1st ultrasound

My appointment was at 8:30 this morning and I was taken back pretty quickly. Yesterday I had spoken with Dr. Thompson at work just about what to expect to see/not see, especially since I didn't have an appointment with a practitioner after the u/s. He kindly offered to meet with me after the u/s to review things and he reiterated how great my betas were from last week.

So I went back to one of the ultrasound rooms and the tech spent several minutes explaining what she was looking at, etc. There was a gestational sac that measured 6 weeks (supposedly I'm 5 weeks, 4 days based on an adjusted LMP) and a yolk sac. She looked at both of my ovaries and said they looked good (no cysts).

She took me to another room to wait for Dr. Thompson and I did wait a while, but I figured I would have to since I wasn't technically on his schedule. He said everything looked good and he showed me the decidual reaction (a whitish circle area around the gestational sac that is a good sign that it is all burrowing into my uterine lining). He recommended another u/s in 1-2 weeks. He said he would do whatever I wanted, but that next week they still may not be able to see anything more than what I saw today (except growth), so I totally opted to wait 2 weeks (and I forgot that we'll be in TX next week- which will make it go by quickly!).  I asked whether or not this would be my "new OB" appointment and he said "sure, we can go ahead and do all that too." Love him! It just made sense to me to go ahead and do the nurse appointment and mid-level practitioner appointment since at that time I'll be 7 weeks, 4 days.

So I technically have 3 appointments for May 8- ultrasound, OB nurse, and mid-level practitioner- starting at 8:45am! Can't wait to see what I can see!

first ultrasound scheduled

I wasn't sure what time the offices opens in the mornings, but I assumed it was around 8. So I called a couple of times and just got a busy signal. I fell back asleep for a few minutes and tried again at 8:30. I spoke with one of the schedulers and she wasn't sure exactly what kind of appointment/ultrasound to schedule me for, so she transferred me to one of the nurses who read the note from Friday. She said that it didn't say anything about seeing a doctor, just about the ultrasound. But she did say that there probably will be (?) a doctor at the ultrasound to let me know what's going on/what's what. So we'll see about that.

But my appointment is the first appointment on Wednesday morning at 8:30! I wish Brad could go with me, but I can't wait!!

Beta #3

2,117!!!!!!

The nurse Vicki from Hawthorne just called and my beta from this morning was 2,117! I'm feeling great about this number! She said that "he" (don't know which doctor she was talking about) was really pleased and that she was really happy for me! I'm so glad she called before the weekend! It will make my weekend that much better!

Vicki said the doctor would like for me to make an ultrasound appointment and appointment with a doctor or NP/PA sometime next week. The scheduling people had left for the weekend already, so I'll just call on Monday!! Apparently when your betas are over 2,000 there should be something to see on the u/s!

I hope that this is the baby Brad and I have been praying for!

Beta #2 results

I got called off at 5 this morning and Brad arrived home from work around 7:30, so I've been up since he got home because he's trying to stay up to switch back to days.

He asked if Hawthorne had called last night (I carried my phone on my walk with Mary Claire), but they hadn't. I told him I'd give them a couple of hours before calling. Well I made it to 9:35!

The nurse told me that is was 960 yesterday!!!!  I'm thrilled! They do want to redo it tomorrow, so I'll go again at 9:45 and hopefully have a good report then too!

I also took my last HPT from the Dollar Store today! The tests are getting darker every time I take one, which is very encouraging to me!

And now I'm "on call" for work. Kind of a bummer, but I didn't really have anything planned, so it's no big deal! We'll see what happens there!

UPDATE: I just got the "official" call from Karen a nurse at Hawthorne and she, of course, just confirmed what I already knew. She did say that the message from Dr. Scherer said that it is 960 and "yay!" That just made me chuckle! I love having a doctor who is rooting for this pregnancy as much as I am!

Beta #2

I carried my phone around like a teenage today, but no phone call with the results :(

My appointment with Elsie was at 9:30am and I was finished by 9:40! I didn't make an appointment for Friday; I decided to wait and hear what the doctor says about today's draw. I was really hoping to get the results today, so I wouldn't have to carry my phone around with me at work tomorrow, but oh well!

Lauren, Hannah, and I went to the trampoline park today, but I did not jump. They asked me a couple of times, "why not?" I just told them I didn't want to get hot in my jeans. That seemed like an acceptable answer!

Can't wait to get my results tomorrow! Depending on who's on call, I might ask whoever I see at work if he/she can look up the results for me! Praying the number goes up in an acceptable fashion!

Beta #1

I had my first beta drawn. A beta quantitatively measures the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in your blood during pregnancy. My appointment was at 9:30am and I only had to wait a little while. It, of course, only took Elsie 2 min to do everything she needed to do, so I was finished by 10:15. Before I left, I went ahead and scheduled another one for Wednesday at 9:15.

I also took another HPT test this morning and it is considerably darker than the one from Friday (comparing Dollar Store brand to Dollar Store brand)!!

Right before I picked up Anna at 3:05 (literally I hung up as Anna was opening the door), Vicki from Hawthorne called with my results! I was so nervous, but she said that Dr. Scherer is pleased with the first number and definitely wants me to go back on Wednesday!

I asked her what the number is and it's 373! 

I know it doesn't really matter what the number is, just that it goes up the appropriate amount in the appropriate amount of time, but I feel like that's a seriously good number for me! Especially considering with my 2nd chemical pregnancy the highest it ever got was 65 and it hadn't even come close to doubling in 48 hours!

Dr. Masciello also called me directly after I left the Albertini's house to report to the result to me. I though that was really nice of him and I certainly didn't tell him that I already knew!

I'm cautiously optimistic! I'm trying not to get too excited and plan out the next 8 months.

Like:
How far along will I be at Jennifer's wedding? Caroline's wedding? Our trip to TN at the end of June?

How does this affect our potential trip to CO in Sept? How does this affect Brad's 3rd year schedule? Should he tell the chiefs that I will be delivering in December and that he should get an easier schedule for that block? What will we do for Christmas and New Years since traveling is so obviously out of the picture? When should we tell our parents? the rest of our families? our friends?

Brad and I talked briefly about a few of these topics (telling people and Christmas) on Saturday night at Chick-fil-a, but we couldn't get on the same page and I told him I was trying not to get to into "planning mode" and he was totally okay with that!

I hope Wednesday's blood draw is as promising as today's was!

Today I am pregnant and I love my little baby bug!

This is it...

and I just know it!

I was planning on testing this morning if my temperature was still high (and because if it was positive, I wanted to be able to call Hawthorne before the weekend and get a progesterone supplement prescription and schedule my first beta for Monday). When it registered at 98.39, I wasn't sure if it was high because I really hadn't slept well last night (major storms and just tossing and turning) or if it was really high due to a potential pregnancy. So I thought I could spare one of my Dollar Store tests (I think I bought 6 last time I was there) and decided to test!

Well the Dollar Store looked faintly positive, so I decided to risk my FRER (only one left from a previous purchase) and dipped it (there is definitely a plus side to peeing in a cup vs. peeing on the stick). It immediately came back strongly positive! I ran back to our bedroom and basically waved it in Brad's face! His response was, "We'll see what happens. The line looks darker than the others." I know he's trying to not get his hopes up and I'm trying not too either, but it's really hard not to think about the next 9 months!

I called Hawthorne and spoke with nurse Teresa and expressed my concerns about a) the progesterone supplement and low dose aspirin and b) getting some betas drawn since I'm off Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week (great timing!). She said she would send a message to Dr. Scherer and get back to me. She called me back about 3 hours later and said that Dr. Scherer said, "yay and congratulations!" Love my doctor! The nurse couldn't find how long I should take the progesterone, so I asked Dr. Masciello at work and he said they usually prescribe it until the 14th week of pregnancy because the placenta usually takes over at 12 weeks, but sometimes things can be a week or 2 off (which is less common with early dating ultrasounds). So again I spoke with Teresa, after missing her call and calling back and getting the answering service. She sent my prescription to the outpatient pharmacy at Baptist (Brad picked it up) and scheduled Beta #1 for 9:45 on Monday morning!

I pray that this is our take home, sticky baby! I pray that these next few weeks (which are so vital) will go smoothly. I pray that sometime around December 20, 2013, we will be welcoming a little baby Thrasher into our lives. I pray that the rest of this year will be one of the happiest of our lives! I pray that whatever happens, God's will be done. I pray that whatever happens, our marriage will become stronger.

I pray that this is the baby we have prayed for that will make Brad and I parents!