Reassurance in Blood

On Friday I had another blood test to check the level of hcg. Long story short, everything is good.

Short story long, I wasn't able to go to the lab until my lunch at 1, so by the time I was actually drawn it was 1:30. The labs were ordered STAT, but as everyone knows, one person's definition of STAT can be very different from another's. This lab considers 4ish hours to be STAT... hmm.

Unfortunately, our clinic is on the east coast, which means a one hour time difference. By the time that the labs came through the clinic was closed. This meant that my IP's and I were not able to get the results on Friday. Or Saturday. Grrr...

I'm a fairly patient person, however, this time the waiting was driving me nuts! I tried to reassure B & R that everything is still okay as I was still experiencing morning sickness and haven't had any "bad" symptoms, but of course we all were waiting to hear the number.

To try to expedite things, I signed up for the online test results from the lab. A few minutes later I received a message from them! I quickly logged in and proceeded to have a heart attack. I looked to the results list and read that my hcg level was in the normal range and at a 10. My heart sank. How could this have happened? I had gone from a 350 to a 10? Nothing had changed that I could tell. What on earth?

I then noticed a note next to the 10 reading "see comments." So, I clicked on the comments. Nothing happened. I clicked again. Nothing. Click, click, click... nothing. AHHHH!!! (Yes, I actually did yell that, much to the amusement and concern of my children.)

In my frustration, I quickly scanned the results page for anything that could help me. I finally found what I was looking for. The date of the test read "February 8, 2013."

Big sigh. These were my previous transfer test results. This is not my current result that I am waiting for.

Once, my heart started beating regularly again, I signed out and tried to relax. Worrying will not help me get the results any sooner.

This morning while I was making breakfast, I received a call from an unknown number in CT. Of course I answered it! It was the nurse from the clinic. She was sent my results and wanted to let me know that my repeat beta was 1390! Holy cow! I think I must have giggled for about 10 minutes in shock! (I wrote down the number while I was still on the phone and my hubby started giggling, too!) I told her that I would like to call B & R and let them know what the results are. She was more than happy to let me do that as she had a million things to do on her Sunday. (Also, she called me at 8am my time and I KNOW B & R would not be awake yet. B & R, you are welcome for the uninterrupted sleep this morning!)

After about 40 minutes of waiting with a big ol' schmucky grin on my face (ask my hubby, he will tell you how giddy I am!) I couldn't take it anymore. I sent them a text saying " Good morning! Call me when you wake up. I have the beta results!" 20 minutes later (see, I knew they weren't awake yet!) I was able to tell them the awesome news. What a way to greet a Sunday morning!

I think we all are breathing a bit easier now that we know things are going the way they are supposed to go. I will have another repeat beta on Tuesday (my boss has already informed me that I will not be able to leave until my lunch at 1) but at least we will not have a weekend to contend with this time. Once we get awesome numbers this time, too, we have to wait another two weeks to have the ultrasound to listen to the heartbeat and find out how many are in there!

I love being the one to share this incredible news with B & R. How cool is it that on Tuesday I was able to give them the "official" news that they were going to be parents? And today I was able to reassure them that everything is going well with their pregnancy. I really enjoy bringing happiness to others and I can't think of a nicer thing to tell someone that they're going to have a baby. How cool is that?

Miracles make me smile!

Opinionated Baby(ies)!

Ever since I first met these two embryos, they have shown me that they have their own opinions and aren't afraid to let me know! (see previous posts if this doesn't make sense.) Apparently, even with pregnancy symptoms they are showing me who's boss! (B & R, take notes!)

 I've written about random symptoms that I started having in the past two weeks, however, in the past 2 days they have been kicked up a couple of notches! (I'm not complaining, just taking note of the experience.) Here's what I'm noticing from these two opinionated embryos:

-Morning Sickness. From the moment I wake up (usually around 5am) until sometime between 9:45-10:15am I have pretty decent queasy stomach. I sip my chai and water and take small bites out of Ritz crackers to keep my stomach "down." If things are really bad, I also nibble on a string cheese, which sometimes helps.

-Food aversions. Sigh. I love to eat. There aren't many foods I don't like... mushrooms, olives, cooked tomatoes to name a few. However, I now have an intense dislike for strawberries. Hopefully, this one will go away! I love berries any way I can get them. I also have noticed that I am having trouble with gooey textures. Summer squash is high on this list, unfortunately. And Greek yogurt is another iffy food. Again, the texture. 

-Food cravings. Lately, I NEED to have kosher dill pickles. This isn't much of a stretch for me as I do LOVE my pickles, however, now I need 8 pickles to make me happy. (I canned 6 quarts of pickles on Tuesday, so hopefully that will help with this particular craving.) Along with the pickles, I seem to be on a trail mix and Air Head kick. Hmm...

                                       My third jar of pickles and second bag of Air Heads.

-Fatigue. Last night I was eating dinner with my kiddos when I noticed just how tired I was. Like, struggling to stay awake kind of tired. After dinner, I put my kids in jammies and they crawled in bed with me to watch Gilligan's Island until their bedtime. After they were in bed, I went back to my room and promptly fell asleep.  Sheesh! It was only 7:30! I was fine when I woke up this morning and have been okay all day so far. We will see how I do tonight with dinner, dance class, and then bedtime. And, tonight is one of the nights my wonderful hubby has to work, so this mom is on her own with the kids for the night.

Thankfully, the cramping has pretty much stopped. I get "twinges" every once in a while, but that helps me know they are there and things are working as they should. Nothing out of the ordinary there!

I think that is all that I am physically experiencing right now. My coworkers are all making guesses on how many babies are inside and can't wait to hear the results in a couple of weeks. So far the guesses range from 1-4, with 2 being the most frequent guess made (B, don't worry, only one person said 4!).

Sometimes miracles come in ways we don't expect. :-)

And the Results Are...

Pregnant!

This morning I received a very exciting call. The nurse from the Clinic called stating that my Beta test came back and I'm pregnant! My beta was 350, which is great (anything over 25 is good!) No, this number is NOT an immediate indicator of multiples. As B keeps saying "we are hoping for a healthy baby."

The really great part is that I asked the nurse if I could be the one to call R & B. She said yes. Oh my word. I was so excited I was practically shaking! I decided to call R first (I knew that R would probably  be at the desk and able to pick up immediately.) R was SO excited! I could hear the smile through the phone! We chatted for a minute and R suggested that I call B with the news. B's reaction was great, too. B started laughing as soon as I said my beta number. B responded with "I don't think there's just one baby in there, Shawnee!" I could tell B was pleased with this thought (or shocked, who knows!). I said that I was sorry I didn't start the conversation with a "You need to sit down!" and then say what the beta was!

What happens next? Well, I continue with the same meds I am currently taking. This Friday, I will go back to the lab and have them check my beta again to make sure it is doubling the right way. I will repeat this again next Tuesday (I think.) Then, three weeks from today (give or take) I will go in for an ultrasound to listen to the heartbeat and find out how many there are in there.

Honestly, I am still ecstatic with the news! I am so stinkin' happy for B & R! What an amazing thing to be able to share this experience with another family. How cool is that!

Yeah for little miracles!

Pre-Test Nerves

Remember back when you were in college and mid-terms were approaching? Remember going through your class syllabi and noting which classes had tests you had to study for and which had papers that you could whip out last minute? Remember the nerves as you walked in to a core class thinking that you were no way prepared for the test and there goes your whole college career?

That is so not me right now! Not going to lie, I am a titch nervous, but I'm mostly excited to know that no matter what the result is I've got great IP's on my side who will work with whatever tomorrow brings. I wouldn't say I'm peaceful about the whole thing, but I'm glad to know tomorrow will NOT be a repeat of last February's situation with my IP's. Positive or negative, I'll be able to talk with them about the results.

I'm done with this negative bit! On to fun stuff...

I'm so glad that I switched my PIO shot to the night. I've been sleeping with a heating pad on the injection site which is helping TREMENDOUSLY with the soreness and bruising. I'm still icing the heck out of the spot first so I don't feel the injection much. I do still have bruises up and down my thighs, but they are much smaller than the golf ball sized ones I was getting.

I've had a few foot and leg craps over the past couple of days. B advised me to drink pickle juice to help with those, and although I haven't gone straight for the juice, I have been eating pickles. (No, pickles are not a pregnancy craving of mine. I just really love pickles and now I have an excuse to eat them!)

I'm still cramping, however, I've been able to get out of the fetal position. I am working my normal hours without much interruption or discomfort.

My water intake is still insanely high, which causes many trips to the restroom. Thankfully, my coworkers are really great and just laugh at me as I need to be excused every hour!

I am so thankful that the infection in my fingers that I experienced last January did not come back this time around! My nails and cuticles  look great, actually! (Not sure if I blogged about that little problem last time. Four of my finger nails became painfully infected during my last transfer. No one really knows why this happened or what caused it, we just know it coincided with the start of Lupron and wouldn't go away until I was put on an antibiotic. It took a few weeks to clear up.)

Anyway, all of this to say we will know by this time tomorrow if the fun symptoms I have mentioned will continue for a while or if we will start over next cycle.  Keep praying for a little miracle!

The Fetal Position

Yes, I am blogging about the fetal position. You know the way it works: lay down on a couch, bed, chair, floor, etc, and tuck your knees close to your chest while hugging your legs. I've seen guys do this when kicked in the groin, newborns like this as it reminds them of the womb, and now it's a position I'm curled up in it. 

Why am I curled in a tiny ball? 

Apparently, there is a war going on in my uterus. The Lions are trying to gain yardage on the Vikings' turf. (Today is the first game of the regular season and MInnesota plays Detroit.) We all know the Vikings are going to kick Lion butt, however, we have to watch every play, every commercial, and listen to all of the commentary to get to the final score and the cheer of the Vikings.

Or, if you want a different metaphor:

A week ago Dr D repeatedly put two embryos into their temporary home for the next 8-9 months. (See previous posts if you are confused.) Being the hospitable person I am, I medicinally made their environment as luxurious as I could. As we learned last week as we were being introduced, these little embryos are stubborn and rather picky for the perfect place to hang out. Now that they have been there a week they have chosen today to start redecorating.

However I say it, there's a whole lot of cramping going on! Since my girls are resting I decided to take this opportunity to relax in the most comfortable position I can find and hope the cramping lessens. Hence the fetal position.

Please note that I am not complaining. This is exactly what is supposed to happen. Cramping, nausea, exhaustion, etc are all GOOD things when you are a surrogate! I'm just noting the symptoms and when I experienced them for my own benefit, and hopefully, someone else can benefit from my experiences, too.

Speaking of nausea... Welcome back! I was just a bit nauseous this morning, but sometime during church this morning WHAM! Nausea hit! I made it through lunch, and I really need to start on the clean up, but blech! The thought of that makes my stomach roll, too! Oh well. Life must still go on. Dishes, laundry, and floors await!

The signs of a miracle are many!

To Pee or Not to Pee

A big debate among surrogates is whether or not to test for pregnancy at home. Some think the results should be left to the beta test two weeks after the retrieval. (My test is next Tuesday.)

Others start testing as soon as they get back from the transfer, mainly because they don't want a surprise the day of the beta. Usually people start seeing results somewhere around day 7.

I'm with the group that tests, however, I start testing on day 5 after the transfer, also known as 5dp5dt, or 5 days post 5 day (old embryos) transfers. I know that the likely way most surrogate stories go is that they get negative results for a day or two, and if they are going to get a positive it will happen around day 7pt. Silly, right? I should just start testing on day 7, right? Well, lets just say that I'm impatient and want to start testing early!

Last night I purchased 7 home pregnancy tests. Why 7? No, it's not because I'm superstitious. I'm not at all. I bought 7 because it seemed like a good number: two for Friday, two for Saturday, two for Sunday, one for Monday, blood test on Tuesday. If one of these wasn't bright in your face positive, then I could test again.

I asked B & R last weekend if they had a preference either way on me testing and they strongly encouraged me to go ahead. They also wanted results of the test. Of course, it's their pregnancy so I am happy to work with their wishes.

Yes, I did test today, and I did talk with B & R. Sorry, I'm not going to reveal the results of the test. Agony, I know! I will however, post the results of the beta on Tuesday. Call me crazy, but I feel like the 88 cent home pregnancy test results don't warrant a definitive spot on my blog, however the scientifically proven beta test should get a post all to itself. 

Don't worry, on Tuesday I will also post the results of all of the home pregnancy tests, too! Let's see how well they measure up!

Sometimes miracles take patience, persistence, and a lot of preparation!

Symptoms?

I know three days ago I received two embryos. I also know that I've been on a boatload of meds the past couple of weeks. All of that to say I think the prego symptoms are starting to kick in. 

I've been cramping on and off since Sunday afternoon. To add to that, I've noticed that my body temp is elevated (Shawn should be happy as I am usually on the cold side). Today I've also had fun hormones kick in. Seriously, I started bawling after I put the girls to bed. Tomorrow is Natalie's first day of school and she's so excited. I, however, am a wreck. After a bit of a cry, I seemed to pull it together.

Oh, and one other symptom. I am obsessed with meat and salty foods. I had a bowl of pickles and beef sticks for an afternoon snack! Not craving necessarily, but thinking that combo sounds really good.

I can't wait to see what else this little miracle will throw me!