The Bunless Oven

In the many years we spent trying (and failing) to have a baby, I often spent time distracting myself by planning my next tattoo (I already have 2 small ones—one on each foot). I knew I wanted something bigger and on my upper body, but the design & placement changed depending on how things were going. (For a while, my preferred design was a dead fish—maybe you can guess which part of the ‘journey’ we were at then.)⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ When MB1 and MB2 were born, my attention was otherwise occupied (for good reason). But once MB2 started sleeping through the night about a year and a half ago, I slowly started to have a little time for myself again, and my tattoo plans re-emerged. Importantly, after so many years subjecting my body to injections and hormones and surgeries and embryo transfers (not to mention the actual pregnancies, etc), I wanted to do something for myself—something to honor the physical and mental strength it took to persevere. So when I was cycling to work and saw a lone poppy amongst the tall weeds, I knew that was it. Poppies happen to be the birth flower of August—the month both of my miracle babies were born—and nothing is more perseverant than a weed. Here’s the result: two poppies amongst the weeds 💜⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivf #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #strong #ttc #infertility

Mother’s Day on Sunday reminded me that I never did a grid post about our friend & egg donor Marie’s visit to NL last summer with her family (which I was too busy enjoying at the time!) Their trip was originally planned for Spring 2020 after MB1 was born, but it was delayed 3 years by COVID. Silver lining was they also got to meet MB2! ⁣ ⁣ I’m not someone who cries a lot at happy things but this trip was *so* special. It was the culmination of years of heartache, planning, and hormones (on both our parts!) We call the kids ‘cousins’ but they know they are really half-siblings, and I’m so happy they got to spend a dedicated few weeks together. MB1 had the absolute TIME OF HER LIFE with the big girls. We even fit in a visit to Spain 🌴➡️⁣ ⁣ Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the amazing egg donors out there who make dreams like this a reality 💛⁣ ⁣ #ivfsuccess #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #donorsiblings #diblings #deIVF #deIVFsuccess #deIVFjourney #eggdonor #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

Sometimes I worry that people will think I call my children ‘miracle babies’ because I think they’re due to some crazy unexplained miracle. But I know exactly what that miracle was…it was IVF — the biggest miracle of them all. And I’m still in awe.⁣ ⁣ Happy #WorldIVFDay !⁣ ⁣ *And yes, these 100+ used needles are still taking up space in my attic. Totally worth it for this photo shoot of MB2 by the amazing @alenamasselinkphotography though.⁣ ⁣ #ivf #ivfsuccess #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFsuccess #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

A very cool thing happened a couple of months ago. I got a message from a woman I didn’t know who has a small business embroidering embryos. She told me that when she was getting started, she would practice with embryo pictures she found online through a Google search, and she had just figured out (through randomly stumbling on my IG page) that one of them was mine. I went to look at her Etsy page, and sure enough, one of her example necklaces was MB1! She said she felt I should have it, given that it is my child and all, so she mailed it to California, where it’s been waiting for me 💜⁣ ⁣ Maybe some people wouldn’t like the idea that one of their precious embryos is so visible to the world, but it makes me really happy. One of the reasons for putting our story out there was to give others hope on their own journeys, which is something I so desperately needed on my own. The fact that our ‘poor quality’ embryo success story is still reaching others is amazing. Though not nearly as amazing as the little girl that slow-growing 3BC embryo turned into 😉➡️⁣ ⁣ A big thank you to @sewmyembryo 🙏🏼❤️⁣ ⁣ #poorqualityembryo #poorqualityembryosuccess #ivfsuccess #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

Felt this deserved a place on the grid. First time back in California since 2017, shortly after ‘failing out’ of IVF at our local clinic. Now here with +2 kids 💜⁣ ⁣ #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

I know Instagram #top9 is *so* 2018, but here are my top 9 posts of 2022 anyway. This was the year we welcomed our son, Miracle Baby #2, completing our hard-fought-for family 🥹 Going to be hard to top that 2023, but let’s see what you’ve got. ⁣ ⁣ #top9of2022 #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc ⁣

As a mom thanks to egg donation, I accepted long ago that my kids wouldn’t inherit their looks from me. Indeed, my daughter and I don’t share even the most basic physical traits: Whereas I have blue eyes and straight blonde(-ish) hair, she has brown eyes and curly brown hair. I hardly ever even think about it these days except to ponder how we managed to have the most gorgeous kid I’ve ever seen (…not that I’m biased). ⁣ ⁣ So I was quite caught off-guard when my son made his grand debut a few months ago with blonde hair and (more surprisingly) blue eyes. The blue-eyed gene is recessive, meaning it supposedly needs to come from both sides, but while we know that our egg donor (who has green eyes) at least carries the blue-eyed gene, there are no blue eyes *anywhere* on my husband’s side (that we know of). The only other person with blue eyes is, well, me.⁣ ⁣ Infant eye color can change over time, of course, so maybe MB2’s eyes won’t stay blue. (I’ve been expecting this to happen and thus delaying posting, but no sign of it yet). Or…could it be epigenetics?* A last little finishing touch — the cherry on top — from me, if you will?!⁣ ⁣ No matter where they’re from or how long they last, it’s been fun sharing something with MB2 that he doesn’t share with either my husband or our egg donor; something that’s ‘our thing’, however brief it may be. And if his blue eyes end up being just a detour on the way to another color, I have no doubt I’ll love that color too 💛⁣ ⁣ *The more mundane solution is that my husband is also a carrier of the blue-eyed gene and we just don’t know it, but that’s obviously much less fun than my explanation 😉⁣ ⁣ #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #ivfsuccess #deIVFsuccess #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

Happy Thanksgiving! Today (and every day) I’m thankful for #science and women like our egg donor, Marie, who gave me the chance to become a mom to not one, but TWO kids. I’ve never been simultaneously so delighted and so tired 😉⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 📷 : ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 1) Marie meeting MB1 last Christmas; ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 2) Me with MB1; ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 3) Me with MB2.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #thanksgiving #grateful #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

Happy 16th(!) birthday to my first baby! ⁣ ⁣ We adopted her in 2009 in California, a few years before we started trying for a (human) baby. She was a failed show dog (in temperament, not looks, *obvs*) and was afraid of her own shadow. ⁣ ⁣ Since then, she has experienced more life than most adult humans. She has lived in two different US states and three different countries. She has hiked to German castles and sailed in Dutch canal boats. She’s a little worse for the wear (my mother-in-law recently ‘lost’ her for several hours, during which she was apparently stuck underneath our covered barbecue…), but you would be too if you were 112 in dog years!⁣ ⁣ My mom and MB made her a crown to celebrate the birthday queen she is!🫅🎉🎂🥳🤩⁣ ⁣ #corgi #corgisofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #cuteoverload #dogs #dogbirthday #welsh #cute #dog #welshcorgi #corgis #doglovers #love #corgiaddict #pets #instapet #dogoftheday #dogstagram #puppy #doglife #doggo #furbaby #ttc #ivf #deivf #donoreggivf

Happy due date* to my little man!⁣ ⁣ The last couple weeks have largely been a blur of sleepy baby snuggles and spit up. After some initial poop within his first 24 hours, we had an increasingly tense ~4 days with no 💩 in sight (which majorly triggered my PTSD from MB’s first days before Hirschsprung’s diagnosis). Thankfully he seems to be pooping fine now 🙏🏼🙏🏼 I’m HUGELY relieved (to say the least) and can now get back to my regularly scheduled agenda of trying to micro-nap at any available opening while these two conspire against me.⁣ ⁣ *Technically it was yesterday, but it turns out that two kids is next-level hardcore 😉⁣ ⁣ #ivf #donoreggIVF #grateful #hirschsprungsdiseasemom⁣ #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc

Miracle baby #2 is here!!⁣ ⁣ After a fairly smooth induction starting with a Foley balloon on Thursday morning, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy at 4:40pm on Friday weighing 7lb 10oz (38+2). He had a little trouble breathing at first and was on oxygen for 10-15 minutes, but now he’s doing great. Best news is that Saturday, he had multiple massive 💩💩s!! 🎉🎉🎉 #iykyk⁣ ⁣ #ivf #donoreggIVF #hirschsprungsdiseasemom⁣ #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #fertility #fertilityjourney #love

Tomorrow is the day! 😱 Baby’s abdomen is still measuring extremely large (100th percentile), and due to that, its total projected weight, and my gestational diabetes, I’m being induced tomorrow 😯 I’ll be 38+1. Please send all your positive induction stories, and let’s hope this kid 💩s like a champ as soon as they arrive (meaning no Hirschsprung’s disease 🤞🏼🤞🏼) #ivf #donoreggIVF #knowndonor #deIVF #deIVFjourney #38weeks #induction #eggdonation #prematureovarianfailure #pof #donoreggs #ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivfblogger #ivfsupport #ttccommunity #hormonereplacementtherapy #hrt #fertility #fertilityjourney #love #ttc #hirschsprungsdisease