Beta #1

I headed to Dr. RE's office this morning for my first round of blood work-- it was such a fun appointment as I got to surprise her with the news. We went ahead and did my first Beta and...

850!

I'll go back on Wednesday for my second round to see how things are progressing. Fingers crossed that it's somewhere around 1,700.

I had my thyroid levels checked too, and unfortunately they're still elevated (3.5, almost the same as they were 6 weeks ago). My medication needs to be increased and we need to keep a close watch on it, as Baby Blakely will be using my thyroid until he/she develops one. Typically, doses of Synthroid have to be increased during pregnancy. They'll monitor this several times each trimester.

No ultrasound today, but we are scheduled for January 25th at 9:30 to see the little one! The next two weeks will go by so slow...

When is this baby coming, anyway?

Now that we know that I'm pregnant, I've been trying to figure out exactly how far along we are. It's confusing!

According to FF, my due date is September 14th, 2010. (This is based on my ovulation date.) Several pregnancy tickers have said that this means I am 4 weeks and 5 days today. Sounds about right.

Then, I checked out What to Expect When You're Expecting. By the same due date, they calculate this as 5 weeks and 3 days.

To make matters even more confusing, if I use the first day of my last period (as many ob/gyns do), it says that I'm 6 weeks along, which for some reason, What to Expect actually counts this as 7 weeks!! I'm definitely NOT that far along yet. I do understand that the first two weeks of pregnancy you're not actually pregnant, but my cycles are long and I ovulate late so figuring out how far along we are based on LMP wouldn't be quite accurate.

I'm hoping that the RE can shed some light on this tomorrow when I go in for blood work, but I may just have to wait a few weeks to have our first ultrasound done.

Anyone have any ideas?

One Doodle That Can't Be Un-did

Every morning, I enter my temps, then at night I enter my Cervical Mucus & Cervical Position. Last night, I had some watery CM & when I entered it into FF, I got a message telling me that it moved my O day from CD28 back to CD24which meant I wasn't 13dpo today-- I was 17dpo.

I had every intention of waiting until Sunday to test, but when my O day changed, I realized that I was already past my usual LP. I debated what to do this morning-- should I wait until Sunday? Was I testing too early? What if my original ovulation date was right? I decided to go ahead—figured it would be negative and I’d get on with my day.

It's so surreal, but I was wrong & I'm in total shock.

I started shaking, then crying. I really wanted to tell Rob in some creative way, but all I could do was run into the bedroom, tell him to wake up, then shove the test in his face. He was totally confused. Had to explain it to him. I think he’s in shock. He had a huge grin on his face and asked me to come cuddle in bed with him for a while. I ended up being soooo late for work today (where I was totally useless anyway).

I already had an appointment scheduled with my RE on Monday (to pick up my Clomid and check my TSH levels), so I’ll get my 1st Beta bloodwork done then. (I called to try to get it done this morning, but the office was closed b/c of the weather.)

We're cautiously very excited. My mom and I had planned a trip together the first weekend in February, so I will tell her then. It's really important to me to get to tell her in person-- this will be my parents' first grandchild. If all goes well, by then I'll be almost 9 weeks and will feel better about telling people. I'm trying to keep it kind of quiet until then, even though I want to tell everyone I know! (So if you know me in real life, please don't tell anyone yet! I would obviously be devestated if my parents heard it from someone other than me.)

Rob made a few calls to his dad and sisters today & we found out that my sister-in-law Barbara is pregnant, too!! I can't believe this-- it looks like our due dates are only about 10 days apart. I'm ecstatic-- thrilled for her and so pleased that I'll have someone to go through this with.

There are so many things that I'm feeling today. I know my life has just changed forever. I am so relieved that all of the next steps we had talked about taking in regards to our fertility can be forgotten about (for now, at least). I feel slightly scared at what's to come. I feel so giddy that this day happened for us.

But most of all, I feel so lucky that I have had the support of the greatest group of women who are scattered all over the world, but draw together to support each other's journey through IF. I only hope that I can continue to be as supportive of these women in the coming months as they have been supportive of me. I know how lucky I am that this happened so "easily" for us & and I know how unfair and long this process has been for so many wonderful women who deserve their day. Obviously, the focus of this blog will shift in the coming weeks, but please know that I'll be just as involved in where you are now as I was before.

I don't know what to expect of the future, but I know I'll have amazing ladies by my side no matter what happens-- good or bad.

Hanging in There

Temps went back up again today-- tomorrow and Saturday are the "important" days though. 13dpo is when they dropped last cycle & 14dpo is when they dropped the previous cycle. If I make it through those two days, I'll probably break down and test on Sunday, when I expect to get my period.

I wish that my posts this week were more exciting, but really, this is all I've been thinking about.

Current mindset? Optimistic but realistic.

Wordless Wednesday

Waiting is the hardest part...

This has been the most difficult 2ww for me since we started trying to have a baby.

I can't help but stare at my chart, analyze my body for early symptoms and hope.

I've spent a lot of time looking at this chart overlay of my last three cycles-- The green line was cycle #5 that started at the beginning of August. It went on for 58 days, only to end with a dose of Prometrium, so I'm not sure if the "post ovulation" temp pattern is quite in line with what other cycles have looked like for me. The pink line is last cycle (completely unmedicated-- no Clomid, no progesterone) so I feel like it is a good gauge of how this cycle is shaping up.

My post o temps are so much higher this cycle than they were last cycle. I'm sure that doesn't mean anything, but it's nice to look at. Last cycle, temps dropped at 10dpo then rose for 11-12dpo and finally dipped again on 13-14dpo.

So really, I have about three more (excruciating) days before any of these temps actually "mean" something. Because, as Egg said,

"My temps are looking good, but let’s be honest folks, temps look good until they look bad."

Wiser words were never spoken.

Wishing & Waiting

I wish I could say that my silence on this blog the past few days was a result of me enjoying my vacation, but honestly, there's just been no news to post. We're in a holding pattern.

The insurance adjuster showed up on New Year's Eve and rang in our new year with some really shitty news-- It appears that our insurance will not be covering our water damage. According to him, insurance covers "sudden & accidental" damage. While we did have some sudden damage when the pipe burst, it appears that the root of the problem is a leak that's been happening for a long time-- and that, my friends, equals no coverage.

We spent the majority of the day in shock. What are we going to do? Once the plumbing is finally fixed, both of our bathrooms and our sunporch will have to be entirely torn apart. The subflooring will have to be repaired and then they will all have to be put back together.

The good news is that we'll get that new tile we wanted.

The bad news is that it will cost us about $10-$15k to get it.

We're looking into our options now. A loan, a second mortgage and wiping out our 401k's seem to be our best (?) options. None of them feel like good options, but we'll do what we have to do.

I'm into my second week of the 2ww-- 9dpo. My temps were steadily rising through 6dpo then dropped a bit-- nowhere near the coverline, but it was enough to take away my hopeful feelings about this cycle. (Silly, I know) This morning, they went back up. I really need to stop trying to analyze this part-- I know I ovulated & my temps really don't mean anything (as long as they stay above the coverline) until around 14dpo. FF suggests testing at 16dpo (if I make it that far without AF showing up) and I'm going to try to stick to that... I'll at least wait until next weekend.

Symptoms? Nah, not really. My breasts feel a little tender, but I'm pretty sure that's from me poking them constantly to see if they're sore. I've had some pretty bad heartburn the past few days, but that may just be from the spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup I made this weekend.

I'll keep everyone posted on any updates (house or chart) when there's news!