My last post was when R was born. His first birthday was two weeks ago - time flies! He's doing great - started walking at 10.5 months (had to keep up with big brother C, who turns 4 in December). He's very attached to me right now - cries when I leave the room, etc. It's hard on DH since he was arguably the primary caregiver when R was a newborn (C was really needy), but we know this will pass. He's so much more fun at a year - he's not as good at communicating as C was (and I spent more one-on-one time with C), but it's improving every day. I'm one of those people who would skip the first year if I could - I enjoy my kids way more when they can walk and talk.
I ended up not having enough milk supply to nurse, so I pumped and got enough for a bottle a day, with two pumps a day, and we used good organic formula from Europe for the rest. For the first 5 months my surrogate also sent us milk, so two bottles a day were breastmilk and the rest was formula. I stopped pumping at six months. In hindsight if I hadn't gotten the flu right before R was born I think I would have had enough supply for him. And regardless, it was definitely good for bonding. Bonding was rough for the first three months, but then it smoothed out. (Oddly, he didn't smell good to me for those first few months, which I'm sure is hormonal.)
I'm going back to work full-time in a week - I haven't worked full-time since the end of 2009, when I quit right before starting IVF. I'm excited - it's a great job, and I'm ready. We have an awesome nanny, which is a big part of what makes this change possible.
We've also started talking about doing another journey. Last fall, right around the time R was born, we did a third cycle with our egg donor and ended up with 2 normal female embryos. We're talking about doing a transfer in March - our surrogate is willing to do another journey with us, which is awesome and makes a lot of the logistics easier. I have a call with our RE at the end of the month, and am starting the lawyer process for the contracts. So we have two chances - gives us good odds, but no guarantees. It's overwhelming to think about going through the baby stage again, but we figure the sooner the better.
Life is good! Hope you're well!
My husband and I started trying to have a baby in 2007. We ended up doing 5 rounds of IVF with our own eggs, miscarrying twice due to chromosomal abnormalities, and then moved to donor eggs. Our son was born in 2012. After two unexplained miscarriages trying for a sibling, we found a gestational surrogate, who carried our second son (2015) and our daughter (2018).
So good to hear from you! Good luck with the next two transfers, fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteOMG!! This is so exciting that your GC is happy to work with you again! I can imagine, too, that the "continuity of care" is ever important given the new donor. I am so excited for you, and I am also excited about your new career opportunity! May all good things in the works come to fruition! Happy Birthday to R! <3
ReplyDeleteP.S. it's Lauren / http://onfecundthought.com — not sure why I can't comment with my name/URL, but HI! It's me :)
DeleteHow did I miss this?! Happy birthday to your little guy. E's 1st bday was a blurr as we prepared for her surgery 2 wks later. She did great- we survived a tough recovery and are happy its behind us. So far, all is well medically. Im so happy for another journey for you!
ReplyDeleteSooo exciting! It's April now so hopefully things have moved along. Would love to hear an update when you have time :)
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