beta #1 and #2 - the numbers

A week ago today was my second beta.  I haven't blogged about it yet because I just haven't been able to get up the energy by the time my hubby and I are done with all of our after-work happenings (gym, dinner, errands, grocery shopping, etc).  But tonight, I stayed home and didn't do any of my usual evening activities so I'm getting an early start on my computer usage.

So.  Beta day #2.  I wasn't with it enough to ask what my first hCG level was when I received the call from my RE on our first beta day so I waited as patiently as I could for beta day #2.  I could have called and asked what my first number was but I just decided to wait.  If it was good enough for my RE, it was good enough for me.

On Monday, October 8th, I called just a few minutes after the clinic opened to schedule my second blood draw; I could hardly wait to get it in the books.  I asked the receptionist to transfer me to scheduling and when my call was picked up, I requested an appointment for Tuesday.  Once again, I chose the earliest time slot available:  October 9th at 7:30 am.  I think I was too excited to realize that an appointment a little later in the morning would have been ok and would have allowed me to sleep in a little longer.  The cut off time for same-day blood test results at my clinic is 10 am.  But I also didn't want to arrive at work too late and make people suspicious and ask questions as to my whereabouts.

After scheduling my blood draw, I couldn't wait any longer.  I texted my sisters the news that our FET cycle worked.  I would have called but I was at work and didn't want other people to hear our conversations...and I couldn't wait all day to tell someone!  My younger sister responded first via text with "Hot diggity dog!!!!!"  Then my older sister responded with "I accidentally erased your msg" so I resent it and she responded with "Well hotdog."  LOL, my sisters and I say these kinds of things to each other all the time so they were pretty appropriate.  ; )

All day, I had a very torturous wait to tell my BFF (we'll call her A).  I could have texted her the news but we hadn't talked on the phone for a really long time so it was a nice reason to communicate using a method other than email or text.  After I was done with work, the gym, dinner, back to the gym again because I left my cell phone on the stationary bike, a couple of texts with A, and a failed attempt at Skyping, I finally gave A a call to tell her our news.  And we talked for 2 hours and 14 minutes.  Oh, did I mention she lives several states away and I don't get to see her very much?  (Boo!)  We had a very lovely phone call with lots of catching up and many heartfelt congratulations from her.  And we were having such a fun time talking on the phone that I wasn't ready to hang up when it came time for DH to give me my nightly PIO shot.  So yeah, he stuck the needle in my tushie as I was talking to A.  And I told her all about it.  ; )

As I went to bed Monday night, I was again too excited to sleep very well, even despite my energy shortage from the effects of actually being pregnant.  But my alarm going off at 5:45 am the next day still came too early.  I showered, readied myself, and left for my appointment at 7:00 am....and made the mistake of taking the freeway.  Traffic was stop and go for the first 20 minutes of my commute!  Ugh.  I tried calling my clinic to let them know I would be a few minutes late but of course they weren't open yet.  I gave up trying to give them advance notice - after all, if they didn't even open until the exact time of my appointment, they could hardly blame me for not being able to tell them I was stuck in traffic - and I turned on the speed racer mode once traffic started moving again.  I made it to my appointment and was only about three minutes late.  Sometimes I think I should have been a race car driver.  ; )

Soon after I checked in, my name was called by the usual tech who has the unfortunate tendency of stabbing me in the arm for my blood draws.  (The two blood draws that didn't hurt must have been a fluke.)  We made small talk; I'm generally not that into small talk but I was in such a cheery mood from receiving my BFP news on Sunday that I didn't mind.  I think I actually chatted a little too much with her because she made a comment (not in a rude way) that made me stop talking so she could fill out the necessary paperwork.  After she finished filling out what she needed, she said something to me like, "So you're back again today?" with a happy smile on her face.  To which I responded, "Yes!  I received a surprise positive test on Sunday!" and we continued with more small talk.  I even talked right through the stab in my arm, but not without wincing and having a strain in my voice as I spoke.  And then she bandaged me up and sent me on my way.  All that worrying about being late to my appointment for nothing.  For those of you who know me IRL, you're probably not surprised by this.  I hate being late and rarely is it a big deal when I actually am (queue memories from my bachelorette party and ensuing trip to urgent care - I'll save that story for another day).

I made it to work about 20 minutes later and tried to busy myself with, you know, actual work, as a distraction until I received the call with my blood test results.  My attempts at distraction were only minimally successful.  But finally, I heard my cell phone vibrating at my desk a little after 3:00 pm.  It was one of the nurses and she gave me my magical beta numbers:  494 from beta #1 and 1,161 from beta #2!  If my math is correct, that's a doubling time of 1.6 days!  Hallelujah!  I remember thinking something like, "I really am for real pregnant!  Thank you God!"  The nurse said my numbers rose "beautifully" and wished me congratulations.  She also informed me that the next step was to schedule my first u/s and that it needed to be October 27th or later.  Wow, three whole weeks until my next appointment!  How will I keep my sanity??

The nurse transferred me to scheduling, and since I will be out of town the weekend of the 27th for my grandma's 90th birthday, I set up the appointment for October 29th at 11:45 am.  I was disappointed that I couldn't get in for my appointment before my grandma's birthday, just to have confirmation that everything is ok and have it be a bit safer for us to tell the rest of my family our news.  I know it's still early to tell people that weekend, but it will be a large gathering with many family members who I haven't seen in years - in some cases, SIX years.  After scheduling my u/s, I hung up and sent DH an instant message to tell him the good news and to make sure he blocked off his calendar for our appointment on the 29th.  I couldn't believe it - me?  Having a fetal u/s?  I thanked God again for giving us this miracle.

Oh, and I was so excited for the good beta numbers and scheduling our first fetal u/s that I forgot to ask the nurse some of my questions.  So I called back a few minutes later and of course I had to leave a message.  Fortunately, it didn't take long for the nurse to call me back again.  I asked her when it was ok to have sexy time again (I didn't say it exactly like that though - LOL, maybe I should have!), how far along I am in my pregnancy, and if they were able to give me a due date yet.  She said no sexy time until after our u/s (yikes - that means no sexy time for a total of 4.5 weeks!  boo!), that I was 4 weeks and 2 days (so today, the day I'm finally writing this post, I'm 5 weeks and 2 days), and that my EDD is June 25.  That last part still seems wrong to me so I'm going to ask about it at my next appointment.  I think it should be more like June 15, but I'm no expert.

And I finally slept that night.