Poking myself hurts...DUH!!

It used to be easier to acts of self injury injections, but it has lately been getting harder and harder. I feel the pain to be greater than before and wonder if its all in the mind. It actually took me a good 25 minutes to get one shot in yesterday and I only know cos I had to sit through two rounds of advertisements while watching a show on television.

I suspect it has got to do with me being a bit bloated as these self administered injections never did pose much of a challenge to me before.

Ah boo.

Beta again

We did another Beta today as the Progesterone and E2 levels from the other day were worrying for the Doc. Today's numbers came back more satisfactory and it feels like a pat on the back for now.

16 days post 3-day transfer
Progesterone: 296.6
E2: 1671
HCG: 1,490

" An ultrasound at five or six weeks of pregnancy can better predict a good pregnancy outcome than any number of beta tests.  As a note, you won't expect to see a gestational sac or the fetus until the HCG level reaches at least 1,200 mIU/ml.   And you probably won't see a heartbeat until that level reaches at least 6,000 mIU/ml."

From: The Betabase

So does this mean that if we did a scan we would be able to see a sac since we've crossed the 1,200 hurdle? I have decided that unless necessary, I don't really want to know the statistics anymore. Mrs Ostrich is going to put her head in the sand now.

Beta charts

It is hard to stay out of the numbers game when I take into consideration of my previous medical history. It sure doesn't help that I get shoved a copy of the lab report to keep for future reference and find it hard to not flick the paper open and look at the numbers.

Plus, I am an analyst my nature...and profession...so yeah, I need to figure things out so that things make sense. Add to that finely honed research skills and it is almost a perfect equation for trouble.

Anyhow, I came across this really cool site that gathers Beta figures from real women and thought to share.

http://www.betabase.info/index.php

Beta, for the uninducted, refers to the level of HCG hormones in a person's body and is tested via blood serum.  A person is often deemed pregnant when the Beta is 10 and above - according to my previous midwife. The important trend here is to see the number double every two days. So I guess we - or I should say, my Doc, will be keeping a close eye on this one over the next few weeks.

Beta day

I have been waking up really early every morning to start my work day. Today was the same - u at 6am to work and clear my work emails. I then went down to the clinic for my blood draw at 9:30am and asked the nurse to not ring me with the results since I had to come down to the clinic eitherway - Either to get follow up support or to collect medicines for another cycle.

I returned home and worked more. I had lunch and even dozed off for a litte while after lunch. I was awaken by my cell which rang and showed the clinic's number only to be asked by the nurse if the Doc was with me at lunch. No....since I was snuggly tucked up in bed!

I then decided to work a bit more. It was 2:30pm before I hualed myself out of bed and drove to the clinic. When I walked in, I was met with a strict faced receptionist. I smiled and went into the nurses' room and was similarly met with a somber faced nurse.

She asked if I wanted to open the results together with her - I told her its fine, and it really was. I told her I already knew it was negative fromr reading their facial expession. So don't worry, I am alright.

The nurse showed me the lab report from her screen and I couldn't make out the numbers for a while - you know how it takes a while for the brain to really make sense of characters and figures. But by this time she was already grinning ear to ear and I remember telling her "no way...are you sure this is mine?". I grabbed her mouse and scrolled up the report to check that it is indeed my name that's on there.

The receptionist rushed in and started giggling..saying how it was so hard for her to have kept a straight face and how joyful she was. It didn't take long for the Doc who had just arrived back from lunch to walk in to join the party. It was truly a moment to remember.

Things quickly got very sombre as I was issued a warning about how my low progesterone and estrogen levels were and how I needed to up my meds.So things were not out of the woods yet.

It took us quite some time to figure everything out as I was on a whole load of meds. They include:

Progesterone support:
Utrogesten (Oral) - 1 morning, 1 noon, 2 night
Crinone (Vaginal) - 1 morning, 1 night
Proluton (Injection) - 1 daily

Estrogen support:
Progynova - 3 morning, 3 noon, 3 night
Patch - 1 a day

Aspirin -1 a day
Fraxiparene - 1 a day
Folic acid - 1 a day

Prenatal vitamins

I have also been grounded until things stablize and this has by far been the toughest thing to manage at this point as I had promised my daughter that I would be flying home in a day's time.

I am happy, excited and very grateful. Thank you God.