(8) Definitely Maybe?

It’s finally Monday morning, so I head to my local OBGYN’s office for my 9am appointment.   I’m having my blood drawn to check my hCG reading.  For legal reasons, they are not allowed to tell me the results, even though I’m the one who is potentially pregnant!  I actually have to wait for them to contact Holly, and then wait for Holly to call me with the results.  Whatever.  The blood draw happens quickly, but as morning turns to afternoon, I’m still anxiously waiting to hear the results from Holly.  Those doctors sure can take their sweet time!  In an earlier email, Holly said any hCG reading over 25 mIU/mL means I’m pregnant, and anything over 100 mIU/mL means it’s a strong pregnancy.  Finally, just after 2pm Holly called me with the results.  My hCG number is 1185!  Whoa.  Oh yeah, I’m definitely pregnant.  I knew it all along!  I gave those two blastocysts some prime real-estate, so why wouldn’t at least one of them want to make a home in there?!  Holly is beyond pumped with these results.  She would have been happy with a reading of 75, but a number over a thousand in her mind is just icing on the cake with sprinkles, lots and lots of sprinkles.  She says the doctors usually want this number to double after 48 hours.  But they said a 48 hour reading of 1700 would make them perfectly happy. 

On Tuesday, Tom flew to Phoenix for a seminar.  Guess what that means?  I get to give myself my PIO shots for the next three nights.  Yaaaay, no sarcasm I swear!  Well, before Tom left I practiced doing it myself, with him there in case I couldn’t handle it.  It actually wasn’t too bad, just awkward to bend around and stick a syringe in my butt.  But I wouldn’t want to do it from now on (about 50 more injections to go!).  We’ve been alternating cheeks to help minimize the discomfort, and it’s been working so far…  Holly did offer to come over and do it for me, but since we’ve been adjusting the time to around 9pm and she lives in Washington, I didn’t want to make her drive all that way.  I sucked it up and did it.

On Wednesday, I head back to the OGBYN for another blood draw.  Again it’s another long wait for the results!  Geeze!  Holly finally called them to get the results.  You would think they would be in more of a hurry for these ladies.  I mean come on!  Women obviously go to a fertility specialist because they need help getting pregnant.  They are desperate to be mammas.  Why would you put off telling them, especially when it’s good news!  Fortunately, the news was good.  Actually great!  My hCG number more than doubled to 2746! 

Even before “transfer day”, I had a gut feeling that I’d be carrying twins for Holly and Darren.  With hCG numbers as high as mine, it’s a pretty good indication that I’ve got two or more little babes growing in me.  Now I’m experiencing multiple emotions flowing through me all at once: excitement, anxiety, joy, anticipation, and appreciation.   I think Holly and Darren feel the same way.  I’m beyond excited that this is going as planned.  But I also realize this is really early and I’ve got about 36 more weeks to go!  I’m anxious to see the first ultrasound to see how many babies we have.  With frozen embryo transfers, the possibilities of one or both of the blastocysts splitting into two are higher.  YIKES!  The joy is an understandable emotion, and is very contagious when Holly is around.  The anticipation of what is to come sometimes seems unbearable.  Finally, I feel an appreciation that I live in a time where this is even possible, and that I’ve been given this opportunity to help a friend.  The fact that science can help bring children into this world in this way is just amazing to me.

I’m still having none of the usual pregnancy side-effects.  Okay, maybe my breasts are a little more sensitive, but nothing else obvious.  I’ve always been one of those lucky women who don’t experience morning sickness.  So I can’t even get excited about throwing up, because I just won’t.  Lucky me! 

With these encouraging hCG numbers, sticking that needle in the butt every night seems more important than ever.  Yay for Progesterone!  Now I actually look forward to our 8pm “appointment” every night.  Well, not really.  What I’m REALLY looking forward to is our first ultrasound, scheduled less than two weeks from now.