the room with her but the overall goal was for her to go to sleep on her own without anyone in the room. I left them to be the first ones to start our new routine and she went right to sleep with just a couple minutes of fuss. That evening also went surprisingly well too! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">We made a few adjustments and our new routine now looks like this in
the evenings: 6:00pm dinner, 6:30pm bath, brush teeth, pjs, light reading or
playing with no screen time, 7:00pm bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It's not much different than what we were doing before, however we did adjust bedtime to be a little earlier and have really tried to stick to the exact times each night to stay consistent. </span>Joe has been
working really late nights so it's been her and I which can sometimes be a
little challenging but overall we got it down pretty well.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Every
day we have had success. We are just about a month in and I cannot believe how well it has gone since day 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Georgia is now comfortable laying down in her bed with her blanket and binky
without me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I usually give her a kiss
and a hug when she lays down. I started off by sitting at the side of her bed for a few nights, then to her rocker, then at the doorway, and now I just lay her down and walk out. I started to tell her I was going to put Frank (our pug)
in his bed (which is in our bed, he can't jump up into it) and leave the room
for a few minutes. That was how I began getting myself out of the room before she was asleep. If she started calling for me or crying I'd stand in the door and make my presence known but never get in or near her bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> For the first few days I sat right next to her bed, I'd hold her hand, rub her back, tell her I was there but I couldn't get in bed with her. She'd pat the pillow next to her and say "mama come-me" and I'd tell her I couldn't but I was right there. It was hard, and it still is some times because I love to snuggle her but it's better for ALL of us. After a couple days right at her bed side I moved back to the end of her bed, and then a few days later into her rocker, then to the door. I spent a few days in each spot until I eventually was able to leave her. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Don't get me wrong there have been some tough nights. There were some nights she went to sleep in literal minutes and then there were some nights that took 30-60 minutes. The first night I had to use the timer for the 2 minute intervals of crying, that was the only time I had to do that. There were a few other nights of some pretty good cries, there were some nights of her asking "where'd mommy go" over and over and over; it was not easy but I was 100% committed. The going to sleep part for her she got really good at. She is doing very well with just being laid down in her bed with her blankie & binky, giving a hug and kiss, and turning the lights out. It's truly amazing. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The bigger struggle is sleeping through the night. She was notorious for waking up in the middle of the night and coming into our room. I'd pick her up and put her in our bed and she'd sleep soundly til morning. We didn't mind. We bed shared with her for so long and still love having her in our bed, but it was a habit I had to change and it was hard for both of us. Every time she wakes in the middle of the night and comes into our room I pick her up and put her back in her bed. It's tough sometimes getting woken up from a dead sleep and having to get my ass out of bed to put her back but she's been getting better with this too and being able to get herself back to sleep on her own rather than getting out of bed. We also recently added a <a href="https://amzn.to/2HtU9Qt">bed rail</a> which seems to help keep her in her bed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">For
naps she's also doing really well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
grandma and grandpas (my parents) she now goes to sleep on her twin size floor
bed, they have black out curtains as well and have been successful at putting
her in bed and letting her put herself to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At daycare the other two days she has never
had any issues going down on her own as that is what she has almost always done
since I started taking her there at two months. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">For the first two weeks, <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">Carla</a>
checks in every morning and she gives some general tips or praise which is
really nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was great that she touched base daily and reminded me on some of the harder days that what we are doing is
normal and fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One Friday morning I had
a moment of weakness and let her back in our bed around 4:30am after about 2
hours of her being awake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She came into
our room a few times and I tried to put her back into her bed but she got
herself worked up and upset about having to lay down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I ended up asleep (or trying to
sleep) in the rocker but she never did go back to sleep and continued to try to
get out of her bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was exhausted and
tired from fighting her so I brought her into our room and she fell right to
sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carla explained that they do
sometimes experience a regression and that she is starting to figure out the
change and possibly trying to fight it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It all made a lot of sense and I was really glad that she reassured me
that what I did was not the end of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The key to all of this working is consistency so allowing her into our
bed was not the best choice, but mama also needed her sleep too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Transitioning
kids is hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it’s a big thing
or a little thing, they sure do like and prefer routine (at least my kid does)
so making big changes like this all at once seemed pretty daunting to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew she could do it but I also felt bad putting
too much on her at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Changing bed
time around and taking the binky away for the majority of her day seemed like a
lot for her to handle but she's done really really well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kids are so resilient, it's amazing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know our next big one after we master this
bedtime thing will be potty training which we failed at earlier this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can't even being to tell you guys how much this has changed our lives for the better. I know it sounds corny and kind of extreme but you if you've struggled at bed time (which I know so many parents have) then you know what I mean when I talk about being frustrated and angry at bed time. I absolutely HATED going to bed in a bad mood all the time, annoyed and irritated and exhausted from laying in a dark room on a bed with black out curtains, sleepy oils, and white noise. I felt like the little time I could get for me at the end of the day I was so tired all I wanted to do was just crawl in bed. Now I am able to sit here and blog for awhile, I started watching a new series (not one that I have watched over and over again) because I actually have time to sit down and enjoy a little adult TV. It's amazing and overall I feel a huge relief and weight off my shoulders in the evenings. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I love about Carla is that she understands that sometimes life happens & that it's not the end of the world if things don't go exactly as planned but she also really tries to reinforce how much commitment it takes on the part of the parents. Consistency is key and for the first two weeks you may have to adjust some things, say no to certain things, cut things short, etc. in order to make it work but I will say it is SOOO worth it. I seriously never thought that we would be able to get out of the habits we were in. I didn't know where to start, I felt I was trapped in that situation and that I would just have to wait for Georgia to grow out of it which she probably wouldn't have done for a few years honestly. Once again social media proved its worth to me with this random chance encounter I had with Carla. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you are at all struggling, even in the slightest bit, reach out to <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">Carla</a> and give yourself and your family some peace. It is well worth it. She offers a free 15 minute consultation where you can chat with her and get some initial overall ideas of what she offers and what she suggests. I know a few of my followers have reached out to her already and have began their own new sleep routines. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's some great info shared by <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">Carla</a> herself regarding sleep:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">HOW MUCH SLEEP DOES MY BABY NEED?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>I often get asked how much sleep a baby needs, but there is no clear cut</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>answer. Just as adults need different amounts of sleep to function well,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>babies and toddlers need different amounts as well. However, we can use</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>guidelines based on age to help regulate their sleep needs and make sure</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>no one is over tired or under tired.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>For example, a 6 month old baby needs about 10 hours of sleep overnight.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>It is important that naps are taken regularly during the day, and should</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>account for up to 4 - 5 additional hours of sleep.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Cat naps are not considered naps; babies and toddlers need their naps for</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>healthy growth and development. If your baby doesn’t nap regularly, it is</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>important to teach him/her how to connect sleep cycles so sleep is not</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>interrupted. If a baby does not know how to connect sleep cycles, or uses a</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>sleep prop, they will wake often during the night, might wake too early in</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>the morning, and naps will not be consistent.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Another important factor to teach your baby and toddler healthy sleep</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>habits is to set up a safe sleep environment for all sleep. If you use the</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>same place for each nap and overnight sleep, your baby and toddler will</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>start to associate this space for sleep and it will be a happy place for them.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>This will also help to alleviate bedtime struggles. Your family will start to</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>look at bedtime as night’s beginning, rather than day’s end. This will make</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>bedtime a fun experience to look forward to, rather than dread.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Toddler’s sleep needs are different from a baby’s sleep needs. At 2 years</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>old, toddlers still need a solid nap of 2 - 3 hours in the middle of the day so</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>they can recharge their energy. Their overnight sleep should be around 11</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>or 12 hours, depending on how long their nap is.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>By 3 to 4 years old, toddlers will drop their daytime nap, so a consistent</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>bedtime routine and appropriate bedtime is very important. No one wants</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>an overtired toddler running around until all hours of the night!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Establishing a healthy bedtime routine and safe sleep space, for naps as</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>well as night time sleep, teaches babies how to fall asleep independently</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>and stay asleep. Studies have shown that proper amounts of sleep help</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>with learning and brain development. Healthy sleep habits and routines will</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>teach them independence and restful sleep which they will carry into</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>adulthood. In return, you will have peace of mind while your child is</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>sleeping and get some well deserved rest, too.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>If you have any questions about your baby’s or toddler’s sleep habits and</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>routines, or have any sleep challenges, I am happy to discuss them with</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>you. I am confident we can get everyone on a healthy sleep routine.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Sweet Dreams!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>-Carla</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>carla@slumberlandsolutions.com</i></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-26247418096532379912019-05-03T07:21:00.000-05:002019-05-08T07:05:33.846-05:00The Scoop on Sleep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Prefacing this by saying this is MY experience and what worked for US. Sometimes it didn't work which is why I'm writing this post to begin with. My choices for sleep may not be something that everyone agrees with and that is fine, please keep any judgement to yourself if you have any. I have turned off commenting to this post (not because of judgment but because of an influx of spammy comments) so if you have any questions or comments please email them directly to me at babyridleybump@gmail.com</i></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Babies and sleep...it's a mystery, it's one of those topics that is always highly discussed, one that people wish there was a magic solution to, one that gets criticized quite a bit, and one that can be a major struggle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll give you a little background. I was one of those people who swore they'd never cosleep or bedshare. I bought a Halo bassinet which I loved and was so excited to use. I assembled it well before Georgia's arrival and had it set up in our bedroom just waiting for her to come. In the hospital she slept well in the little bassinet that they left her in by my bedside as we slept. When we got home it was a totally different story. She HATED the bassinet, screamed those curdling newborn screams so loud there was no way anyone was getting sleep if we forced her to be in that thing. So for the first few nights home she slept right on my chest and I didn't sleep much at all because I was a nervous wreck having her sleep on me. I was nursing and she was eating every 2 hours so she was up quite a bit. I was having these jolts when I would fall asleep from the residual meds that were lingering around in my body after the csection and I was so fearful that I was going to throw her across the room accidentally or roll over on her so I slept very little those first few days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I ordered a Dockatot within just a couple days of being home and within a week of her being home she was sleeping soundly swaddled in her new little space. We all felt safe and comfortable about how she slept and we were all getting really good sleep. After about 8 weeks or so in her DAT between us in bed we moved her into the Halo finally. She slept there pretty well from about 2 months to about 5 months when she got too big for it. It was at that point she began bed sharing with us permanently. We have a king size bed and she would sleep at the top between us, we'd spread our pillows apart and make sure that she had no blankets around her. It worked out great for us especially since I was nursing it was so easy to feed her & get us both right back to sleep without having to leave our bed.</span></div>
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she was so tiny and hated this thing so much at first</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually it was time for her to move to her crib. She was about 15 months and I knew that we'd be doing our next embryo transfer for baby #2 so I wanted her to be transitioned fully into her crib by the time a second baby would come. Transitioning her to her crib was somewhat challenging. She never seemed to sleep soundly in it and would always end up back in our bed. I would rock her to sleep every night from when she was newborn all the way til she was close to two so once she was rocked to sleep I'd lay her down in her crib where she'd sleep for a couple hours before waking and then coming into our room. I was always too tired to put the effort into trying to get her back down in her crib so I'd take her into our bed where it was just easier to get us both back to sleep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually we realized that she might be better off in a full size bed because she'd sleep great when she was in our bed but terribly in the crib. We had already had a baby gate at her door and her room is right across from ours so we decided one weekend to make the switch. She was 22 months at the time. It was a very rough adjustment, a couple of weeks it took for her to really transition and not think that she just had a giant trampoline in her room to jump on and roll around on. It was a very hard 3/4 weeks and none of us were sleeping. Joe and I basically tag teamed it on sleep until she finally got through it and began sleeping soundly in her new floor bed. You can read all the details <a href="http://www.babyridleybump.com/2019/01/transitioning-to-toddler-bed.html">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the last few months since transitioning and even when she was in a crib it's become very clear that I am Georgia's crutch for sleep and have been all along. I have to be in the room with her in order for her to fall asleep. If I leave her when she's awake she calls for me, cries, gets out of bed, etc. until I come in and lay down with her. Once she's asleep I sneak out and wait for her to wake up in the middle of the night calling for me or coming into our room and getting in our bed. She has no idea how to self soothe and bed time is very stressful and frustrating most nights. Her room is darkened with blackout curtains, we use white noise all the way turned up, and I diffuse oils in her room to help calm her (Gentle Baby is our favorite) but none of those things matter if I am not there with her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's been very frustrating most nights. Of course there are nights when she goes down just fine without any issues, but some nights we fight because she doesn't want to go to sleep, some nights it takes her over an hour to fall asleep and I can't get anything done. I have just gotten to the point where I feel as though something needs to change before I lose my sanity. I am constantly going to bed angry and frustrated & those are the last two things I want to be feeling right before bed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One day on the good ol' 'gram I noticed I had a like on one of my photos from an account called <a href="http://www.instagram.com/slumberlandsolutions">Slumberland Solutions</a>. I instantly checked out her page and gave her a follow when I saw in her bio that she was a pediatric sleep consultant. Within a week or two I was messaging her and had a consultation set up. We had our first call which lasted about 15 minutes. She gave me a few tips like moving bed time earlier and taking away screen time before bed. We tried both of those things right off the bat and they seemed to help so I got back with her that week and we set up our next consultation. I gave her a bunch of information about Georgia's sleep habits including wake time, nap time, and bed time along with her routine for the rest of the day such as meals. Carla told me that over the next few days she'd come up with a plan for us to follow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">A few days later we followed up with a facetime phone call. She sent me 17 pages of a plan to put into place with Georgia. Our ultimate goal being that Georgia puts herself to sleep and soothes herself back to sleep if/when she wakes in the middle of the night. The biggest challenge for me is not putting her into our bed when she comes in the middle of the night. The biggest challenge for her is laying down without me right next to her. The basics of the very detailed plan are getting out of her bed, being consistent, only letting her cry for very short periods of time (2 minutes to start), and not putting her into our bed. Some of the challenges for us are that she is already on a floor bed so she isn't contained and that it's very light in her room even with black out curtains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Some of Carla's suggestions were a toddler sleep sack, a weighted blanket, a toddler alarm clock, and a bed rail. I also want to get <a href="https://amzn.to/2LAZlX4">these</a> black out blinds for her room to go behind the black out curtains so that it's much darker in her room. She has a west facing window and her curtain although are "black out" are actually white so they don't offer much darkness and I think that makes it a lot harder for her to associate the time of night with bed time. For now we put tin foil over the window (suggested by another mama) and it worked perfect!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Another thing that Carla pointed out is the importance of her nap. We're lucky that at daycare she goes down on her own and always has. At my parents however, they have always been like me and rocked or held her to sleep. They have even been putting her in the car and driving her around to get her to sleep so they are having to change their routine with her as well. At their house she has a twin mattress on the floor and they have blackout curtains for her as well. They successfully got her down with our new plan on Saturday without any issues so we are hopeful that will continue. It's a big adjustment for all of us. Routine and consistency are the biggest keys to success with this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">A few other tips Carla suggested is that binky is only for sleep time (which is good because we are ready for her to get rid of it), no clutter in her bed (we do a fitted sheet, pillow, and a small blanket for her), bath and a full belly before sleep times, and to remember that the first few days are the hardest! So far she is totally right! We have had success but it hasn't come easy and without challenges but I am 100% committed to doing this as hard as it has been. On top of this Joe was sick and Georgia was also slightly sick so the timing wasn't ideal but I know it's something that we ultimately all need to make our lives a little easier and less stressful. Night one and two were very challenging and lots of tears were shed by both her and I, night three was a totally different story. Within about 7 minutes she was asleep with no tears or fights at all. I couldn't believe it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I will continue to keep you guys updated. If you have any sleep struggles yourself I urge you to give <a href="http://www.instagram.com/slumberlandsolutions">Carla</a> a follow or check out her <a href="https://www.slumberlandsolutions.com/">website</a>. She has been wonderful and I love her methods. She does not typically include any CIO in her plan unless requested by her clients so if that is a route you're considering be sure to let her know. As always, please email me with any questions or comments I'd love to know if you've done any sleep training with your kids!</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-37014242427234232422019-04-28T19:49:00.001-05:002019-04-28T19:51:26.895-05:00Natural Deodorant & Making the Switch <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So this post is not at all sponsored, I just wanted to give you all some of the information that I collected over the last several months of using a more natural deodorant. I tried several and I've had varying experiences with all of them. I'll be honest too, I'm a pretty sweaty person so I need a deodorant that works well. I knew that I really wanted to switch out my deodorant for something cleaner because of how harmful aluminum is to us. Traditional antiperspirants are made with aluminum which clogs our pores which traps sweat (and the aluminum) inside. Not only does our body need to rid itself of toxins, aluminum has been linked to things like breast cancer and Alzheimer's so those are some pretty big reasons to consider switching. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first natural deodorant I tried was <a href="https://www.tomsofmaine.com/products/deodorant-antiperspirant">Tom's of Maine</a> right after Georgia was born. I was going to yoga in the mornings with my mom for about 3 weeks before I returned to work and between that and the uptick in hormones I definitely did not choose a great time to try and switch to a more natural product. Overall I liked it, however it literally lasted for about 10 minutes into yoga and then I just smelled. I really knew nothing about natural deodorants at that time except for the fact that this one wasn't working so I gave up on it and went back to Secret.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fast forward another year, I knew I wanted to try again. Deodorant just seemed like one of the easiest products to switch out. All that aluminum in our traditional deodorants such as Secret and Dove are just plain BAD for us and there are sooo many natural options out there I knew that something would have to work for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My first choice was <a href="https://shop.schmidts.com/collections/deodorant">Schmidt's</a> although once again I was off to a rocky start because I bought it in July and it literally melted in my car so it turned into a paste that I had to apply with my fingers, however I liked it and it worked well, I figured I had ruined it so I moved on to something else pretty quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My second choice was <a href="https://www.nativecos.com/products/coconut-vanilla-deo-womens">Native</a>. I liked the Coconut Vanilla scent and I used it for months. I thought I had found my replacement. I wasn't having any issues with it and it worked really well at keeping me dry and not smelling. I went through two sticks of it before I noticed I was getting a really bad rash under my armpit. I didn't think too much about it being caused by the deodorant because I had been using it for months with zero issues and I was also having some skin irritation on my legs so I again, I wasn't thinking the deodorant was the issue. I kept using the Native despite my arm pits and how painful they had become. </span></div>
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both of my pits were like this for months!</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually it got so bad I made an appointment with my dermatologist. They gave me a prednisone prescription and some steroid cream & sent me on my way but never mentioned anything about my deodorant. Two weeks later after the prednisone and steroid cream most of it had cleared on both my armpits and my legs but there were still some spots. I saw a different doctor this time who mentioned the possibility of my deodorant. He said I either had eczema (which I've never had) or contact dermatitis which is basically reaction to a product on the skin. He also recommended I start Cetaphil lotion and wash so I went straight to CVS and picked those two things up along with a stick of Dove. I didn't care how bad it was for me, I had never in my life had a reaction like that from it or Secret which were the two I had always used. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, I really wanted to make better choices so I gave some other natural options a shot. I realized that baking soda was the culprit in my rashes so I refused to use anything that had any baking soda in it. I started with <a href="https://www.thecrystal.com/">Crystal</a>. I loved the concept of it--made of salt minerals that don't clog the pores like most other deodorants, however it just didn't cut it for me. It's a liquid that rolls on which was a very hard adjustment for me in itself, then I'd feel by the time I got to work I already needed to reapply and it didn't hold up to my smell at all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My next choice was <a href="https://www.piperwai.com/">Piper Wai</a> which is an activated charcoal deodorant. You can but it in either a jar or a stick. I actually was given a jar of it from a friend who tried it and didn't have any luck with it. Although it worked better than the Crystal, I hated the application and the smell. It's a paste that you apply about a pea sized amount on your finger tip and let melt under your arm. The stick might've been a better option, but I was pretty much over spending money on these natural deodorants that were not working and that were not cheap, I tried Piper Wai for a couple weeks but I was starting to feel a slight irritation again with it and did not want to take the chance although it is baking soda free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For a couple weeks I went back to Dove again. I didn't care at this point, it was the only thing that went on comfortably, kept me smelling clean, wasn't irritating my skin, and actually worked all day. But I did some further looking via the Think Dirty app and was able to find a deodorant called <a href="https://honestlyphresh.com/">Honestly pHresh</a>. I went with Tropical Blossom scent and not only does it smell soo good, it hasn't given my any issues at all. It keeps me 90% dry all day, it's baking soda free, and I feel like the price point is best at just $10. I asked them for a discount code and they gave me FREE shipping with code phree2019!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm continuing to keep comments turned off due to high volume of spam so if you have any questions or comments regarding this post please email me at babyridleybump@gmail.com</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-72980119437835541312019-04-16T08:39:00.001-05:002019-04-16T08:39:57.267-05:00Postponing our Next Transfer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YRa3ouxDlJQ/XLXbGhvyRVI/AAAAAAAAqYw/gBL10TTooBkcqJe-9SwBNlPqH8fA4hdNwCLcBGAs/s1600/lifestyle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YRa3ouxDlJQ/XLXbGhvyRVI/AAAAAAAAqYw/gBL10TTooBkcqJe-9SwBNlPqH8fA4hdNwCLcBGAs/s640/lifestyle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, the title kind of sums up our plans, but I get messages regularly asking about our next transfer so I thought I'd just put all the details here for anyone who wants to know. A few weeks back I mentioned a possible May transfer in my Instagram stories, which was really where I thought we'd be headed come next month, however my intuition was telling me something different so we have shifted gears a bit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Post D&C I just really didn't know what the future was going to be. I knew I wanted to do another transfer (we have 3 embryos left) however I was also fearful of going down the path of miscarriage again. We experienced 2 pregnancy losses last year, one in July and one in November of 2018. Our first loss is what is referred to as a chemical pregnancy basically meaning very early loss. We didn't even go in for an ultrasound, we knew based on our betas that the pregnancy wasn't viable. Our second transfer the betas came back amazing. Very high and more than doubling so we were very certain that we had a thriving baby only to find out at our first ultrasound that the embryo had split and I had a blighted ovum (empty sac) and a baby who had stopped growing around 6 weeks with no heartbeat. It was devastating and it was the hardest part of our journey to hear those words. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had a D&C 11 days later and I knew that I would need time to recover. I bled for 3 weeks, then at 4 weeks I had my first period post D&C. At first I thought that we would go back for our next transfer in March but the holidays flew by and before we knew it we were already into February when I realized that it wasn't going to happen in March. Not only did we go through a pregnancy loss in early November but at the same time Joe decided to quit his job and start a business so we had a lot on our plates at that time. Starting a business has been a challenge but in a good way. A lot of our finances have gone towards making sure our business is successful right off the bat and now that our transfer is 100% out of pocket it was going to put us in a pretty tight spot financially if we were going to transfer this spring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was a lot to consider but my mind was made up that we'd do a transfer come May. That would give us some time to get ourselves into a better spot financially and it was sooner rather than later. Something was telling me though that maybe we should wait. We really wanted to finish our back patio which was going to be a few thousand dollars and I wanted to invest in a nice swing set for Georgia to give her a space to play this summer now that she's older. I also had been really struggling with Georgia going through some of the typical "terrible twos" stuff and I couldn't fathom being pregnant with a toddler at the time. Mama's going to need her alcohol this summer! I knew that deep down the right thing to do was to wait. And I don't mean wait like a month, I mean wait several months, like until summer is over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I realized that I want to give Georgia as much attention as possible and provide her with as many experiences as we possibly can and I don't want anything to be in the way of that so I knew that waiting really was for the best. It's going to be hard but with how quickly time is going I know the summer will fly by and I want to make the most of it with my family. Most of us know this all too well when it comes to infertility, if there isn't a set back or an intermission in our plans at some point can we even say we've experienced infertility to the fullest?! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It's hard because I wanted our kids to be close in age, but I've again learned the lesson about relinquishing control of things that I really have no control over. A transfer this fall would put our babies over 3 years apart, but I know that that is OK and that there is nothing more I can do about it at this point. Making the decision to wait does give me a little sense of control over the situation too, even though it's not exactly what I wanted, it is for the best at this point. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Commenting is still turned off due to so many spammy comments, but if you have any questions or comments you can send them directly to me via email <a href="mailto:%7Bbabyridleybump@gmail.com">{babyridleybump@gmail.com</a>}</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-78731484674746744162019-04-10T07:48:00.000-05:002019-04-10T07:48:01.420-05:00Our First Zoo Trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TbB8vP4BhUM/XK1LYxatjqI/AAAAAAAAp8A/GiWD4vL4OTsA4iRCtBDZTH6Xj0vEYb8GwCLcBGAs/s1600/12DBCE57-EF68-418B-A283-A64E95768718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1051" data-original-width="1051" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TbB8vP4BhUM/XK1LYxatjqI/AAAAAAAAp8A/GiWD4vL4OTsA4iRCtBDZTH6Xj0vEYb8GwCLcBGAs/s640/12DBCE57-EF68-418B-A283-A64E95768718.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The weather finally decided to play nice for a couple of days so Joe and I took off work on Monday and decided to take Georgia to the zoo for her first time. It was such a blast! I think I was probably more excited than she was. We don't have any zoos in our hometown so we had to basically just decide what town we wanted to drive to. The one zoo we haven't been to that I wanted to try was still closed for the season so we decided to head to Brookfield which is a northwest suburb of Chicago. They have a large zoo that has been around forever and one that I have been to dozens of times. My parents took us there often when I was a kid and it felt great to go back for the first time in at least a decade. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Georgia is now to the point that she is getting heavy to carry but still wants to be carried often. I didn't expect her to walk too much but she certainly loves to run around and be free, however we put in a lot of steps that day and never would've been able to carry her the entire time. We finally got to try out our new stroller from <a href="https://hicolugo.com/">Colugo</a> and it did not disappoint! Colugo sent me this stroller back in February, but Illinois winter was brutal and we didn't go really anywhere that a stroller was needed so I had been dying to try it out. My original thought with this stroller was for traveling to Georgia (amongst other places) for our next embryo transfer. What really drew me to this particular stroller was not only its adorable design but it's ability to fit into an overhead compartment on a plane. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unfortunately we have decided to postpone our transfer a few months (more to come on this soon) so my hopes of using it on a plane are also postponed. Luckily though the zoo became a great place to try it out for the first time! So during the week at the zoo, 90% of the people there are moms with their kids so there are lots and lots of strollers all over the place. I was really paying attention to all of them and was overall really happy that we brought this smaller "umbrella" style stroller with us vs. a larger stroller like our City Mini. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our first stop at the zoo was to the underwater viewing of the dolphins which of course Georgia determined were sharks. She is OBSESSED with baby shark (just like every other child in the world) so all sea animals were "sharks". We were able to easily transport the lightweight stroller down the set of stairs to the viewing area and then on the way back up realized there was a ramp for all of us parents with kids to easily get up and down. I was really surprised but Georgia was very content to ride in the stroller for more than half of the day which made it easier on us not having to carry her or chase her the entire time.</span></div>
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doing the baby shark dance</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I love about this stroller in particular is a few things. One, its super easy to fold, you can do it one handed, Two, its main layer is machine washable. Three, it has a shoulder strap on the stroller itself for easy carrying AND it comes with a book bag style carrying bag. It also comes with a rain cover and 50 SPF sun shade, and rides super smooth with a very generous storage basket. This small compact stroller has more storage space than my full-size Baby Jogger. I can actually fit my Fawn Design diaper bag fully packed in the storage basket, something I can't do with my Baby Jogger. They also make an <a href="https://hicolugo.com/products/the-infant-bundle?variant=20593592238150">infant kit</a> which allows use of the stroller for brand new babies along with <a href="https://hicolugo.com/products/the-backpack?variant=13058850226246">back packs</a> and <a href="https://hicolugo.com/products/the-carrier?variant=14528636190790">baby carriers</a>. I cannot say enough about how pleased I am with the quality of this stroller. It is probably one of my favorite pieces of baby gear and I'm glad that Georgia still needs a stroller sometimes because I'm absolutely loving using it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Georgia's favorite part of the zoo was the all of the sea animals (again with the love for Baby Shark) and the geese that were roaming all over. She also really loved all the "kittys" as there are several at Brookfield and almost all of which we got to see pretty closely. Lately her behavior has been a challenge to say the least but she did a really amazing job and was overall really happy for the entire day. She got upset one time when we were done with lunch, there was a playground that we let her play on for a few minutes after we ate and she did not want to leave when it was time to continue on looking at the animals, but she spared us a public meltdown which was a relief!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm so so excited to have more adventures like we did at the zoo. My goal for the spring and summer is to make it as memorable as we can. I know that Georgia won't remember it but she is growing and learning so much and I want to give her as many opportunities to explore and learn and have fun as we possibly can. I'm thankful that <a href="https://hicolugo.com/">Colugo</a> was able to make the trip even more enjoyable by making it easier for us to get around for the day. I can't wait to share more with you all through this next season of our lives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">PS. I have turned off commenting and plan on doing so on future posts because of so much spam. I'm not sure how else to combat the 75+ comments I get per post that are spam. If you have a question or comment please feel free to email me at babyridleybump@gmail.com</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-60509187900531169282019-03-19T06:52:00.000-05:002019-03-19T06:52:41.269-05:00Transitioning to Spring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are finally seeing somewhat warmer temps here in Illinois and it's been amazing! That along with the longer days (although I seriously curse daylight savings time) has really been putting me in the mood for getting my wardrobe ready for spring! In Illinois spring can mean a lot of things and mother nature an be in all 4 moods (seasons) in one day so having a variety of versatile pieces is important. Some days it may start out 20 degrees and by the end of the day could end up in the 60's with a mix of rain and sunshine or even snow. The spring season is an absolutely crazy and unpredictable time of year as far as the weather is concerned in this part of the country. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I recently collaborated with <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/default.aspx">Pink Blush</a> and decided that a couple of transitional pieces would be best for me to highlight. They have so many amazing pieces, a lot of which work as both <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/default.aspx">maternity clothes</a> and non-maternity pieces that can be staples in the closet of any woman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I picked <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/p-42041-rust-floral-print-crochet-peplum-maternity-top.aspx?DepartmentID=2">this short sleeved floral print peplum top</a> that is seriously buttery soft and stretchy and has LOTS of room for growing. It could easily transition into a maternity top or would be perfect for any kind of outing where you might be stuffing yourself full and need something a little flowy and forgiving. I paired it with leggings but the dark red color would look amazing with either a light or a dark wash of denim too. And just to be safe, throw a cardigan on over it when you're not sure what mood mother nature will be in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">For my second piece I thought, "date night" or something that could easily go from day time/work attire to night out attire. I love this <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/p-44152-black-floral-lace-long-sleeve-blouse.aspx?DepartmentID=2">lace detailed black top</a>. First, you can't go wrong with black. It flatters literally everyone. Second, the material is so soft. The sleeves make it perfect for a little cooler of a day but you could easily pair this with black or denim shorts to make it into a fun outfit for a cooler summer night. This is an outfit that I would wear to work and then could easily meet up with the girls for a glass of wine or head out to dinner with the hubby for a date night without having to change in between.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I absolutely love both of these pieces and soooo many others from <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/default.aspx">Pink Blush</a>. Their selection really caters to everyones style and they have so much to choose from. I love that so many of their pieces can work for both maternity and non-maternity and that most of them can be dressed up or down. I am all for versatile pieces that I can create different looks with. Thank you to <a href="https://www.shoppinkblush.com/default.aspx">Pink Blush</a> for sponsoring this post.</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-11231294311157061702019-03-13T07:06:00.001-05:002019-03-13T07:06:51.464-05:00Georgia's Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the most important things to consider when choosing to use a donor to help build your family is how to go about telling your future children. There have been studies done that prove the importance of telling them from a young age and not witholding any kind of information from them about their genetics ever. I firmly believe in this and the importance of telling donor conceived children from a young age. First and foremost, not telling them is simply saying that there is something to be ashamed about them and we all know that that is so far from the truth. This concept can be really hard for donor recipients to wrap their heads around. It takes time and there are always going to be parents who just don't see it this way and keep their children's story under lock and key. But for us, and so many other donor recipients, we take pride in our story and I know for me, I want Georgia to understand and own her story just as much as we do. We want her to know that every single thing that we did in our journey through infertility was for her, and was from a place of love. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know that our story is somewhat unique and having a known donor has many benefits, one being that we are able to keep in contact with each other, have an open relationship, and really become an extended family to each other. Despite all of this, I have always found it very important to begin telling Georgia her story from a young age. Looking at pictures of our donor and her family, teach her their names, and eventually beginning to explain how she came to be have all been part of the plan and from the beginning I knew that I wanted to make a photo book for her so she would have pictures to look at before she could understand words. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year I decided that it was time to create her book and gift it t0 her for her second birthday. I was so lucky to be able to work with <a href="https://www.artifactuprising.com/">Artifact Uprising</a> to create the perfect book that would help us tell Georgia her story. The process of creating the book was insanely easy and it basically turned out more amazing than I ever could've imagined. I chose a blush hardcover 10x10 book that ended up being about 50 pages. I chose the layout for each page and really loved how I could customize it and change it up as much as I saw fit. I wanted to add my own personal touch to the book by hand writing the story myself so I didn't add any text through their customization, I ended up leaving enough space on the pages to be able to write everything myself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I started with one of our wedding photos. I wasn't sure how far back I wanted to go with our relationship so I figured a nice wedding photo to open the book up to would work perfect. I wrote it in the words close to what she uses today, referring to myself as mama just as she does, and daddy just as she calls Joe. I told her that after we were married we wanted a baby right away and we tried and tried but we couldn't get pregnant. I told her that we had doctors help us and shared some photos of piles of needles, me having surgery, and negative pregnancy tests. I know so much of that she won't understand until she is much older, but I want her to be able to visually see what we went through. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I then went on to explain how I our donor came into our lives and shared some pictures from our first trip to Georgia when we met Amy and her family, and our second trip when we did our transfer. The bulk of the book is actually a documentation of my pregnancy If you've been around for awhile you remember I did the chalkboard updates similar to <a href="http://www.garvinandco.com/">Jessica Garvin</a> so I put a lot of those photos into the book and talked a lot about my pregnancy and how I felt during our gender reveal, shower, and all of the aspects about pregnancy I didn't know if I'd ever get to experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I shared our maternity photos and the details about how I went into labor and her birth along with some photos of her in her first few months of life and then I ended it and wrote about a full page on the very last page about how much she was wanted and how important she is to us and the rest of her family. I never ever want her to think that she wasn't wanted or was a "second choice" - I truly believe that the universe placed us on this journey specifically to become parents to her and I hope that she can believe that too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One day I hope that Georgia can really understand and appreciate all that we went through for her. I know it will take her into her adult years before she really really gets it, when she desires herself to become a mother, that is when she will really understand. But I know that this book will help her to start learning all about who she is and where she came from. It will teach her about the selfless gift and sacrifice made to us by a total stranger (at the time) who felt a calling to help us it will teach her about the love between her parents and how determined and driven they were to overcome one of the hardest obstacles they would ever face, and it will teach her that she was wanted by so so many people besides just her mom and dad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hope that this can help someone who may be struggling with this part of their journey or someone who is unfamiliar with this kind of journey and maybe is curious as to if and how we go about telling our donor conceived children. To me there is really no better way to tell them their story than by giving them something like this that can help them visually see it at a young age, and really grasp it as they get older. You don't need a known donor or any photos of them to tell your children their story. If you're looking for a high quality, beautifully crafted place to make something like this for your own child (or a wedding, or a baby book, or any kind of photo book I'd definitely check out <a href="https://www.artifactuprising.com/">Artifact Uprising</a>. I wanted a book that would stand the test of time and be something that Georgia will be able to keep forever and maybe read to her own children one day and I am certain that with what I was able to create for her she will be able to do that one day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you ever have any questions about any part of the donor process including life with a donor conceived child, please feel free to reach out to me. I am always happy to answer any questions that I can based on what I have learned from my experiences as a donor recipient and parent to a donor conceived child.</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-59762357289613326912019-03-06T07:13:00.000-06:002019-03-06T07:13:35.487-06:00Georgia's Two Cool Birthday Party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can't believe our sweet girl is TWO already! Where has the time gone?! I've said this a hundred times but it is so crazy how slow time went when we were in our wait to be parents. Now it is absolutely flying and its so bittersweet to see our little girl growing up so quickly. This year I decided to do a "Two Cool" themed rainbow party for Georgia and I love how everything turned out! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My SIL made the cake and cookies and killed it as always. Our balloon garland came from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaperboyParty?ref=simple-shop-header-name">Paper Boy Party</a> on Etsy and I absolutely loved how it turned out and it was not much work at all! Georgia had an absolute blast at her party and totally fits the stereotype of a two year old. She has been so full of sass lately but also so sweet at the same time. She's talking up a storm and some of her favorite words are "sink" (Frank), "kitty", "wash", "sorry", "mama", "daddy", "Harper", "Reesey", "banana", "cookie", and so many more. I took her to her two year wellness the other day and she weighs 29.5 pounds which puts her in the 80th percentile for weight. She was 34" tall which put s her in the 60th percentile for height. She's wearing 2T clothes now but I don't expect they'll fit her for too much longer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She still has an amazing appetite as always, he loves to watch TV, play with play-doh, paint, sing baby shark, dance to baby shark, twirl around, take care of her baby, and torment the cat and dog. She loves to put her coat and shoes on, get dressed, take baths, and do puzzles. We have been cooped up in the house for what seems like forever and we cannot wait to get outside! I know that we are going to have sooo much fun this summer and we are ready for some warmer days! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two is definitely going to be a challenging year for us. She is seriously a wild child in every way shape and form. She is super sweet and friendly, she says hi to everyone we pass in the store and would probably go home with anyone. She is no stranger to temper tantrums and meltdowns and we argue about a lot of things already, probably just a glimpse into the future I'm sure. She rarely listens and has been in timeout a few times now but she is very sincere in her apologies and will easily make up for her mistakes with a kiss and a hug. We just love her to death and she amazes us every single day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>totally spelled "birthday" wrong here and had to have them redone!</i></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-41466534852158078652019-03-04T06:50:00.000-06:002019-03-04T06:50:04.545-06:00Easy Teeth Whitening at Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you're a parent you know how hard it can be to get things done for yourself. We often times put ourselves on the back burner and tend to put our families first. I know for me I do because I can never seem to find the time to take to do certain things for myself. Getting my hair done for instance takes a lot more planning and coordinating than it did before I had Georgia. One of my favorite quotes and things I try to remember as a mother is "you can't pour from an empty cup" basically meaning, taking care of others requires taking care of ourselves too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once the responsibility of a tiny human being became my norm, I learned quickly how hard it would be to do the simplest things that I clearly used to take for granted. Every "quick trip" to the store practically became a carefully orchestrated marathon that took hours vs. deciding on a whim I needed something and "running in" quickly to grab what I needed. The point is, once children come into our lives, finding time to do certain things becomes a challenge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the things that we can do for ourselves that is actually pretty easy is teeth whitening! For me it was something I needed desperately to do but just couldn't justify the cost of having it professionally done and I knew it was something I'd rather do at home. My teeth were definitely due for a refresher. I hadn't whitened them in a few years and being a daily coffee drinker & a red wine drinker my teeth were definitely stained and in need of some TLC. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/">Smile Brilliant</a> I was able to achieve a whiter smile in just a matter of a couple weeks. What I loved about it was that these weren't sticky strips that you struggle to fit on your teeth only to have them slide off. With <a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/">Smile Brilliant</a> you actually get a mold kit sent to you so that your trays fit your teeth perfectly. The kit also has whitening gel and desensitizing gel which is applied after each session. Once you make your molds you send them in a prepaid package and within about a week you have your own trays as long as there are no issues with your molds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.smilebrilliant.com/">Smile Brilliant</a> recommends whitening at night before bed so each night I would put my trays on before I put Georgia to bed. It worked best because the trays are left on for 45 minutes to 3 hours max so I'd put them on about an hour before my own bedtime and basically forget they were even on while I would put Georgia down. Then I'd apply the desensitizing gel for 15-20 minutes before going to bed. There were a few times that I whitened during the day, I just made sure that I didn't eat or drink anything for about an hour after and I stayed away from red wine & darker foods while I was in the process. For coffee I would drink iced and through a straw so that it didn't hit my teeth as often. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Although it did take a little commitment, I liked how easy the whitening process was. At first I was a little nervous about all of the steps of the process and if I would actually be able to commit to it, but overall it worked out really well and I am happy with my results. I think the hardest part was making the molds and even that part of it turned out to be pretty easy. You just have to read the directions first and take your time. I did end up with a little gum sensitivity which is totally normal in the teeth whitening process. I was able to put Vasaline on my gums before I put my trays in and that protected my gums from the whitening gel and helped with the feeling I was getting. You can also use coconut oil to protect your gums if need be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>like I said, I needed this bad.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was one of those things I decided to do for myself. It made me feel better about my smile and overall more confident. It was a fairly easy process and a fairly easy way to practice a little self-care while still doing my job as a mom. I am so excited to be giving away a whitening kit to one lucky winner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Click <a href="http://www.smilebrilliant.com/g/babyridleybump">here</a> to enter the giveaway!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can also save 15% off a kit of your own with code<br />babyridleybump15</span></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-44599334293373446862019-01-28T07:40:00.000-06:002019-01-28T07:40:25.052-06:00Current Toddler Favorites<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As requested I'm giving you a round up our current toddler favorites in the Ridley household. We are not huge fans of tons of toys, but we do keep a small rotation out in our living space for Georgia to play with. Toddlers attention spans are pretty short so I like to keep a variety of different things out for her. I've linked everything for you, either the version we use or something similar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">The biggest item and probably the most played with is her <a href="https://amzn.to/2Ckljpn">play kitchen</a>. She was gifted this by my SIL before she was even born and began playing with it very early on, she would use it to practice her standing and cruising. We moved it upstairs and it is easily her favorite. She loves to open and close the doors, and loves to use the utensils and flatware to set our dining room table. She also loves this Peppa Pig tea set. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We also recently got her this <a href="https://amzn.to/2VSsGxh">Minnie Mouse Vanity</a> and she loves it so much! She loves to sit at the little stool & play with her play faux make-up from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleLilyShop">Little Lily Love</a> on Etsy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><a href="https://amzn.to/2FseTri">These flashcards</a> are something that I bought her for Christmas, they were just a couple bucks and we've had pretty good success with them so far. Some days it's more of a 52 pick up than it is learning words, but for the most part I can get her to play along my way for 5-10 words before she is on to something else. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Our current favorite cup is this <a href="https://amzn.to/2SWnxCt">mini hydroflask</a>. If you've followed me for awhile you know my disdain for cups. There are not many that truly don't leak and we have tried many brands. The hydroflask does a pretty good job, but what I like best is it keeps her drink cold for the longest amount of time. We also like <a href="https://twistshakebaby.com/">Twistshake</a> baby sippy cups (use code LENARIDLEY20 at checkout for 20% off) and <a href="https://amzn.to/2SQE9vf">Camelback</a> but you do have to bite the straw on these to get the liquid so it took us a little while to get this one figured out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We bought Georgia the cheapest <a href="https://amzn.to/2D5pozl">Amazon Fire tablet</a> with this cute <a href="https://amzn.to/2AGrSTa">foam case</a> and it's been a hit for her. It is pretty slow I will admit, but I got it for $30 on Black Friday so I didn't have super high expectations for it anyway. We do have an original iPad mini but since it is so old it doesn't take updates anymore and also runs pretty slow. I was torn but didn't feel like spending several hundreds of dollars on an iPad for a toddler so this works perfect for our needs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Georgia's new favorite thing to do is "wash" she loves to wash her hands in the sink and play in the water. However it's kind of obnoxious to constantly do over and over. For her birthday we got her this <a href="https://amzn.to/2D6BdoY">Wash-up kitchen sink</a>. The sink pumps real water and it comes with a bunch of dishes to wash. I'm certain this will become one of her new favorites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I've shared these a few times on my Instagram, but these <a href="https://amzn.to/2FpwdxI">Crayola Color Bath Dropz</a> have been a huge hit! I've had to limit her to 2 of them per bath because she is obsessed. They come with blue, yellow, and pink but you can mix the colors to make purple, green, and orange as well. They're completely non-toxic as well which is important I think for most of us. This container has 60 fragrance free tablets. Also these do not leave stains! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">The <a href="https://amzn.to/2AHsU0U">toy Dyson</a> was also a big hit with Georgia as she loves to vacuum and loves anything with buttons. I had trouble getting this at first around Christmas because it was sold out everywhere but eventually came back in to stock just in time. Best thing about it is it has real suction so your kid will literally be helping you clean while they play. It's freaking genius!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">These are some of our current favorites but I'd love to hear what you all are loving in your homes now too. As we know toddlers lose interest so fast and we are always open for new and fun ideas! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: x-small;"><i>This post contains affiliate links.</i></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-36421398811217977312019-01-15T08:10:00.002-06:002019-04-23T18:54:24.462-05:00Donor Egg IVF proccess<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is a post I have been meaning to write for a long time & I've had a couple of questions about the process and a couple requests to do a blog post for it so I am finally getting around to sharing what the process is for using a known egg donor. I'm going to preface this by saying this...<em>every clinic is different and every clinic will have a different process, however, for the most part the physical aspect to the donor egg process is the same. There are several different donor programs including using a known donor, an anonymous donor, choosing your own, having your clinic do the choosing, and using a frozen egg bank. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you're new here to these parts you may not know the background of our story which is that after several years of infertility treatments (6 cycles of IVF with my eggs/9 total embryos transferred & ZERO pregnancies) we decided to go the donor egg route. Although no testing has ever been able to provide us with a clear diagnosis because everything has come back normal or negative, having a successful pregnancy via donor eggs gives us a clear indication that my egg quality is the culprit to our years of failed cycles. Choosing the donor egg route was something I was absolutely against in the early days of treatment. After 3 failed cycles (1 fresh/2 frozen) with our first clinic we switched clinics and had a terrible cycle, it was after that failed cycle that doctor mentioned that my eggs "appeared" to be poor and I should consider donor eggs. It took me 1 more clinic, 1 more fresh, and one more frozen cycle before I realized he was right and we began the donor egg process. In hindsight, donor eggs was the best decision we made on our journey to become parents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I will start with the beginning of our DE journey right after we decided we waned to use an egg donor. Before Amy our donor reached out to me I was in the process of looking through profiles of donors through our local clinic. It was kind of like a dating site, there were pages of photos that you could click on to view more info about each donor such as height, weight, hair color, eye color, ethnicity, schooling, family history, etc. and this is the process for several clinics. Shortly after I began my search our donor came into our lives. We had been friends on social media and she had felt a calling to help us. She messaged me with an offer to be our surrogate. Ultimately we were not ready for that step and she wound up donating her eggs to us instead. Amy had all the qualities that I was looking for in a donor; she was only 26 at the time she donated, she had 2 children of her own already, she was a nurse which I thought was amazing, and her husband was supportive of her choice to help us. On top of that she happened to look somewhat like me which was totally a bonus for us. Her an I connected very easily which was also really important to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">During the process of searching for a donor a lot of people want someone who is "proven" meaning that they have donated & a pregnancy has resulted from their eggs, however, all donors are "unproven" at some time and that is just a personal preference as are many of the qualities that a person can look for in their donor. Someone might want someone very well educated vs. a person who looks like them while another might not care much about education and wants to focus more on looks. These are all very personal considerations when choosing a donor. Some clinics will "match" donors and recipients based on the wants of the intended parents. The other option is looking at frozen eggs which are significantly cheaper since they've already been retrieved you don't have to pay for the stimming & retrieval portion of the process. Some clinics offer frozen eggs of their own, or you can use a place like Egg Bank to find frozen donor eggs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">For our DE cycle I knew that it made most sense for us to travel to Georgia from Illinois so that our donor didn't have to be away from her work and her family for an extended period while she went through stims. We didn't have any children so it just seemed easier for us to travel to them so I found a clinic in Augusta Georgia called Servy Massey Fertility Institute. When we went to Georgia for the first time to meet Amy and her family we also met our doctor for the first time and had a consultation & exam with him along with bloodwork. We needed to get as much done there as we possibly could so Joe also gave his semen sample at that time which they froze until we were ready to begin our cycle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Between March and end of May when Amy started her stims we got all of the legal part handled. In many clinics and donor programs the legal part (including fees) is included in the process, for us, using a known donor outside of our clinics donor program, we were required to find our own attorney and have our own contract made up to provide to the clinic. I used Sara Clay from Marietta Georgia who happened to be a lawyer who specialized in Reproductive Law. I basically just Googled "reproductive law" and found her and everything was done via email. It cost $750 and she wrote up the contract, we signed everything as did Amy and her husband and Amy provided her family and medical history as part of the contract. The contract is in place to protect both the donor and the recipients, basically stating that I cannot drop Georgia off at Amy's door and run and say she's her responsibility and Amy cannot claim that Georgia is hers and take her away. It's nothing that either of us would ever do but it is 100% necessary to protect both the donor and the recipient. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Once all the paperwork was signed & Amy completed & passed all of the necessary blood work we were given the green light to start our cycle. Amy did 100 units of Gonal F and 75 units of Menopur for about 11 days, stims are typically 10 days but they added on one extra day for her which is also very common. She was monitored on day 6 and again on day 8. During monitoring they will count follicles and take blood. She also incorporated Ganirelix (ovulation prevention) for a few days before retrieval. Our doctor was very conservative with her meds which I also liked. We were shooting for quality over quantity so it was important that her meds were kept low so she wasn't overstimulated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">On the day of retrieval you are put under anesthesia, the process takes about 20-30 minutes and they do ultrasound guided aspiration using a long needle that punctures your ovary and basically sucks the eggs out. Amy had 10 eggs retrieved. Once they're retrieved the embryologists go to work, they either use a process called ICSI where they select a single sperm and inject it into the egg or they let the sperm and egg fertilize on their own, sometimes both of these processes will be used, it's really up to your doctor to determine what is best for each case. Once the retrieval is done, the donor is finished with their part of the process. The next day you receive your fertilization report. Out of Amy's 10 eggs retrieved, 8 of them had fertilized which is really good. The two that didn't get discarded and the 8 that do are left to continue growing in the lab. On day 3 we got our embryo update, (not all clinics will do this) which was really good. Out of the 8 that fertilized, we had 6 that were thriving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">While the donor is stimming, the recipient is also taking meds to prep for the incoming embryo. Estrogen starts typically the same day as your period starts, my doctor also had me start baby aspirin at this time. Progesterone injections and suppositories also start about 10 days after the recipients period. These are the only meds typically required for a recipient, similar to prepping for an FET there are no stims, ovulation prevention, or triggers necessary when you are the recipient. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">5 days after the embryo has been fertilized it's time for transfer just like a normal cycle of IVF. The embryologist will typically pick the top graded embryo or embryos depending on how many are chosen to be transferred. Not all clinics will grade embryos and embryo grading does not at all indicate that a cycle will be successful. Poorly graded embryos certainly can still result in a full-term pregnancy and top graded embryos can also fail. Our embryologist told us we had a 4AA (top grade) embryo and 5 more that were heading to the freezer for future babies. Once we spoke to the embryologist we were sent back to prepare for the transfer. Most clinics will make you change into a gown of some type plus a hair net and socks & hubby's will sometimes be provided with scrubs and booties to wear. The transfer is usually pretty quick and consists of lying on a table with your feet in stirrups, just like you would for a PAP. A speculum is inserted followed by a catheter which contains the embryo. Your bladder is usually supposed to be full so that they have a clear view of the area via ultrasound and you can usually see a tiny little dot appear on the screen. Once the transfer is complete then you typically are required to lay down anywhere from 10-60 minutes depending on the clinic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">This is of course, just the process that I am familiar with for known donors. There are many programs out there and a lot of the details can vary. Donors are allowed to donate up to 6 times, sometimes they do back to back cycles which can cause a delay for the recipient. Another option that many clinics offer is a shared risk program where you split the cost with another recipient to help offset the cost. The eggs retrieved are also split so each couple gets an equal share of eggs. There are pros and cons to all of these programs, the biggest being that insurance covers NONE of the donors part so retrieval and meds are 100% out of your own pocket. Meds typically cost about $3-4,000 and the retrieval is usually between $15-20k. For us we were blessed with all of our meds being donated from others in the community along with a few from my local clinic who took care of monitoring me for the cycle since I couldn't be in Georgia for my baseline & monitoring appointments. However we did pay $13k out of pocket for the rest of the cycle along with the $750 legal fees plus travel to Georgia. Just like most infertility treatment, it's very expensive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">So that is really the technical part of donor eggs. The bigger part of donor eggs is the emotional part. There is a TON to consider and there are some scary things to think about, but ultimately your heart and your intuition will guide you (as it did for me) to determine if it's right for you. We have always been very open about our journey and that did not stop with egg donation, were were open and honest about it from the beginning and we have been lucky that we have had nothing but amazing support from friends and family. If someone was unsupportive I would do all I could to educate then about how families are built today, but I would never let an unsupportive person stop me from obtaining my dreams. As long as my partner and I were in agreement then no one else's opinion would take any toll on my decision. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">As far as a donor child's life, it's VERY important to talk to them about it early on in their lives. There is absolutely nothing from a donor conceived child to be ashamed of about their lives and hiding anything from them is unfair to them. They deserve to know where they came from, how they came about, and most importantly HOW MUCH THEY ARE LOVED AND WANTED. Without the desire a donor recipient has for a child, there would be no child, so make it known to them that they are so loved and so wanted. I want Georgia to be proud of her roots, I want her to know where she came from and the amazing sacrifice that was made for her by someone who literally owed us nothing. Even if she came from an anonymous donor, we would still share her story with her regularly and make it part of who she is. <a href="https://amzn.to/2D6XUsS">Here</a> is an amazing book I recommend about having the necessary conversations with your donor conceived child. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I hope that this can give some of you some clarification on the donor egg process. There can definitely be some challenges and some logistics to figure in depending on your situation. If you're unsure of the path to take my best advice is to reach out in our community on <a href="http://www.instagram.com/lenaridley">Instagram</a> or find a donor baby facebook group (there are several) where you can ask specific questions to people who have a variety of different experiences with egg, sperm, and embryo donation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">My friends over at FertilityIQ are working hard to provide this community with helpful information to equip you during your infertility journey, here are some links I found to be helpful <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/pgs-embryo-genetic-screening">PGS testing</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/embryo-transfer">Embryo Transfer Guide</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/egg-freezing">A Comprehensive Guide to Egg Freezing</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/the-ivf-laboratory/the-components-of-a-reliable-laboratory">Components of a Reliable Lab</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/icsi">A Dive into ICSI</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/male-factor-infertility">Male Factor Infertility</a>, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/ivf-in-vitro-fertilization/">IVF</a></span></i></span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-77474082005870727412019-01-09T07:05:00.000-06:002019-01-09T07:05:42.835-06:00Transitioning to a Toddler Bed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Prefacing this by saying <em>this is 100% MY experience, it was not pleasant or easy by any means, but it was what was best for us, it may not be best for you & you may not agree with it, and that is OK.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Most of you know that we co-slept and bed shared with Georgia since the day she came home. Her first days of life were spent sleeping on my chest because she would SCREAM inside the <a href="https://amzn.to/2SMfvM3">Halo bassinet</a> that I thought we'd have her in at first. Within 2 days of being home we ordered a <a href="https://amzn.to/2SG2WBT">Dockatot</a> because I was so fearful of her sleeping on me, especially after all the csection drugs that were in me, my body was acting very strange and jittery and I was not comfortable with her sleeping on me, but it was the only way we slept until our beloved Dockatot arrived. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We did the DAT for a few months then finally got her in the bassinet for awhile, then when she outgrew that she was in our bed full time bedsharing which we loved. I rocked her to sleep in the living room every night and put her down between us at the top of our king size bed every single night and we LOVED having her with us. I was nursing so it was the easiest for the both of us and Joe enjoyed having her close too. We would separate our pillows and give her enough space between us where she would be safe and comfortable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Once I stopped nursing at 1 year we let her continue to sleep in our bed for a few months but I really wanted her transitioned into her own room because we were going to be heading into a transfer for baby number 2 and I wanted her 100% transitioned into her own space before a second child arrived. I continued to rock her to sleep and would put her down in her crib every night and it worked out OK, but she would only sleep about 4-5 hours before waking and calling for me and would wind up in our bed every night. We figured that she was just used to a bigger, comfier bed & who could blame her. Our bed is amazing, its king size, we use flannel sheets, its just super comfortable and I think she was just so used to our bed that her crib just wasn't up to her standards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We decided that for Christmas we would get her a big girl bed. It was actually a gift from my parents to Georgia. Our plan is for Joe to build her a Montessori style frame around it, it will sit a little off the floor but won't be nearly as high as a regular bed but also won't be directly on the floor like it is right now either. We got the full size mattress in November & decided on a random Sunday in early December that it was time to open it up and start the transition. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">This was literally our first mistake. Our very first step in this process WAS A MISTAKE, and here is why. We started this on a Sunday, a Sunday that she was still sick (she had been the entire week prior) where her sleep had been whacky and off all week, she was taking longer and extra naps, she was sleeping like crap at night because she was so congested, she was also about to start going through some sort of regression because she was slowly starting to boycott bed all together and pushed her 6:30-7pm bedtime back to 9-9:30 or later some nights. IT WAS A SHIT SHOW in our house for 3 weeks with this new bedtime routine. Joe and I were exhausted, luckily we made a great team and tired to balance attempts at putting her down. He is game for staying up later so I would try at first then if it was getting late he'd take her for a bit and play with her or watch a movie, then I'd try to get some sleep and tag him out and go back in with her. It was a complete disaster all because our timing absolutely sucked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>this was her earlier in the week </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">What I will say about it all though is that the actual bed, was a great move for her. She sleeps great it in, she maybe wakes up once calling for me or crying, she still comes into our room every so often, but overall she sleeps great in it. It was the going down to sleep for us that we struggled with because she thought the bed was literally like a bounce house in her room, a place to play not a place to sleep, but now about a month into it she is really understanding that her bed is for night night and this where she sleeps. I am able to lay her down with her blankie and her "waddi" as she refers to her cup of water at bed time and lay next to her and she will actually lay there and not play and go to sleep, some nights it takes 15 minutes some it takes 30, but she is getting the hang of it and we are so thankful to be back to our regularly scheduled programming of an early bed time for her which is about 7pm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">A lot of people asked why we couldn't push her bed time back or cut out her nap all together to get her down earlier but here is a look at our day & why neither of those things would really work for us:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">5am -- my alarm goes off & I'm in the shower</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">5:30 -- Joe is getting up and so is Georgia, so she is up bright & early every week day - Joe gets her dressed (I lay her outfit out the night before) which is a huge help for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">6am -- we are out the door and headed to daycare by 6-6:10am</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">7am -- I have to be at work</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">11-12pm -- Georgia typically gets a nap somewhere in this ballpark range depending on her day and how it's going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">3:45pm -- I am picking her up from daycare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">4pm -- we get home and I let her watch TV for a bit while I get the animals cared for, mail opened, dinner started or at least figured out </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">5 -- I'm usually cooking dinner at this time, Georgia is playing, TV is still helping me babysit while I take care of laundry, getting her stuff ready for the next day </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">6-6:30 -- I give her a bath, get her in jammies, and we head into the living room where we turn off all the lights and watch a little more TV or read and have quiet time. We try not to let her get too riled up at this time</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">7pm - I'm usually heading with her into her room around 7 or a little after & she's typically been going down at 7:30 or 8 but we are slowly working back to a little earlier bed time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">This is why she cannot go without a nap yet, she is up too early and I can't expect her to make it the whole day without one. I'd have to put her down around 5-5:30pm and that just isn't feasible in our lives. It's also impossible for her to sleep in much later because we literally have to be out the door by 6am. On the weekends she'll sleep til about 7-7:30 if I'm lucky, and I'm happy to get a couple more hours out of her on the weekends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Overall the transition process was tough but it was because our timing literally sucked. We did such a poor job of timing it with her being sick. Every.single.day. I failed as a mother because I was sooooooo angry with her, with myself for choosing to do this at this time but the crib was already down and put away, I was going to bed angry and frustrated every night because she was protesting bed and I didn't know what to do. We use white noise every night, we diffuse lavender, we use lavender in the tub, we have quiet time, she goes to bed with a full belly, she has no night lights... then on top of that I started giving her Zarbee's melatonin to get her to sleep which I believe helped a bit, but overall it just took her time to adjust and she needed to feel better. I was desperate, exhausted, and truly just could not wait for whatever this phase was to be over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Although it was a very rough month and I hated bed time for weeks, I think the big girl bed is right for her. As I said, she sleeps great in the bed, plus its nice because now we can lay down and sleep with her if necessary. We skipped the "toddler" bed overall and went straight for a full size mattress on the floor and I think its been a great option for her for now. Eventually Joe will build her the bed frame and she'll be up off the floor but this does help if she for some reason gets up or rolls off, she doesn't have a big fall. We do have a gate at her door that we leave closed and her door is open so if for some reason she gets up and wanders she can't get out of her room, however that has not been an issue. Also, our bedroom is right across the hall from hers so I can hear her and I sleep very light so I've never not heard her. Even in my Nyquil induced nights when I was sick (I caught her stupid respiratory infection and fought it myself then for a couple weeks after her) I was able to hear her and tend to her just fine without incident. If we were father away we'd use the monitor and still keep her gate closed with the door open.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">So if you've stuck with me for all of this, in closing I will say, if your kid is doing fine in their crib, leave them there as long as possible. Don't introduce unnecessary or too many transitions at once--we want to get rid of the paci and start potty training too, but we won't be dumping both of those on her at once otherwise we will all literally probably kill each other. If you do decide to transition to a full size mattress, it may be wise to leave the crib up for a couple weeks incase you're regretting it and need to go back to the crib. I wanted to every single day but we stuck to our guns and decided to keep the bed in place. The number one question I get asked is how did I know Georgia was ready... I knew because she had always bedshared and that was what she was used to, the crib was not as desirable to her and it never really was. She tolerated it for a few months, but that was it, tolerated it but didn't love it. I can tell by how well she does in the bed that it's what is best for her. I think she could've probably skipped a crib all together in all honesty. If you're starting this transition I'd love to hear from you to know how you knew your child was ready, did you have any specific indications? </span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-10999383031279729512018-12-28T07:01:00.000-06:002018-12-28T07:01:33.328-06:00Christmas 2018 & Georgia's 22 Month Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gosh my blogging habits lately are embarrassing! I haven't updated in a while and I apologize for that! I used to be so set on posting 1-3 times a week now I'm lucky if I get a post a month in. Time has been flying and the season was incredibly busy. We did lots of fun things like breakfast with Santa at the Peru Fire Department and at one of our favorite restaurants Joy & Ed's. We also drove through the Celebration of Lights and tried to do as much Christmas stuff as we possibly could over the last few weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christmas came very quickly this year, but not before Georgia ended up being diagnosed with RSV! Merry Christmas to us! She was sick with a "chest cold" type sickness the first week of December. She seemed to be better the following week and then all of a sudden last week seemed to be hit with the same thing again just 10x worse! I ended up staying home with her Thursday and taking her to her doctor. They immediately ordered us to the hospital for labs and a chest x-ray. She was tested for influenza, strep, and RSV and unfortunately tested positive for the RSV. RSV is a virus so there is nothing to do but let it run it's course. We did get an antibiotic, however they do not treat viruses. We got lucky though that by Sunday she was feeling much better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On Saturday our sweet girl turned 22 months! I can't believe that we are winding down to her 2nd birthday already! She has quite the personality and is seriously just a little ball of fire. She has so much energy and spunk. She loves to talk, just like mama I guess, although she doesn't know a ton of words she's got a little arsenal of the ones that we can understand such as hat, shoe, water (waddi as she calls it), food (duh), open door (her ultimate favorite thing to say for ANYTHING that has to be opened) wash, bath, potty, kitty, Frank, mama, daddy, and so many more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last few weeks have been an absolute nightmare as far as sleep is concerned and I think it started from her being sick. She was protesting bed time and not going down until 9-9:30. We were spending 2-3 hours trying to get her down, she was absolutely fighting it tooth and nail. We tried Hyland's Calming Tablets, Zarbee's Melatonin, letting her play til she was exhausted, warm milk, getting her full, giving her a lavender bath, diffusing lavender in her room, I mean you name it, we tried it. We switched nap times earlier, we switched them later, we tried (and failed) and taking away her nap entirely. The girl just really didn't want to go to bed. We are thinking at this point it was a phase of some sort that I believe she is finally starting to get over!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She is absolutely loving bath time, she loves to "wash" her hands as well. She mentions the "potty" pretty often and we are hoping that potty training is on the horizon. She loves Baby Shark and any of the Cocomelon videos (she calls them "baby") as well as Shrek and Despicable Me 3. She is currently in clothing anywhere from 18-24months to 2T. She weighs 29 pounds and I'm not sure how tall she is right now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For Christmas she was feeling much better! We started out with our annual stay at Starved Rock State Park where we swam in the pool, had dinner, played games, and opened gifts. It's one of my favorite Christmas festivities. We always stay on December 23rd so it's a fun way to kick of Christmas. She did great this year and had so much fun in the pool. Christmas Eve we spent most of the day relaxing before we headed to Joe's moms for early dinner at 4. His mom and siblings & their families headed off to church and we headed over to my uncles house for Christmas Eve with some of my moms family. We then head back over to Joe's moms for our annual Christmas PJ tradition where we read a couple stories, drink our glass bottle Coke's, and open gifts. It's one of my favorite traditions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We didn't get much at all for Georgia this year as she still doesn't understand Christmas and we don't welcome tons of toys and junk into our home that she won't play with. We did get her the kids Dyson along with some play make-up, some chalk and a chalk pad book, and some flashcards. That's it! She got lots of other clothes and a few toys from other family members so she fared well. She really had no interest in her gifts in fact when we woke up she sat at the kitchen counter with her waffles watching her "baby" videos for a good half hour before I made her come over to open presents. I know that as the years progress she'll become more interested but this year she just wasn't into it and that is OK! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joe's mom, sister, and her husband came over for a quick visit and then my parents came over and we had breakfast and opened more gifts. It was a very low key morning spent in PJ's relaxing and playing with all the stuff we got. We were supposed to go to my aunts at 12:30 but Georgia had just fallen asleep at that time so we didn't get there til almost 2. We stayed for a quick meal and a couple drinks and then headed back home to relax. It was such a whirlwind few days and we were all exhausted! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As quickly as Christmas came, it's already over! I am ready to get my house back in order but I sure do love my tree this year and will be sad to see it go. Unfortunately I am back to work for the rest of the week and NYE. We have dinner reservations with my aunt and uncle to ring in the new year this year which should be mostly low-key and quiet. I am so ready close the door on this year. It was relatively tough for us these last 5 months as we suffered 2 pregnancy losses of 3 potential babies. I am terrified to go into another transfer and experience failure again, but I know that I want to at least give it a try. We aren't sure yet when that will be but I will hopefully have an update soon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a Happy New Year!</span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-33569812715808112352018-11-20T16:08:00.002-06:002018-11-20T16:08:07.563-06:00Post D&C<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just looking at my list of posts and seeing one say "Baby Ridley Number 2 Coming June 2019" followed by the next one titled "No Heartbeat" is absolutely heartbreaking. I don't know why but I am still in this fog of disbelief about what has unfolded over the last 2 weeks. What went from our first time seeing our baby and hearing it's heartbeat changed for the worst in an instant, and now it's all officially over physically. All I can think about is how unfair this is and wondering how I will ever get myself to the point of going through this again. I am SO fearful of another failed cycle, I can't even imagine having this not work for a 3rd time (or a 10th time really) and losing another one of our precious embryos. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am trying so hard to get passed this, although I've experienced loss in the past, this one has been the worst, probably because things seemed to be going so well, because we actually made it to an ultrasound before realizing it was over. It was the farthest along loss I've had and having to have a D&C seemed to make it 10 times worse. All I can think about is how I am supposed to be pregnant right now. How our baby shared it's due date with my husband's birthday, how everything seemed to be meant to be and aligned so perfectly, yet it was taken away so quickly. I've been crying all week at work and I am still just so unbelievably sad about it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The hardest part to me was having to carry for 2 weeks before they were able to do surgery. I know this is nothing compared to mama's who have to carry their babies stillborn until delivery, I know that a D&C at six weeks is common, and that things could've been much much worse and that others have had it much much worse, but that doesn't mean that it hurt any less. Sitting in the hospital Friday thinking <i>I should be 9 weeks pregnant, yet here I am getting my baby scraped out of my uterus</i> as I waited for a surgery which ran over 2 hours late was absolute torture. Every nurse, phlebotomist, and staff I encountered who knew what I was there offered their condolences which was sweet but also made it an even tougher day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The D&C itself took about 15 minutes, however the surgery is about an hour total. I got checked in around 9:30 and then headed to the lab where I did a blood draw and a pregnancy test. I told them I would definitely be getting a positive result since I was there for a D&C, they said they weren't sure why the test was ordered, but I had to do it. I then headed up to day surgery where I got changed, had an IV placed, spoke to my OB, the anesthesiologist, and had to wait very patiently for them to take me back. It was a very long morning and unfortunately they got backed up so my surgery that was supposed to be at 10:30 didn't happen until after 12:30. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They finally took me back, had me move onto the operating table, gave me a sedative via IV, then put the breathing mask on me. I took one deep breath and I was out. I woke up in recovery a short while later and felt fine. They gave me a heavy dose of anti-nausea meds before I went in so I had no motion sickness after which I was thankful for. They finally let me go back to my room where Joe was waiting and gave me a blueberry muffin and a turkey sandwich. My OB told Joe all went well. They took some final vitals on me, let me get dressed, and then we were basically out the door heading home. We stopped for my prescriptions at CVS and grabbed a Little Caesar's hot & ready to bring home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Georgia slept over at grandmas that evening so I was able to go home and hop on the couch and relax for the rest of the evening. I was instructed to take 600mg of Motrin every 6 hours, she said to keep up on it because not only does it help with pain but it also helps the bleeding. I've had very minimal bleeding luckily. She said no tampons for 2 weeks. She also gave me 2 Norco's for any breakthrough pain I would have, but I didn't need it. I have had zero pain at all which I am thankful for. It sounded like I would have some pretty severe cramping but I have had none. I'm really thankful that this physical part has gone so smooth. At my follow up appointment on Tuesday afternoon my OB said that I lost a lot of blood which she would expect because of the 2 gestational sacs. She said it wasn't enough to need a transfusion, but that I definitely will be feeling the effects of the loss of blood. I've been tired and have had some severe headaches which she said is normal for how much blood I lost. On top of my RPL, she also ordered a CBC to check my blood. She wants me to go on iron supplements which she said will take 2 weeks to take effect but which should help regenerate my blood quicker. She said it will take about 3 months total for my level to return to normal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We did opt to have the POC (products of conception) tested which my OB said is typically covered by insurance. After this D&C my deducible has been met so the testing should be covered as well as any further betas or other bloodwork I might have done before the year is over. I also had a new RPL (recurrent pregnancy loss) panel done to make sure that my levels are where they need to be. I had one done in 2015 and everything came back normal, however I know something like an elevated prolactin level can cause miscarriage and since I did breastfeed for over a year that could be an issue. I definitely want to check off everything I can before proceeding with another transfer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lots of people have asked what we plan to do next. At this point for the rest of the year, nothing. The only thing we will do this year is testing. We will not have another transfer this year. I will definitely need to have at least one or two normal periods before which from what I've learned from others who have had D&C's can sometimes take a couple months to have a regular period. I need to let me body rest again as it's gone through lots of hormonal changes since July. We also need to get our finances in order and save up around $5000 before we can proceed. My guess is within the first few months of 2019 we will get scheduled for another transfer, but as of right now that is just a guess. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We should have the results of the RPL in the next week or so and the POC results in within 3 to 4 weeks. My physical recovery overall has been surprisingly easy, the emotional recovery on the other hand has been one of the hardest I've ever experienced. I want so much to be able to just focus on the holiday's and make sure to soak in every minute of it in happiness and joy. I have been crying at work both Monday and Tuesday and seeing pregnancy updates have triggered me for the first time in <i>years. </i> I know that Georgia will be a welcomed distraction to everything that is going on. This year with her will be so fun, I can't wait to see her open up some gifts herself. I am forever grateful for her and the love and light she brings into our lives, no matter what happens in the future, we will always have her shining little soul to brighten our lives. I am doing the best I can to focus on her and the upcoming holiday's as I continue to recover from this. </span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-89747955005503167842018-11-08T07:56:00.003-06:002018-11-08T07:56:39.415-06:00No Heartbeat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is not the post I was hoping to be writing. I was hoping after our first ultrasound Monday at 7w2d I'd be updating with a happy post about a baby with a strong heartbeat and excellent measurements, unfortunately, although there were 2 gestational sacs present, one was empty (blighted ovum) and the other the baby was clearly there but had stopped growing around 6w and had no heartbeat. During pregnancy it seems there's always the lingering thought in the back of your mind that something might go wrong. It's just the nature of the game with pregnancy, especially that first ultrasound, but with our high betas, I was feeling very confident that things were progressing as they should. At our appointment she tried to do a belly scan but because of my retroverted uterus she had to do a vaginal. It was the shortest appointment I think I've ever had and the worst. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I could clearly see worry on her face, when I saw her measure the baby I saw that it was only measuring 6w1d and I wasn't seeing a flicker, then within a split second of me noticing these things, she told us that the baby appeared to have stopped growing about a week ago and there was no heartbeat. She turned the sound on and it was just a hollow uterus, no sounds of life pulsating on the screen like we had hoped for. She asked if I wanted a picture and I blurted out "no" through a steady stream of tears and that was it, it was over. I don't even know if I was comprehending what she was saying. She continued to say she was sorry as she left the room. I honestly think it would've been an easier blow if this cycle just failed from the beginning rather than having to go through this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My clinic got back to me saying that I needed to schedule a D&C with karotyping to see if the baby was normal or abnormal. At this point I'm really hoping for an abnormal result as much as I hate to say that. Two sacs would also indicate that the embryo split. We really don't know at this point. All we know is that things came crashing down pretty quickly and I know I am still in shock over all of it. All I could think as I was laying there being told what was happening was that I just can't imagine going through this again. I know that at some point we will, but thinking about the fact that this could happen again makes me want to give up at this point because why would anyone in their right mind purposely put themselves through this heartbreak again? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are blessed in so many ways with our situation. Our amazing egg donor, the open relationship we have, the true gift that was given to us; however it's a logistical and financial nightmare to fathom all over again. Days off work, travel costs, coming up with the money to finance all of it yet again is just too much to think about right now. I'm certain that we will begin selling off our belongings and putting money at the top of our Christmas lists that we will all hope will end up in a successful outcome. Joe will continue to work 7 days a week spreading himself too thin to help fund another cycle. We put ourselves through so much all for something that comes with no guarantee whatsoever. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this point we now have 3 embryos left, they are<b> not</b> PGS tested, all are very high quality, but that is not indicative of anything. Two of the three we have transferred so far have now ended in losses and I'm fearful of the outcome of our 3 remaining. I've had a Recurrent Pregnancy Loss panel done in the past and the results were all negative for any issues, however if the results from the baby come back as "normal" I will be requesting a repeat of that test. I am so fearful that something is wrong with me, something that maybe with Georgia we got lucky and it didn't effect. I am so fearful to continue attempting transfers of these embryos only to have them end in loss. These are our LAST embryos. You can see I have so many thoughts racing through my mind right now, all exacerbated by hormones from a pregnancy that has ended yet I am still carrying. It's cruel and unfair and all I want to do is curl into a ball in my bed and close my eyes and wake up to it not being true. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unfortunately I will now be spending the upcoming holidays constantly thinking about the baby I should be carrying, surrounded by other family and friends who are also pregnant, I know it's bound to be a very hard couple of months. Do I sound like I am pitying myself, yeah I do, maybe I am a little bit I don't really know. I just know right now I am caught up in a whirlwind of emotions and hormones and I know that with the passing days things will get better and we will move forward. This has just proven to be the hardest of our losses so far and learning how to handle it is something I'm new at. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My D&C is officially scheduled for next Friday, aka. not soon enough. My OB wanted my records from my IVF cycle and my ultrasound before making a decision on whether or not to perform the surgery. I was able to give a verbal consent to send my records over immediately yesterday so luckily that was taken care of quickly. They also need to me to d a confirmation ultrasound and a pre-op appointment so next Thursday at 1:30 I will be doing both of those. I'm hoping the days go by quickly so I can get this over with. As always, the outpouring of love and support has been overwhelming and we certainly are so lucky to have such an awesome group of people who continue to cheer us on from the side-lines as we go through all of these things, both the good and the bad. </span><br />
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-76024960934599054782018-10-25T07:12:00.003-05:002018-10-25T07:12:38.816-05:00Baby Ridley Number 2 Coming June 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, it's official! My beta at 11dpt was 909!! This was almost as high as my 1st beta with Georgia at 11dpt which was 967. As some of you may know, I never POAS because for me I'd rather just enjoy being pregnant as long as possible. I think I'm one of the only ones in our vast community that does not test early. For most people the wait just kills them & they need to know as soon as possible, but for me it's better for me to wait until beta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">My first test was scheduled for Monday the 15th. I always go really early to the lab at our local hospital right before work so I can make sure I get my results same day. I emailed my clinic and told my IVF coordinator that I had gone for bloodwork. A few hours later she responded saying she'd be on the lookout for them. My clinic is an hour ahead of us here in Illinois and their office closes for lunch around 11am our time. The last several betas I had done I was getting back right around 11 so I was highly anticipating to get them at the same time. I heard nothing so I tried to relax a little bit because I knew their office was closing for an entire hour and I wouldn't be hearing back any time soon. 12:30pm our time rolled around & still nothing so I emailed her again, no response. My donor had texted asking for an update & she suggested calling the lab to see if they had even processed the labs yet. I called & they said the HCG had been completed, however the progesterone & estrogen had to be sent out to another lab which is fine because those aren't as important as that BETA! I emailed my nurse again around 2:30pm, still NOTHING. I was sooo anxious and nervous and stressed out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I got off work at 3:30 and still hadn't heard from them so I headed to Target where I needed diapers and bought a HPT to take right there in the Target bathroom. There was no way I could wait til I got home because I still had to pick up Georgia from my parents & then drive home, I needed to know NOW. I went in the bathroom with a practically empty bladder and got probably less than the required 5 second stream needed onto the test. It was a 1 minute result test. I cleaned up the packaging that I had literally thrown on the floor and looked up at the test and saw that my test line was 10x darker than the control line! It looked JUST like the first test I had taken with Georgia. I knew instantly that my beta was going to be high. 2 of my close friends just happened to be shopping at Target & I ran into them as I was running through Target to grab tests. They saw me before the test & I told them I had to leave. Once I got my result I messaged them and told them to come to the bathroom ASAP. I also sent out a few text messages to Joe, my family members, & our donor who were anxiously awaiting our first results. I decided right away that I didn't want to share our test dates with more than our close family because of how our tests went last time. It was confusing, stressful, and frustrating to tell people that I was pregnant just to have to turn around a week later and tell them it was a loss. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">The next morning I figured I would have an email bright & early from my clinic but I didn't so I started blowing up their phones in both Augusta and in Atlanta. Neither clinic answered and I left a message, gave them about an hour, then called back. The receptionist told me that the lab hadn't sent the results, but I'm not sure if that actually happened or not. She put me through to the nurses line right away where the nurse delivered the news! I also had her change me from the awful vaginal progesterone Endometrin to an oral version since I have to take it for about 8 more weeks. I also continue with PIO til 12 weeks and baby aspirin until 18 weeks. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">My clinic actually requires 3 beta's total if you're getting positives so I went back Wednesday at 13dpt and my beta came back more than double at 2044. They wanted me to have one more but they wanted me to wait an entire WEEK so I knew my beta needed to be roughly over 10,000. I went in again early Wednesday morning & by lunch time I had received my email. Our 3rd beta came back at 32,103! I seriously couldn't believe how close these numbers were to Georgia's betas, she was 3215 at 13dpt and 40,344 at 21dpt. It was so amazing and relieving to hear how good my rises were. I was able to schedule an ultrasound for Monday 11/5, I will be 7w2d so we should definitely be able to see everything we need to and also hear a heartbeat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We are so very excited that we have made such amazing progress so far. The next big step will be our scan. As always, we appreciate everyone's love, support, prayers, and good vibes that were sent our way as we continue to journey down this path of growing our family. </span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-71325121238069317122018-10-15T17:17:00.000-05:002018-10-15T17:17:19.998-05:00October - Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">October is a month dedicated to remembering pregnancies and babies gone too soon. It's a month when you'll see an increase in people sharing their stories of loss. October 15th is the Wave of Light Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day; it can be a very tough time for people who have experienced a loss. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Earlier this month I came across a post on Instagram shared by Infertility Illustrated and I felt compelled to share it in my stories because it really resonated with me. This drawing with the words "well of course that was only a chemical pregnancy". I explained along with the photo that for a long time I minimized my losses. I experienced my first "chemical pregnancy" in January 2014 after an IUI, another in December 2015, and most recently this past July. From what I've always understood a "chemical pregnancy" to be versus a "miscarriage" is that a chemical pregnancy is one that begins to implant, secretes HCG, but no gestational sac ever forms, whereas with a miscarriage, a sac and yoke are most likely present at the time of the loss. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There were many times over the course of the years that I didn't feel as though our losses were worthy to be be considered a pregnancy loss. I would minimize it and say to myself, well my beta was only a 50, or a 20, or an 8, so <i>technically</i> I shouldn't consider it to be an actual pregnancy. When I shared these sentiments along with the illustration, I got over a dozen+ messages from women who felt or were still feeling the exact same way about their chemical pregnancies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What it took for me to realize that my losses DID matter and that they were valid and that my feelings along with those losses were warranted was the birth of my daughter. I know not everyone who has experienced a chemical pregnancy has yet to or ever will get to this point in their journey, but for me, once I was finally able to see the life that was created, I realized that each one of those "chemical pregnancies" could've been a potential child just as amazing as the one I was finally holding in my arms. With each message that I received telling me that they felt shameful of their loss, or that their loss didn't matter, I told them their loss DID matter, that every loss does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are so many complicated emotions that accompany the loss of a baby at any time. I think it's important that we break the silence around pregnancy loss and not worry so much about the definitions and terms as much as we do and focus on the fact that every pregnancy no matter how far along (even embryos in my eyes) could have resulted in a life, and that matters! I don't think its fair to say that because someone was say in their second trimester vs. their first that their loss matters more or is worse than someone who lost their pregnancy earlier. Along with the stigma around miscarriage and loss I believe there is also a stigma around how we refer to them; we should not be minimizing ANY loss! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For me, I'd even like to see it be taken one step further to consider that every embryo transferred that fails be considered a loss. I'm not sure that someone who hasn't experienced an embryo transfer or infertility would agree, but the 1 in 8 of us who have experienced infertility would probably agree. Every single one of those was a fertilized egg, meaning that life was being created, the first step & several of the other steps necessary for an embryo to progress to the point of being transferred had taken place, to me that should count for something! Just because an embryo didn't implant doesn't mean that it too wasn't a potential life, just as one that had implanted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I may be rambling and taking my thoughts too far, but after the outpouring of messages that I received after sharing this illustration, my mind started spinning as I realized the number of women who have experienced this and have felt the need to minimize their feelings and their grief. If you've experienced any kind of pregnancy loss, please know that it matters and that you are allowed to be sad about it, you're allowed to be mad, and grieve over it for as long or as little as it takes. Regardless if infertility was a factor in your journey to get pregnant, a chemical pregnancy, a miscarriage, a stillborn, or the loss of any child at any point in their life is extremely devastating and it's something that no parent should ever have to experience. Unfortunately, just like infertility, loss does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone and often times there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I do see, especially during the month of October are women and couples who gather the strength to share about the loss they've experienced. Sometimes it's the only they're willing to speak about it, while other share often. There is no right or wrong way, the memory of those babies live on through their parents, siblings, and family no matter how often their story is shared and their mothers and fathers are constantly thinking about them. If you've experienced the loss of a pregnancy or a child, please know that you are not alone & that no matter when that loss took place, no matter how brief that life was, it <i>does</i> matter. </span><br />
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946060129077736446.post-52299157607664794702018-10-05T19:09:00.004-05:002018-10-05T19:09:59.743-05:00FET #2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You guys I have been such a bad blogger lately! I had a draft waiting to be published with the details of my FET and for some reason never got around to actually posting it. Life has been so crazy with a toddler lately that it's very hard to find time to commit to writing a post. I'm actually writing this at 7pm on a Friday night. We just returned earlier today from our trip to Georgia for our second frozen transfer and it's been an exhausting day to say the least! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So let me back up and recap a little bit. After our first FET in July resulted in a chemical pregnancy we were eager to jump into another cycle quickly. I had to wait for my beta to go down and our doctor was going to be out of the country at the end of August which was likely when our cycle would take place so we had to postpone til September which we were fine with because it gave us some time to save up some extra money and give my body a little recovery time. I expected my period to come Labor Day weekend. My cycles are always very regular and usually about 25-26 days long. Labor Day weekend came and went and I was so disappointed AF hadn't shown because that's all we were waiting for before we could get the party started with FET #2. I was getting very frustrated and talked to my office about starting provera but I knew that eventually it would come on it's own, it was just going to be making a veryyyy late appearance, and sure enough 15 days later than it was supposed to, it came with vengeance. It was so late I even took a pregnancy test which was of course, negative, but I just couldn't figure out what the deal was. Luckily it finally did come and we were able to get our transfer scheduled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I do not use BCP or Lupron in my protocol so it's basically get a period then start building up that lining with Estrace and Delestrogen injections. I started with 2 Estrace a day and 1ml Delestrogen every 3rd day, a total of 4 injections. I had my baseline on September 19th followed by my mid-cycle monitoring on the 27th and my lining was a fluffy 13.6mm in thickness. My transfer was scheduled for Thursday October 4th. On the 27th I also started progesterone in oil injections and increased my Estrace to 3x a day + added the Endometrin vaginal progesterone. Needless to say I'm pumped full of hormones! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We flew from Chicago to Atlanta on Wednesday the 3rd and hopped in a rental vehicle and made the 2 hour drive to Augusta to our donors house. It was her birthday that day so her mom watched all 4 kiddos while her and her husband and Joe and I got to have a parents night out downtown Augusta. We went to a place called Sole for sushi and cocktails and dinner. I enjoyed my last few glasses of wine for hopefully the next 10 months! The food was delicious and as always, it was so nice to catch up with Amy and Allen and have some time without the kiddos! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thursday morning we decided to take the kids to The Play House in Augusta to let them burn some energy. Georgia was whiny and cranky pretty much all day, more than likely due to lack of sleep, but they all had a great time running around for a few hours. Amy took the kids back to her house and Joe and I headed to the clinic for our transfer! Everything went really smooth. It was the most painless transfer I've ever had. My retroverted uterus caused them to have issues seeing the embryo on the ultrasound but I am confident that everything went as it should. We went back to Amy's house where all the kids were pretty much exhausted and cranky. We decided it would be best to order pizza and go to bed early since we had to be up at 4am to head back home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Friday we got up and headed back to Atlanta for our flight back to Chicago. We spent less than 48 hours in Georgia and was an absolutely exhausting whirlwind of 2 days. We are so glad we got to see our donor and her family again so soon. We hope that next time they get to come stay with us and hopeful that this transfer will work. The embryologist said that the embryo was expanding just as it should and everything looked really good. This is our last 4AA, we have 3 other embryos on ice still in Georgia, two 4A-A, and 3.5AA. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On our way home I decided to figure out when my due date will be and it just so happens to fall on Joe's birthday, June 22nd. He's certain that "Joe JR" will make his appearance on that day and they will share birthdays! I seriously cannot believe that we just did another transfer. It all happened so quickly after waiting for what seemed like an eternity for my period to come. Our quick trip seemed like an absolute haze. Traveling with a toddler proved to be more challenging than ever this time around. I'm hoping to get some good rest and hoping the days before beta go by quickly! </span></div>
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Elena @ baby Ridley bumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850791737975838690noreply@blogger.com5