Monday, June 18, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
4 weeks pregnant
Oh, and hey-- now that it's official-- here's what the baby is looking like right now:
But it's only this size: .
Pretty neat, right?
And just to do some kind of official weekly check-in, right now, I'm not having many, if any, symptoms. I mentioned the GOMN the other day. I'm maybe a teensy bit more tired than usual. But that's really it. I'm bracing myself for the "fun" I know is yet to come!
The longest day ever
I expected results sometime around 10. By noon, the anxiety was just too much and I started texting M and emailing Barb to see what was going on. At 2:45, I called the lab to make sure they had faxed the results to the right number-- they said they had, but they would fax again. And then finally, a little before 3:30, M called and said "Siiiiiiiiimmmmiiiiii..." with what, even over the phone, was obviously a big smile on his face. So I knew he had results.
And the number is: 302! Yeeha! Barb told them they wanted anything over 100, so this was a great result. Going by averages, this would be a good twin number. Considering my personal history, though, I'm going to guess we have one that stuck around. Have to wait another couple of weeks to solve that mystery.
So very exciting news! I will go in on Monday for my repeat test, and this time they'll also check my estrogen and progesterone levels, to make sure none of my meds need to get tweaked. By Monday, my beta level should be right around 1,000.
And the number is: 302! Yeeha! Barb told them they wanted anything over 100, so this was a great result. Going by averages, this would be a good twin number. Considering my personal history, though, I'm going to guess we have one that stuck around. Have to wait another couple of weeks to solve that mystery.
So very exciting news! I will go in on Monday for my repeat test, and this time they'll also check my estrogen and progesterone levels, to make sure none of my meds need to get tweaked. By Monday, my beta level should be right around 1,000.
The deed is done
It took a while to get in this morning. I walked in the door at 6:59 (they open at 7) and put my name on the list. It took 5 or so minutes for them to call me up for my paperwork and then quite a while for them to enter the order into the computer. I think the computer was down for a bit, plus there seemed to be a lot of confusion about how to enter the test ("Did you search beta?" "Yeah, but see? It's linked to progesterone." "Hmm, let me try." "It says quant, right?" etc., etc.).
When I did finally get called back, at about 7:15, the guy taking my blood fumbled getting his gloves on (and giggled), and then fumbled around trying to find the supplies he needed (the rubber band was in a different room). Then he introduced himself as an ACC phlebotomy student. I suspected he might be! ;) Despite not instilling confidence with the prep work, he did a good job with the stick. After using about 5 cotton balls to clean me up, I was out of there! Funny.
And then only reason I'm writing this ridiculously long blog entry about a blood draw is that there's little chance of me getting anything else done. I'm so anxious to see what the number is! I always have anxiety dreams when I'm worked up about something, and last night was full of them. I hope it was worth it! Come on, results!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Number crunching
True to form, I'm sort-of kind-of obsessively researching today, in anticipation of our beta tomorrow. The beta will give us a quantitative number for the amount of hCG in my blood, measured in mIU/ml.
My blood draw will be at 8.75 days past a 5 day transfer (7am, transfer was at 1pm), so we're a little short of a true 14 dpo (days past ovulation) result. Adjusting the numbers on betabase somewhat for that, the average beta levels at this stage of pregnancy would be 92 for a singleton and 187 for twins. I believe Houston IVF will be looking for anything over 100.
But I was a very high hCG producer during my first surrogacy. At 15 dpo, my level was 1,416 with twins-- about 5.3 times the average and to this day, higher than I've ever seen someone else get. There's no telling how much of that was me and how much of it was the embryos, I guess. But if I were to have equally absurdly high numbers this time, the result would be 489 for a single and 988 for twins.
So, here are ranges for my predictions:
<92 = I'd be worried (not going to happen)
92 - 187 = singleton
187 - 489 = could go either way
489 - 988 = twins
>988 = I'd be worried. :)
On SMO, there's a Master Beta Break Down List of people's beta levels on various days with various types of transfer. I tend to prefer betabase, only because it has a larger sample size, but here's what SMO says:
9dp5dtSINGLETON: 8.4, 21, 39, 40, 48, 50, 51, 52, 55, 57, 60, 60, 68.9, 73, 77, 90, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96, 99, 99, 115, 118, 120.5, 122, 124, 128, 133, 137, 141, 146, 150, 151, 153, 156, 160, 199, 203, 210, 262, 285, 308, 345, 348, 360, 477
TWINS: 79, 119, 120, 127, 141, 147, 149, 160, 173, 180, 187.51, 194, 197, 199, 200, 224, 234, 242, 243, 245, 248, 254, 255.3, 260, 274, 275, 290, 300.8, 306, 309, 320, 323, 329, 334, 340, 347, 350, 354, 363, 374, 379, 419, 432, 448, 496.3, 753
TRIPS: 89.5, 110, 123, 254, 289, 345, 374, 514
So there's just a little more context for whatever we see tomorrow.
My official, out of thin air prediction is 255. Tomorrow we find out if I should go to Vegas.
My blood draw will be at 8.75 days past a 5 day transfer (7am, transfer was at 1pm), so we're a little short of a true 14 dpo (days past ovulation) result. Adjusting the numbers on betabase somewhat for that, the average beta levels at this stage of pregnancy would be 92 for a singleton and 187 for twins. I believe Houston IVF will be looking for anything over 100.
But I was a very high hCG producer during my first surrogacy. At 15 dpo, my level was 1,416 with twins-- about 5.3 times the average and to this day, higher than I've ever seen someone else get. There's no telling how much of that was me and how much of it was the embryos, I guess. But if I were to have equally absurdly high numbers this time, the result would be 489 for a single and 988 for twins.
So, here are ranges for my predictions:
<92 = I'd be worried (not going to happen)
92 - 187 = singleton
187 - 489 = could go either way
489 - 988 = twins
>988 = I'd be worried. :)
On SMO, there's a Master Beta Break Down List of people's beta levels on various days with various types of transfer. I tend to prefer betabase, only because it has a larger sample size, but here's what SMO says:
9dp5dtSINGLETON: 8.4, 21, 39, 40, 48, 50, 51, 52, 55, 57, 60, 60, 68.9, 73, 77, 90, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96, 99, 99, 115, 118, 120.5, 122, 124, 128, 133, 137, 141, 146, 150, 151, 153, 156, 160, 199, 203, 210, 262, 285, 308, 345, 348, 360, 477
TWINS: 79, 119, 120, 127, 141, 147, 149, 160, 173, 180, 187.51, 194, 197, 199, 200, 224, 234, 242, 243, 245, 248, 254, 255.3, 260, 274, 275, 290, 300.8, 306, 309, 320, 323, 329, 334, 340, 347, 350, 354, 363, 374, 379, 419, 432, 448, 496.3, 753
TRIPS: 89.5, 110, 123, 254, 289, 345, 374, 514
So there's just a little more context for whatever we see tomorrow.
My official, out of thin air prediction is 255. Tomorrow we find out if I should go to Vegas.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
First symptom?
A friend of mine and I share the same early pregnancy symptom, called "Get Off My Neck." I don't know how to explain it other than the very idea of something on my neck is untenable and makes me feel ill. Today I'm wearing a v-neck dress that does not even come close to my neck and I still feel the GOMN. Blech!
Just a friendly precursor to morning sickness, I suppose. I have another couple of weeks before that kicks in in earnest. Last time around, it was 23 days from transfer to my very cruddiest feeling day (coincidentally, the day I interviewed for my current job-- that's how I know the date!).
My boss has been out sick for two days, but is back in the office today, so I got to share my pregnancy test pictures with her. I'm so lucky that she's a huge supporter of this whole process-- she's looking forward to our beta on Friday nearly (ok, not really) as much as I am.
I did email Barb yesterday to ask when my repeat beta would be and she said it would likely be on Tuesday. She also asked if I'd been "cheating" (since the clinic discourages home pregnancy tests) and I said I had been, many times, and that it had been positive since Sunday. She replied "Yay!" Cheating is not a cardinal sin in this context. :)
Just a friendly precursor to morning sickness, I suppose. I have another couple of weeks before that kicks in in earnest. Last time around, it was 23 days from transfer to my very cruddiest feeling day (coincidentally, the day I interviewed for my current job-- that's how I know the date!).
My boss has been out sick for two days, but is back in the office today, so I got to share my pregnancy test pictures with her. I'm so lucky that she's a huge supporter of this whole process-- she's looking forward to our beta on Friday nearly (ok, not really) as much as I am.
I did email Barb yesterday to ask when my repeat beta would be and she said it would likely be on Tuesday. She also asked if I'd been "cheating" (since the clinic discourages home pregnancy tests) and I said I had been, many times, and that it had been positive since Sunday. She replied "Yay!" Cheating is not a cardinal sin in this context. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)