4 weeks and 6 days

We are officially preggers!!! After my transfer on Monday May 2, I started my home pregnancy test obsession. I peed on a stick everyday (sometimes twice if my results were "iffy") so that I would know when the HCG shot had left my system and when (if) my own pregnancy had begun to start producing the hormone. I got my first positive test at 5dp5dt (5 days past five day transfer)!! That was 5 whole days before my official beta test on Wednesday the 11th. I think most doctors recommend not testing at home because it creates added stress and anxiety, but for me I NEED to test. Its like a drug, a magic color coded drug. You pee on a stick waiting for that magic second line to appear...is it there? maybe if I look at it under a different light? I'll just leave it on the counter and check back every 30 seconds...no? I'll try again in 12 hours...I bet it will be there then!! It doesn't matter that I only had the transfer 2 days prior or that it is just simply impossible to for it to show up...I still pee, pray and hope. Then on that beautiful Saturday morning I pulled out the big guns. I had been using cheap early detection pregnancy tests that I got from the internet for like 70 cents a pop. They were not helping my obsession because they all seemed to be inconclusive. From day 1 after the transfer I was getting not negative and definitely not positive results....So Saturday I pulled out my one remaining (from a previous pregnancy) non internet cheapie "Answer" home pregnancy test. TWO LINES (faint but there)!!!! I couldn't have been Happier! I went to work and immediately on the way home bought six more and I used them until I got a nice dark double line (see above pictures). Once that line was dark my heart could rest easy while I waited to have my official beta blood test.

On Wednesday I went to my doctors early to get my blood drawn. I was pleasantly greeted by Tasha, who is the nurse in charge of taking blood. I must have been the first of many scheduled to come in that day because she told me everyone is coming in today for their first beta. I already knew I was pregnant, and I hoped that the other women were having as good of a day as me! Results back from that day were good. A strong 130. This number alone means nothing though. I had to go back on Friday to make sure that the numbers were doubling which signals a healthy viable pregnancy.

On Friday I went back and repeated the process. Tasha greeted me with a happy congratulations and said the first number was good. I asked her if they had a lot of pregnancies from Wednesday's group and she told me so, far I am the only one who is pregnant! That made me sad to hear. I mean I am so so so so thankful that I am the lucky one, but realize it could have just as easily been us who were getting that negative result. Part of me is grieving for those women and their families even though I don't even know them.
After my blood test I waited around impatiently checking my phone all day at work while I waited for Tina to call me with my results....SO stressful. I finally called her right before I left and great news!! My numbers needed to be at least 260 and they were well into the 300's. I can't remember the number exactly because I was so excited when I heard the 3 that I must have blanked out for the rest. So, now we get to wait until the first Ultra sound which hopefully will have a heartbeat (s). The US is scheduled for May 31st and I will be 1 day shy of 7 weeks.

How am I feeling?
Good. Happy. Tired, no exhausted. No crazy symptoms yet besides sore boobs, tiredness, and an enhanced gag reflex. Oh and my butt is sooo bruised and sore! This is not a pregnancy symptom, but it is an IVF symptom. If its not bad enough that I had to endure 30 days of shots in my tummy before all the procedures, now the needles have gotten bigger and the location has changed and my butt is sore!! Not to mention that I have to take them for at least another 3 weeks. By my calculations when this is done and over and including only 1 cycle....I will have endured approximately 130 home shots!!! That is a lot of poking! Thank goodness for John!!

Well thats about all I have for now. Praying for a healthy uneventful pregnancy.