Who Likes Surprises?

Well, I sure do. But this one really threw me for a loop. Anyone want to guess what it is? Well, first I must say that my hubby is going to *kill* me for spilling the beans, so if you see him you must pretend as though you know NOTHING (at least until his birthday). Got that? Now then...for the surprise. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:





So, what do you think? Are you surprised? I sure was. My first thought was "is this even possible? No...no it's not. So then why on earth are there two lines?" I went to the doctor that very day to have my hCG drawn, because I needed someone to confirm that I wasn't losing my mind. At 12DPO (4/27), my hCG was 50 mIU/ml and my progesterone was 22 ng/ml. Not bad for 12DPO, and it confirmed that I really am pregnant (and due 1/6/11). But that's when the fun started... Because two days later, at 14DPO, my hCG had now risen to 178 mIU/ml (and my progesterone was up to 23.2 ng/ml). That's a doubling time of 26.20 hrs (normal doubling time is approx 48 horus). That was really shocking, to say the least.

4 days later, I had my hCG levels tested again, and they were now up to 1565 mIU/ml, even though I was only expecting 800. This is when I really started to worry. I mean really, my numbers were doubling even faster than when I was pregnant with the twins. This latest level doubled in only 30.61 hrs. Then, 3 days after that (now 21 DPO) my levels had soared to 6156 mIU/ml--doubling in 36.44 hrs. Still way under the 48 hour mark, and by now I only expected doubling in 48-72 hours! Well, my SINGLE little bean was just an overachiever. Here's the ultrasound from 6w 4d:

The baby was only measuring .38cm (6w 0d), but his/her heartbeat was 132bpm! I didn't cry when I had my first ultrasound with the twins...even when I saw those heartbeats for the first time. But with this one, I guess the whole "miracleness" of it got to me, and I burst into tears.

I still don't really believe it, but I guess the symptoms speak for themselves. Since I found out, I've been:

• completely exhausted
• peeing all the time
• dizzy
• nauseated
• headachy
• smelling everything
• drooling like mad (excess saliva)
• averse to some foods
• thirsty
• having weird dreams
• moody

Now I don't feel all of these symptoms all the time, except for the exhaustion. I was not *nearly* this tired with the twins, and I don't remember feeling dizzy with them either. I'm not too nauseated, and I feel like I'm hungry a lot, but I haven't gained any weight. Well, I think that's enough for you guys to go with for now...but just know that I'm still terrified that something could happen (even though I haven't had any cramps or bleeding, and we saw that beautiful heartbeat at 6 1/2 weeks). So keep praying for a sticky baby, and I'll keep you updated!

What a Week!

This week was the most obnoxious week on record. I started the week with an inkling that I might have gotten pregnant (let me tell you now, I'm not, so don't get your hopes up). I had all sorts of symptoms...metallic taste in my mouth, nausea, exhaustion, clumsiness, the works. I started using OPKs because I like them better than HPTs. I only had two left of my ancient internet cheapies, so I used those up. Each one looked darker than I would expect for my luteal phase, so I bought some at CVS to keep testing. The CVS brand turned positive. WHAT?? I would've sworn in a court of law that I had ovulated over a week prior, so they had to mean pregnant, right? Wrong. I had no signs of pending ovulation at this point, and all of my HPTs were clearly negative. So I checked my cervix. I know that it's usually high when I'm pregnant, and I also wanted to see if I had any fertile mucous. Instead what I found was a polyp. There was something there that I had never felt before, and I was terrified. So I called the OB/Gyn in the morning (this was yesterday), and she saw me only a few hours later. I know the nurse, who I had spoken with on the phone, thought I was just being a hypochondriac, but I knew what I had felt. And I was right...there was a polyp. The OB asked me if I wanted it removed, and I was like "umm of course..." And now they have to test it to make sure it's nothing weird and "just a polyp". The strange thing is that she found it in a bizarre place. Most polyps originate from the cervical opening, mine was nowhere near the opening... Anyhoo, she also took the full panel of blood tests to help me figure out what on earth was going wrong with my cycle. Here's what they found:

TSH: 1.54 uIU/ml
FSH: 2.5 mIU/ml
LH: 3.3 mIU/ml
Prolactin: 12.2 ng/ml
Progesterone: 12.14 ng/ml
Hemoglobin: 13.2 gm/dl
Hematocrit: 38.8%
hCG: 1.1 mIU/ml

This means, TSH is normal, FSH is normal, LH means I SHOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN A + ON MY STUPID OPKS!!! Prolactin is normal (yay), progesterone means I ovulated most likely when I thought I did (ahhh so I was right!), hemoglobin & hematocrit are normal, although the hematocrit is juuuust barely on the lower side of normal (which means I'm still not anemic). hCG confirms that I am not pregnant at all...so my OPK REALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSITIVE. I am really furious at CVS at getting my hopes up for no reason and you can be sure I'm sticking to internet cheapies from here on out. I called CVS and they want me to send them the rest of the OPKs for testing, and of course they're going to reimburse me for the purchase. Now everyone just needs to pray that they don't find anything weird from the polyp they removed...

Numb Belly

I discovered the other day that there are numb patches on my stomach (really just the area surrounding my belly button). I asked the doctor about it today and she says it's normal because my skin is sooooo stretched out. I wonder if I get my whole belly numb if I won't have to feel contractions? :-)

Speaking of contractions, the Braxton-Hicks are really annoying. They're still not painful (on my stomach), but I am feeling pain in my back and bladder. Oh man, every time I have a contraction it feels as if my bladder was 150% full. Now that's pain... Thank goodness it only lasts as long as the contraction and then my bladder goes back to feeling "normal" fullness. :-)

So, the doctor says all of my various symptoms are normal (and many are to be expected). On very good notes, my Braxton-Hicks contractions aren't affecting my cervix at all, my blood pressure is great and there are no warning signs of anything else (i.e. no protein or sugar in urine and my fetal fibronectin tests are all negative). The babies are in the same positions as always--Baby A head down, Baby B transverse. I've decided that they're making a T for Tamakwa. heh (Tamakwa deserves it's own post if you really want me to explain, and no, it's not a Yiddish or Hebrew word and has very little to do with Judaism.) I also only have about a week and a half left of the progesterone and then I'm done! My hubby got all freaked out when I said I was stopping it. He's like "but it's so early!" So I told him that just because I'm done with it, doesn't mean I'll go into labor the next day. Besides, I'll already be about 33 weeks. The only thing the progesterone is doing is helping to keep the cervix closed, but really the cerclage is doing the hard work. If the doctor is going to take out my cerclage at 34 or 35 weeks, I don't think stopping the progesterone a week or two beforehand is going to do any harm. My cervix isn't just going to suddenly open up...although that would be a pretty neat trick and make the whole labor and delivery thing much easier. :-)

Ultrasound tomorrow, and I posted a new belly pic this evening!

Final Beta!

So, I had my final beta drawn today. The hCG came back at 6653 mIU/ml and my progesterone came back at 49.5 ng/ml. The doc told me to lower my progesterone to once a day (WOOO) and we scheudled my first ultrasound for 9/2, when I'll be exactly 7 weeks! Levels are still way above average, and here's the chart:

Doctor's Appointment and 3rd Beta

So, my doctors appointment wasn't particularly exciting--she said my spotting and cramping are nothing to worry about. I had to sit there for 4 hours waiting, which sucked, and I was terrified that something was wrong because the urine test I took was pretty light. Turns out everything is fine, beta is up to 994 mIU/ml and progesterone is up to 35 ng/ml! Here's my new chart (eep)!

Second Beta

So, I got my second beta done today! My hCG came back at 429 mIU/ml (which is more than double) and my progesterone went up to 27.5 ng/ml (which makes me VERY happy). And, as you can see by the chart, my levels are even above the high side for single pregnancies, so we may be looking at twins....eek!

The chart won't do any levels before 14dpo, so it looks a little off.

First Beta is In!

So, I got my first beta done today and the level was 175 mIU/ml (which is AMAZING for 13DPR/10DPT). I'll have a repeat on Wednesday just to make sure it doubles. My progesterone came back as 16 ng/ml, which is not *excellent*, but my doc doesn't think I need to up my dosage. I'm taking the suppositories, so the progesterone is getting absorbed right into the uterus and doesn't make it into my blood as well as it would if I were taking the shots--but the uterus is where we want it to be, so that's ok.

Who am I?

So, my assistant manager has noticed that I'm "not acting myself". Maybe I seem a bit grumpy? She has noticed my rediculously frequent trips to the bathroom and has been joking about it ("Elana, are you in the bathroom again?!?!") I also don't feel quite right...

But here's what makes me nervous. I had a twinge in my lower-left abdominal quadrant earlier in the day--and I've had it before (in non-pregnant cycles). I honestly don't recall if I had it during my pregnant cycle. And my cervical position is pretty low, which is not a good sign for me. I do have a bit of the "metal mouth" taste, but that has happened in both pregnant and non-pregnant cycles...and could be a sign of "not pregnant", since it happened when I miscarried and has happened during AF.

And for those of you wondering, I am using progesterone suppositories--although I am curious as to why everyone wants to know and would love to know why via comment. :-)

Follies

So, I have 13 small follicles (under 10mm) on the left and 10 small ones (under 10mm) on the right side. Now what I'm wondering is if this is normal... I've been stimulating at 125IU of Follistim for 4 days and I don't have any larger follicles yet?!?! My endometrium is already at 8mm, so that's fine. My estradiol was around 200 pg/ml, LH around 3 mIU/ml and Progesterone around .3 ng/ml--so those are all normal. Has anyone else had this??? Am I going nuts? I go back on Friday for another follie check, so I hope that I have a bunch of big ones by then...but I'm kinda nervous...
:-(

Trigger Time!

This is the absolute earliest I have ever ovulated in my life. The problem with this? I can't go to the mikvah yet! 😟 So that means no condom collection for IUI. Thank goodness we got the ok from the rabbi to forego condom collection and do it the "usual" collection way for these sorts of things. No need for details. lol

Anyway, I've got now two follicles looking good for ovulation - 16mm on the right and 18.5mm on the left. So I have a chance for twins! Now wouldn't that be cool? (Or terrifying...) My endometrium is at 11.7mm, so right about what it was yesterday, and my estradiol has soared to 1335 pg/mL, LH is down to 3.59 mIU/mL (probably because of the Ganirelix), and my progesterone is nice at low at 0.565 ng/mL. So it's looking good for trigger tonight. All told, I've done 9 injections this cycle - add one trigger from my first Clomid cycle, and I've given myself 10 total shots. Not too bad! Hopefully I won't have to do any more... IUI in 2 days!

Cycle Day 11

Things are growing! I've got a 14mm follicle on the left side, my endometrium is up to 8.3, and my estradiol is holding steady at 126 pg/mL. My LH is also holding at 13 mIU/mL and my progesterone is still low at 0.319 ng/mL - that's to be expected, since I haven't ovulated  yet. Next monitoring visit is in 2 days, and we'll see how things are going then. Hopefully ovulate within a few days after that visit.

Progesterone Test

I got my surge this month on the 8th, which was on day 17 of my cycle. Not great, but not too bad either. So, I went in for another progesterone test today, and it came back as 13.3 ng/ml. The doctor is going to be starting me on progesterone suppositories even though this level is ok. I also did restart Metformin on the 30th. It probably didn't help me ovulate any earlier this month, but maybe it will do something for me next month if I'm not pregnant now.

They also did a fasting insulin level, which was 4.75. That's actually slightly lower than normal, but no one seems to be worried about it.

Progesterone Test

I got my progesterone test results back today and my level was 11 (which means I definitely ovulated and is within the normal range). So, this is good news! I don't have a progesterone deficiency and there's no medical reason why I haven't gotten pregnant yet. Next step is to find out if my husband has the ability get me pregnant. I'm going to have a chat with my rabbi next week and hopefully he'll give us the go-ahead to get a semen analysis soon.

OB/Gyn Follow Up

I went to my OB/Gyn today for my 3 month followup, and since I'm still not pregnant she scheduled me for an HSG two days from now and I'm supposed to get my progesterone levels tested around 5 or 6 DPO. I'll keep you updated!