Being pregnant with your first child is often an uncertain and stressful time, even among all the excitement. There are a lot of variables to consider, a lot of things you don’t really know or understand until you get there, and a lot of stuff to be worried about or scared of. Trust me, I know – I’m five months pregnant as I write this.

So we did it.

Women around the world have giving birth since the beginning of time. Even so, some methods have evolved as the years progressed, while others have stayed the same.

A lot of babies were being delivered at Eden Medical Center during our stay there due to the fact that we waited about 12 hours to get a non-triage room. At least, everybody were following safety precautions to prevent the spread of covid by not letting anyone in besides the person going into labor and the husband or partner. They’re also not letting anyone in again once they come out of the building so we were stuck there for about 2 days. Huge thank you to all of the front liner staffs and healthcare professionals of Castro Valley Eden Medical Center & Alta Bates of Berkeley who did everything they can to ensure a safe delivery of our child (Born on 09/05/20 around 5am @ 40 weeks, 6lbs & 2.6oz) and for making sure that our little one Rogelio Stephen Cristi aka “lucky Lio” (Rogelio is based on my grandpa’s name on my mother’s side who passed away, Stephen is based on my wife’s grandpa's name on her father's side who is still alive today & he's part Japanese, Guamanian, Irish, Scottish, French, German and Filipino) gets everything that he needs to be in the very best condition (He was taken to NICU immediately as he had some fluid in his lungs that might have caused brain injury so they had to suck that out with a tube, gave him some oxygen while making sure his sugar, gas & acidosis in his blood is reduced & eliminated. They had to put him on a cooling blanket for a little bit to help with the brain development and needed to do an MRI to make sure nothing went wrong on his brain when he had fluid in his lungs which could've made it complicated for the oxygen to reach the brain) Lio is progressing so much day after day since he was sent to NICU a few hours after his birth. He was already looking chubbier and was off his oxygen on day 3 and has been feeding on some of her mother's breast-milk little by little on a daily basis until his body gets used to getting more breast-milk that his mother is able to produce more and more. He's also able to poo & pee which means his kidneys & gut works! Thankfully, I used to be a Certified Nurse Assistant so diaper changing and caring for a little human is second nature.

Its been 4 years since I first started IVF. In the beginning it was scary, embarrassing and just felt not normal. During the process my thoughts about it shifted to, amazed, happy, hopeful and joyful. Towards the end I became depressed, angry and confused. Today I am gracefully broken and ready to share my story with others who may be struggling with faith and hope or that may have lost the desire to keep going. My name is Gina Few. Marie Love is my FB name.

I remember 2 years ago I was writing about my experience after having my second child Ayva. I talked about how things were so different for me because I was more mature, financially stable, married, and overall, in a good space despite the ups and downs that life already was giving me. At that point I knew that I was not going to have anymore kids until my daughter was at least 5 years old. Once my 6wks of postpartum was up I went to the doctor to get on birth control. The birth control I chose was the Skyla IUD which would be good for 3 years. I knew that at that point I would have excelled more in life and my balance on being a mom would have been pretty much perfect. However, in January of 2020 my life changed because I found out I was pregnant again. January 2020 was already starting off bad, at this point me and my family has lost just about everything and it seemed like nothing was going to give. Everything that I wanted to be better at seemed to get worse. I was financially screwed, I was not happy with my job, marital problems were an issue and over all depression. My kids could not tell how hurt I was on the inside because I could not give them anything but the minimum to survive. As time went on, I knew that something was off. My body just was not feeling right, I did not want to eat, I was exhausted, and just overall down. These symptoms seemed very familiar to me because they were the same symptoms that I had when I was pregnant with my daughter, but the fact that I was on birth control helped me easily excuse those symptoms for being everything but pregnancy symptoms. I remember telling my sister “girl if I weren’t on birth control you would swear, I was pregnant” because I am showing all the signs. After awhile my mind was telling me look, I know it is crazy but let us just rule pregnancy out so that you know for sure that this is depression you are going through right now. One random workday in January I was on my lunch break and needed to go to Publix to pick up some money that my husband sent to me at this point this was all the money that I was going to have until payday so there wasn’t any room to waste it. Once I took care of this deed, I called my sister as I was walking around the store and we started talking again about me possibly being pregnant. I went into the aisle of all aisles with the pregnancy tests and could not believe that I was even considering that I was pregnant again. I looked at the prices and shook my head because Publix in my opinion is expensive. I told my sister I could not afford to spend money on a legit pregnancy test especially if there was a big chance that I was not pregnant. At that time losing money for nothing was not an option, because I still had sometime left on my lunch I drove to Dollar Tree, in my mind I felt like ok this is more reasonable and I would only be wasting $2 vs. 10+. Once again, I approached the aisle of all aisles and picked up two $1 tests. When I got to the counter the cashier said would you like your receipt, I immediately said NO and she laughed. After this I went back to work and finished my day anxious to get home and finally put my mind at ease. As most women know waiting for the results of a pregnancy test are so nerve wrecking no matter the results. When I finally had some time, I went to the bathroom with my daughter following right behind me and took the test. Honestly, I just knew I was not pregnant, so I sat the test down, looked away and finished up using the bathroom. Finally, I looked up and my heart dropped, the test was 100% clear as day positive. I screamed “OH HELL NO” and immediately got my sister on the phone, we were both in shock. Of course, I called my mom next, I said “Ma what does it mean when the test is saying positive but I’m on birth control” she laughed and said Yanna that is positive you’re pregnant. After staying on the phone with her for a little bit I called back my sister, we were both still stunned because she was coming up on the last couple weeks of pregnancy herself. The next person I knew I had to tell was my husband. At the time he was a truck driver, so he was not going to be home for another week or two. I was so anxious, but I wanted to wait to tell him face to face so I took a deep breath and kept the news between me, my mom, and sister. After the overwhelming rush of shock passed, I started to become very nervous, scared, and anxious. Life was already seeming like a downward spiral and now I was pregnant with an IUD and no medical insurance. What the hell am I going to do was all I thought about until I closed my eyes that night. I remember holding my stomach thinking wow, just wow. When I got to work the next morning, I immediately told my boss I need to go to the emergency room because I tested positive for pregnancy and I was on an IUD for birth control. Nonchalantly she said we did not have anyone to cover my shift and if I could wait 2 days until they knew they would have availability. This is when I knew that if it is not happening to them some people can show lack of interest for what is going on in your life especially with work. I was so upset because I was terrified, looking up stuff on google constantly was freaking me out because I knew I was not supposed to be pregnant. There were so many risks and my job want me to wait till it is convenient for them for me to take off and see a doctor. It was hard trying to explain to someone that I was pregnant but on birth control because no one took me as serious. When my job finally gave me time off I went to the health department first and the lady I spoke with didn’t even know what to say because I was telling her I was on birth control but testing positive for pregnancy. I did not have a lot of options because I did not have money or medical insurance so despite the bill medical bill, I knew I had to go to the ER. That night when both my kids were sleeping, I told my mom in law I was not feeling well and needed to go to the ER, and she agreed to watch the kids. It was about 9:30 at night already, emergency rooms take forever and although I had to be up at 6am the next morning I needed to get this figured out. Fast forwarding throughout my night I surprisingly did not have to wait to long to be seen, I took another urine test and blood test. Once again, I spoke with the doctors and I got “this girl is wasting our time” vibes because no one seemed to be taking me seriously. After an hour or so the ultrasound technician came in and the next thing I hear is “there’s your baby”. It was so surreal I remember saying “omg I can’t believe it; I knew I was crazy”. I was a good 7wks into my pregnancy and did not even know it. Leaving the ER felt so different because I knew for a fact, I was pregnant it was official. There was still a lot of confusion and stress involved because I had no way of getting in contact with a doctor the ER doctor gave me someone to follow up with but because I didn’t have insurance I wasn’t able to pay for the appointment. This part of my pregnancy was so scary, I was that 1% who was pregnant with an IUD still in place. There were so many risks for my health and the baby’s. Everything that did not matter before mattered so much more to me. I was scared to walk, scared to jump, scared to play with my daughter because I did not want to make stuff worse. I finally got help 2 weeks later after coming across a clinic that could help me at no cost until my application for Medicaid was approved. When I saw the doctor, she immediately took my IUD out but warned me that there could be complications of a miscarriage. Apparently, my IUD was close to falling out on its own, so I guess that was easier access to being fertile and becoming pregnant. At this point I am like ok I am having this baby I know it is not the best time, but it is what it is. Hearing the word miscarriage made me so scared, I did not want to lose my baby. Unfortunately, my husband was not able to make it home when he was supposed to, so I ended up telling him I was pregnant over the phone and boy was he shocked. After a long back and forth talk we of course decided that no matter what we were going to see this pregnancy through despite how unfortunate our finances were. I had my ultrasound appointment to confirm I was still in fact pregnant and once I saw the baby I walked out with ultrasound picture in my hand like damn here we go again, but I was happy. Despite the risk of having an IUD in the earlier stage of my pregnancy I had an amazingly healthy pregnancy once it was removed. My daughter’s due date was Sep.1st and I had her Sep.6th, she was 8lbs and 4oz of perfection. The thing that gets to me is how crazy life is and it really makes you wonder why things happen. All my kids give me purpose and I believe that therefore I had my daughter she was giving me another purpose to live and be the best mom I can be. My experience with getting pregnant while on birth control is different from others but the fact is that it is possible. It is one of the most intense fears when your body reacts differently than even doctors have predicted. My journey of motherhood just got a little harder but being able to fall in love again with a life I made was so worth it.

I was recently inspired by my husband to write about my experiences with my three pregnancies as each one ended differently, though all three did have the same outcome of a beautiful and sweet baby in my arms.

I am 19 years old and just over a month ago I found out that I am expecting. My partner and I married when I was 18 years old, but we were not planning a child for another few years. We are both post-secondary school students, work part-time jobs and rent a small one-bedroom space.

The whole process of moving can be a stressful and hectic affair, even at the best of time. All the packing, organizing, hauling, traveling, and unpacking might be especially challenging for a soon-to-be mother.

The day has finally come after a long and emotional nine months of carrying a growing human being inside of you. You have brought a new addition into the world, but that new addition may have given you some emotions that can begin to weigh on you.

Today I wanted to talk about my journey and experience breastfeeding. August was National Breastfeeding Month, and even though I am posting this blog technically in September, I still wanted to share my journey. I would have loved to post this in August, but you know, mom life... lol. I'm still getting the hang of balancing mom life with my new blog posts and video uploads, so bare with me! Hopefully as time goes on I'll get the hang of things a bit more.

1- In IVF, the first step is to have consultation with physician. The physician will give you an idea about the treatment plan. The next step will be basic blood tests for the couples and male partner needs to do Semen Analysis. The treatment commence from Day 1 of the period, we will perform estradiol blood test or ultrasound on the same day. From Day 2 of cycle, we will start the medication for stimulating the ovaries to produce more oocytes. The medications will be in the form of injections. Common hormones used to stimulate the follicles are FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone) and LH (Luteinizing Hormone). The patients will visit the clinic frequently in order to monitor the growth of follicles. Around 10 to 12 days the medications will continue. Towards the end of stimulation, when the follicles reached the optimum size, we will give the trigger injection and will do the oocyte retrieval after 34-36 hours. IVF Clinic Dubai