Pomp and Circumstance

Last weekend, this was me:

That stomach virus was AWFUL. I haven't been sick like that in a long time. Dr. Z told me just to stay hydrated and the baby would be fine, so I shouldn't worry. Yeah, right. Whatever. But I dug in with my vitamin waters and chicken broth. Stayed hydrated and 72 hours later felt so much better.

TOO much better. 

All of my symptoms were gone. I wasn't bone tired anymore. I ate eggs and CHICKEN. 

Tuesday morning I called my nurse and asked if there was any chance she could get me in earlier for an u/s. So, the next day (because Fran is awesome), I went in for my 8w ultrasound.

And Squishy is still going strong. HB 170, growth right on track at 8w0d. The Visible Embryo says Squishy has a four chambered heart now. Fetal development is chugging right along. Oh - and Squishy is no longer an embryo. S/he's now a fetus. Which means:

I hate leaving Dr Z, especially for unknown waters. I am very glad to have changed providers to the midwives at a great hospital and Dr Z really likes them and their cooperating doctor, which is great news (he didn't love the OB who delivered Smudge). But at Dr. Z's office, I know everyone and they spoil me. I  guess we'll find out soon enough. Our first appointment with the midwives is at 10w2d.

Meanwhile, my dizzy spells are back and I'm a little queasy again. Someone remind me, the next time I start to feel great to just embrace it and not question everything. 

3-4 weeks until I'll be able to hear Squishy's heartbeat for myself on the doppler. Until then, I'm just going to get through this one day at a time. 

First Tri MindFreak

So, how do you usually feel when you're getting your period? 
Crampy, right? Bloated? Maybe a little gassy and nauseous?

Hey, guess what? Those are also all normal first trimester symptoms. And it sucks. It also sucks that as your estrogen rises, your cervical fluid increases. And that feels like bleeding, which leads to umpteen trips to the bathroom every day to make sure you're not. 

First tri is a cruel cruel joke. I sometimes wish I was as naive as some of those moms posting barely dry pee sticks on facebook at 3w6d pregnant, without a clue their world could end in a minute. 
Meanwhile, assuming everything is okay, visembryo.com says that we're in the baby manatee stage of embryo-hood.

7w ultrasound tomorrow. Please cross everything for us that Squishy still has a heartbeat. 

The WORST 2ww

It's no joke that the 2ww between retrieval and beta sucks. I even have a whole posting dedicated to how much so, here. But if anyone tells you that it's the worst wait, they're either complete and total liars or they've just never done this before, because the WORST 2ww is between that official beta and the first u/s... when you find out if you actually have a viable pregnancy.

Assuming I DO have a viable pregnancy, this is what my baby is up to today: Check Out: The Visible Embryo. I love that website.

That first u/s is usually at the 6w mark. A few other things usually get ushered in around that mark, morning sickness among them. I'm hopeful that my little embryo is snuggling in nice and deep, because today I woke up sick as a dog. WIth Smudge, I spent a lot of time nauseous, but never threw up. Can't say the same now, that's for sure. My acupuncturist has asked me to not drink peppermint or ginger right now (of course). Something about they're very grounding and we want to be uplifting, or some other new-agey hoo-hah. I'm just going under the assumption that a can of organic ginger ale here and there isn't going to be the worst thing in the world, because it REALLY makes me feel better temporarily. 

I've been told to try Sea Bands for nausea. Thoughts? Leave them in the comments!! :)

This stuff is AWESOME.

The good news is that the spotting has finally stopped. I'm officially over 24 hours without spotting. Even so, if you know me, you know that there's no way i'm going to make it another 10 days to u/s without ANY monitoring at all. So, I just got off the phone with my covering nurse (of course Fran is on vacation this week), and they're fitting me in for a beta thursday morning. I'll feel much better if I can just see the numbers continuing to rise.

I'm 5w tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

Double Trouble

I swear, the International Symbol for Infertility should be:

Well, minus the smokes, of course.


I think I spend as much time waiting for the phone to ring as I do shooting myself up with various poisons. 

Anyway, when last we met, we were hoping for a strong beta today. The definition of a "strong beta" is to double in 48 hours. On Monday (9dp3dt), at 11am, my beta was 42. 

Today (11dp3dt), at 7am, less than 48 hours later, it was 142. 

According to my new best friends at BetaBase.info, my beta has a doubling time of 25 hours.  It more than tripled less than 48 hours. There IS some concern. My progesterone DID drop again. It's now 29. Dr. Z is being very proactive and upping my PIO dosage. Yay - bigger butt shots. Whatever I have to do, i'll do. I'm just glad he's not forcing vag suppositories on me again. Those things suck - and quite honestly, I'm spotting enough already. 

Oh yeah, the spotting. Still going on. Fran says that if I'm still spotting next week, that Dr Z will let me come in for another beta and maybe even an early ultrasound to ease my mind. But she's not worried. 

Because, as a very good friend has told me, I'm good and knocked up. 

Here's my theory - and we'll see how it pans out. Even though I still feel like there's only one in there, and Heather (my acu) feels like there's only one in there, maybe there are 2 after all. I'm wondering if one embryo splitting could cause a rapid beta rise but a slight drop in progesterone. There would only one corpus luteum to produce progesterone, so that would explain that being a little lower, while the beta was slightly higher. 

Another beta and progesterone check on friday. I guess we'll see.