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Labels: Pregnancy 6

Hello.

I thought I'd check in, though I'm here to tell you that I don't really have anything to say.

I've been very zen about this pregnancy since my last post -- enjoying family life, and wrestling with my love/hate feelings toward the very low level queasiness that nags me all day. Were it not for the persistent discomfort in my stomach, I might even forget about it all sometimes.

I have little flashes back to being pregnant with Little R: how the smell of my husband cooking meat at breakfast turned me off breakfast entirely; the afternoon naps on the couch simply because I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore; the awe at the thought that my body was helping grow a new little person. Apparently some things don't change (the nausea), some become tempered in re-runs (the awe), and some are required to change (the naps -- oh how I miss those naps!).

I do get a weekly break. An hour or so with my acupuncturist is a real treat. Often I get in a little nap, but last week my mind free-associated the hour I was there. I honestly don't remember anymore exactly where it went, but I do recall thinking "What a trip."

In line with the daydreaming is this strange thought that I'm going to learn of twins this Friday. Intellectually, my betas are far too low to expect two babies again (I'm quite happy to have only one set of twins, thanks), but for some reason, some part of my brain is preparing a reaction to the news.

Remember that I said that I imagined a little boy cherub? Well lately my mind won't get off of girls' names. My intuition has been right for two out of three so far, but I don't know what to make of this now.

Oh, and did I mention that this baby is due the day after Little R's fourth birthday?

Labels: Pregnancy 6

My 20dpo beta hCG is 719mIU/ml -- from my first beta at 14dpo my doubling time is 38.6 hours. I'm happy with that.

While I was at the lab yesterday, Little R found a scale with which to play. Once the tech had set me free, I weighed and measured my little man and this morning, just for laughs, pulled up the appropriate CDC growth chart. He's 90th percentile for both weight and height. If I follow those curves, he'll be as tall as I am by the time he reaches 13 (I'm just over 5'5"), and will top out at six feet and just under 200 pounds! I can't quite imagine my baby that size just yet -- it was a pretty awe-inspiring prospect though.

And I'm taking some good advice and taking Little R swimming now (it's 30 degrees!), before he gets too big for me to throw him around in the water.

Labels: Little R, Pregnancy 6

So sorry for the little skip in some heartbeats -- it was very unintentional.

My clinic finally called today with the beta that I had gotten from my GP yesterday already. They asked me to go for one more today and have set up a standing order for every Tuesday until September 9 (9½ weeks). My first ultrasound will be at exactly 7 weeks on August 22.

I still haven't been able to get onto BetaBase, but dug up a cached page that indicated my numbers are just below the median. Interestingly, if I push all my betas back a day, they're right on the median. Maybe I've just got low hCG (like with the twins) and maybe a late implanter, but I am ever more encouraged by the doubling times. Hopefully my clinic has a number in the 675+mIU/ml range for me tomorrow.

I did wake up with a slight bit of queasiness today, and was rather happy about it.

Labels: Pregnancy 6

With my just-barely-average betas, I've been terrified of this pregnancy ending in very short order. I had blood drawn yesterday and called my GP this morning at 10 to get the result. Yes, my RE ordered it, but I had my GP CCd, and it's usually easier to get hold of someone in his office.

So the woman I had on the phone said that yes, the result was in but that she couldn't tell me more until the nurses had looked at it. "Soon, please." I begged as she hung up.

I called my RE's clinic in the desperate hope I might actually get someone on the phone there. No such luck.

My adrenaline was surging. "She didn't tell me anything because it's bad news." I convinced myself. I had asked whether it was at least over 250 and she told me that she couldn't say. I saw red flags.

I tried to distract myself, hoping to keep my mind off the phone call that didn't come. The morning was gone and still no call. A new fear sprung to mind: this stress and the epinephrine shots my body was doing were going to do the pregnancy, on its last leg, in completely.

One thirty and I couldn't stand the torture anymore. My RE's clinic hadn't called and neither had my GP's. I dialled my GP. Again the clerk on the other end couldn't tell me anything, but she did ask me to hold. "Hello?" a different voice asked. I gave my name and the reason for my call. "299." was her simple reply.

I almost cried. A doubling time of 37 hours.

I'm now hopping off this rollercoaster and making my way over to that other one. I've had enough here, but first I need to go back to my bulletin board friends and explain the incoherent stream of panicked, relief-filled nonsense that they just got.

Labels: Pregnancy 6, Rants and Shoot-Em-Up Stories

The call came this morning:
β 56mIU (14dpo)
β 122mIU (16dpo)
My GP said I should go for another one today. I didn't feel encouraged.

Of course BetaBase seems perpetually down these days which is insanely frustrating, though I did find another site which told me that my numbers are right on the median. The doubling time is 39 hours, so that's good too.

But I'm nervous nonetheless. Slow starters are correlated with miscarriage and I've been here before.

Labels: Pregnancy 6, Rants and Shoot-Em-Up Stories

Well, I really should have enabled comment moderation on that last one so you guys couldn't peek at each other's answers. Gravida = Para + late losses + early losses. In my case, there's one more gravida than the addition suggests.

So yes, the sticks (except for the first) are positive, though the photo doesn't show it well.

I called my RE on Wednesday morning after I had had two positive pee sticks in a row (well, four actually, because I had done some no-name HPTs concurrently) to ask about moving up my beta date. The nurse who called back said no and gave the weak excuse that they wanted to make sure the implantation was secure. Yah, whatever. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough while I had her on the phone to suggest a beta that day and again at 18dpo, which would give her an even better indication of how 'secure' it was.

What I did instead was email my GP. I asked him to fax two requisitions to a local lab for Wednesday and Friday. Well, this morning I got a call from one of his staff saying I could go today and Monday (my RE's beta is Tuesday). *sigh* I really wonder if these people have any clue how important these things are in our day-to-day lives.

So I'm off for a beta today (though not until I hear from my brother about his baby's arrival). I'm going to have to make sure that it gets CCd to my RE because my GPs office is closed until Tuesday (long weekend here). Not that I expect they'll get a number either because the last time this happened (a beta just before or during a long weekend), the number didn't get to any docs because the lab staff that transmit this information don't work weekends in spite of the labs being open. Maybe I can get it done stat.... Agh!.

Labels: FET 1, Pregnancy 6, Rants and Shoot-Em-Up Stories