Blood draw

The next morning, I got up early, so I could get my blood drawn and still make it to work on time. I have to tell you - I love the phlebotomist who is there early in the morning. She is so cheerful and nice and no matter how many patients she sees, she always remembers me. No matter how down I may be feeling, she never fails to make me smile. And that day was no exception. She chatted with me about my upcoming vacation and her upcoming vacation and I didn't even tell her that I thought the blood test was pointless, because I knew that she had been rooting for us to succeed. I nearly called the doctor's office to tell them that they didn't have to call when the test was negative - I already knew, but I just couldn't make that call. I spent the day cringing every time the phone rang and struggling not to cry. I had some very light spotting, but I didn't have more blood like I had been having.



And then the phone rang. Now, I am not one of those people who can leave a phone to ring and go into voicemail, so I answered and it was the less favorite of the nurses. And she is always so cheerful. She asked me how I was doing and I told her not too good, since I knew what the results of the test were. And that was when she told me that my hcg level was 14.4. She called it a low positive and I couldn't believe it. I asked her if she was sure and then I asked her what that meant - I mean, did it mean I was a little pregnant or not pregnant or what? She told me that under 2 was negative, but over 25 was positive and I was somewhere in between. She told me that we should be cautiously optimistic and that she wanted me in on Wednesday for another blood draw. At that point, I would have given gallons if she had asked me to! I couldn't believe it! I was almost pregnant! I spent the rest of the day talking to my uterus every chance I got. Telling the babies that they could do it and telling them that we wanted them so badly.



That night, even though my step daughter should have been with her mom, she was home and needed to go shopping for jeans and DH was in class, so I took her. While we were wandering the mall my sister/friend called - she is a nurse and she used to work Labor and Delivery, but now she works in the Cardiac unit. She yelled at me for being out at the mall and told me to go home and put my feet up and drink plenty of water, to keep my uterus hydrated! I told her we had a little more to do, but then I would. She told me that she had seen people start out with lower numbers than that and have perfectly healthy pregnancies and babies, so not to worry. A pair of jeans, a pair of capris and a winter coat later, we headed home, where I got a glass of water and planted myself on the couch.



Wednesday I went early again and got P, the fabulous phlebotomist. We chatted, she took blood and I was off to work, floating on air, still talking to my uterus, telling the babies that they had alot to look forward to after they were born. I anxiously waited for the nurse to call with more numbers for me to google! And then she did. Today's level was 44. I had more than tripled in two days. She said that it was good, so she wanted me to come back on Friday for more blood work. I was really going to keep the vampires in the basement of the hospital happy this week, but I was ok with that. I was now firmly over 25, which meant I was pregnant! I didn't go crazy - I didn't buy myself a maternity wardrobe or anything, but I found my hand resting on my stomach more and more and I wasn't as grumpy about feeling fat. After all, I wasn't just fat - I was pregnant! Originally, I had been scheduled for my annual exam with my OB, but when we realized when my IVF cycle was going to happen, I called to change the appointment, since they didn't want to risk anything happening this early in the game. When I changed my appointment, I made it for the day before Thanksgiving, figuring that it could easily be turned into a prenatal appointment from an annual exam. And then I pooped again and there was blood again. It made my stomach lurch, but I had my rising hcg levels. They had tripled in two days when they want them to double in three. That was good!



Friday's levels were 134! I had tripled in two days again! So I asked. When can we use the "p" word? And the nurse said that we could use it after we had seen the heart beat. When my LD sister hear that, she disagreed - she told me that I was pregnant now, they were just being cautious. She knew that the following Friday I would be having my first ultrasound and she called to make sure that I didn't think that I would see a heartbeat then, since it would be too soon. I told her that I knew that, but I was expecting to see the sac, firmly implanted in my uterus, which meant no roller coasters for me at Disney! And she said that she didn't care if we sat by the pool the whole time, as long as we were together and I was pregnant!


We went out of town to visit friends for the weekend, and, as hard as it was, I didn't tell them that I was pregnant. They knew that we were doing fertility treatments, though and I told them that we had progressed to IVF and were hopeful and then Monday I went back for more blood to be drawn. Now, I am a geek. I had been trying to figure out how the numbers should go. If I was tripling every two days, and these blood draws were three days apart, my number should have been in the mid to high 400s. When the nurse called to tell me that the number was 257, I wasn't thrilled, but I had almost doubled in three days, so maybe I was leveling out. At least that is what I hoped and they scheduled me for another blood draw on Thursday.


Tuesday night, I went to have acupuncture and M liked what he felt in my pulse. He said that it was the strongest slippery pulse he had felt on me yet, and that the tripling numbers could mean that I was having twins (he was particularly happy about that, since he is a twin!) and he wasn't too worried about doubling over the weekend - he was just happy for me! Weren't we all at that point?