Zone 4, Baby!

PPVI called with my progesterone results this afternoon.  My progesterone on Sunday, P+15, was 40.7, which is Zone 4, and my CRP was low, which is good, so no signs of infection.  I'm down to 100 mg PIO twice a week instead of 200 mg, which is good since when the prescription from the mail order pharmacy comes I'll be using 50mg/ml instead of the nice 100 mg from the compounding pharmacy.  Thankfully the copay is pretty decent, so I'm fine with that.

I did end up going to T.ar.get and buying a cheap bra since my old one was falling apart and the new one was uncomfortable after just 4 days. The nipple pain has officially kicked in, while I was trying bras and camis on.  I also got a prenatal yoga video that I'm going to try to do.  It's too hot to go on walks before about 8pm since it's over 100 pretty much all day and it doesn't get below 90 until after dark and the low is just under 80 (and that's at like 4 am) so I'll wait until the weather cools down some before doing walks.

I'm still only at the nausea stage, but even eating constantly isn't settling my stomach as well as earlier in the week.  When I wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, I have to have a couple rice crackers when I get back in bed.  I'm pretty sure true morning sickness isn't far off.  I'm hoping to make it until at least Monday (5 weeks, 2 days) before it kicks in since we are going out of town for a baptism (D's best friend's baby) on Sunday.  I really would prefer not to be sick on the 4 hour drive.  I definitely will need to pack lots of snacks for the ride.  The fatigue isn't too bad, but I'm pretty sure that tomorrow I'll be pretty tired since I'm getting my PIO tonight.

I'm still kind of following the endo diet since I feel better when I'm not eating gluten or dairy.  I pretty much eat the endo diet at home and don't worry as much when we are traveling, etc.  We'll have to see how it goes once morning sickness officially kicks in.

I'm about to have my pregnancy evaluation with TCIE!

What we did this cycle, and trying to keep it off FB * Edited

Here are the meds and vitamins that I was on this cycle:
T3 22.5 mg twice daily
cortisol 5 mg four times daily
prenatal vitamin, plus additional vitamin C, E, folic acid and iron, daily
cod liver oil (830 mg) and flax oil (1000 mg) daily
vitamin B6 500 mg sustained release daily
Pain and Brain supplement for inflammation, 3 capsules twice daily
antibiotic for both me and my husband, this cycle CD 6-15
mucinex 600 mg twice a day from CD 10 until P+3

benadryl 1 capsule twice a day from P+5 to P+9 (Little Joann and TCIE mentioned this on the Catholic IF yahoo group I read)


I had two acupuncture treatments, one with ear points only P+3 and one with the full treatment P+6.   


We used P-1 (and kind of used P-2...if you remember this post), but we didn't use Peak day or any of the count of 3.  


I had bleeding (not just spotting) from P+4 to P+9.




We have told our families, who have told the extended family, but we are waiting until at least the u/s to share with anyone else.  However, I've had to delete to posts from my wall on FB (thankfully I saw them quickly) from various family members congratulating us.  I had to let them know that we appreciate the support, but we don't want it all over FB this early.  One of my cousins sent me a private message on FB since she saw there weren't any posts about it, and I was so thankful that she thought to do that.


This is D's FB status currently: ‎572b*48=1104b.  Can you guess what it means?  

Beta #2, Bras and more

I got my second beta drawn this morning, P+17, and it was 1104.  That's almost double and the draws were less than 48 hours apart so I'm feeling good about it.  The doubling time, according to this handy beta doubling calculator, was 43.22 hours, which is about what is expected.  I also had them run the ob panel now so that I don't have to get any extra blood draws, since I've already had 3 blood draws in the last 10 days and  I'm going to be getting blood draws every two weeks.   Last night I got my first PIO shot.   The mom that I nanny for taught D how to give the shot (I have been so lucky with my nanny jobs).  D did really well, and it didn't hurt until later.

I'm feeling pretty good.  I have to eat pretty much constantly, but it's keeping the nausea at bay.  I did stand up too quickly earlier and I got dizzy.  I feel a bit bloated too.  I think the fatigue is starting to kick in too.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I had to buy a new bra on Saturday since I manage to leave mine at home.  I'm concerned that this bra will not fit very long (I of course went and got an expensive VS bra since they actually carry my size).  The bra was snug when I bought it and it's feeling even more now.  About long was it before any of you ladies had to get a new bra and how many have you gone through?  Any other bra advice?

D was reading some of my blog yesterday and was asking about various acronyms.  He was also asking about betas and their doubling.  He's be reading the book I got him and has learned quite a bit already.

Does anyone need a bottle (it's opened) of sustained release B6?  I just bought a new bottle less than a week ago and I'm not going to be taking it for quite a while.

I'm going to post my meds, etc. I was on this cycle tomorrow.

I'm probably going to take a commenting break for a little while.  I'm still reading, but really can't pull anything together to say.  I'm still out here praying for all of you.

Updates from calls to doctors * Updated

If you didn't see my previous post with the story of the BFP, my first ob appointment and u/s is two weeks from today, Monday, August 16.  I'll be bring the little boy I nanny for to my appointment (I already checked with his mom).  I got my local ob to order a beta for tomorrow, and the normal ob screen (I figured they'd be drawing blood then so I might as well the screen run then instead of waiting).

I also talked to PPVI.  The nurse is checking on whether Dr. H wants us to do any more antibiotics and whether I should take the Pain and Brain supplement (I stopped after the positive test until I heard from him).  They faxed the order so that I could send the bloodwork to them and that's been sent to Omaha.  He did put me on PIO and I'll be picking that up from the compounding pharmacy soon.  I'm not sure if I'll need to continue the supplementation since the local lab (I'm have it run both places) said the progesterone is greater than 40; we'll have to see what numbers PPVI gets and if they think I'm safer with supplementation.

I'm tired so I'm going to take a nap now.

Updated: Yes, I was on my first round of cyclical antibiotics this cycle.  I have no problems doing PIO the whole pregnancy if necessary.  I definitely want to do everything possible to keep this pregnancy safe.

The Story * Updated

This weekend we were in our hometown for a friend's wedding.  Saturday was P+14, which is when I usually get my period.  I had had spotting from P+4 to P+9, which sadly isn't unusual for me.  What was unusual was that it stopped after that.  All day Saturday I was going to the bathroom expecting to see pink or brown if not red, but I saw nothing all day.  I had some slight cramping, which I don't usually have before my period.

We got home after the reception and I posted that I hadn't see any spotting and it was the end of P+14.  JBTC insisted that I stop keeping everyone in suspense and go POAS (well actually a cup), so I obliged at about 11pm.  Thankfully, I had brought my last remaining dollar tree test.  To my great surprise, there were actually two lines.  I took the test downstairs and showed it to D, asking if he saw the second line.  He said he did and asked what it meant.  I told him it was a pregnancy test.  He gave me a big hug and kiss.  He was alternating between laughing and crying and told me he won't be able to sleep that night out of excitement.

After a few minutes, he said he wanted to go get some more tests, so we went to the grocery store and had to get the cashier to get the manager to open the locked case in the pharmacy were the tests were.  We got home and I tested again and again there were two lines.  After the second test, D sent text messages to his two best friends and told them (even though at this point it was after midnight) and we told D's younger sister who was home for the wedding.  We finally went to bed, but it took me quite a while to fall asleep.  I woke to go to the bathroom and test again (still positive but lighter, though my beta shows that the color of the line doesn't necessarily mean anything since it was 572 less than 12 hours after that test).  I couldn't go back to sleep and ended up just getting up.  I probably slept about 3-4 hours.

We had breakfast with his parents and D finally told the the news as we were about to walk out the door.  The suspense was driving me crazy.  After we got in the car, I had D give me his cell phone and I called both my parents (one on each phone) because they were in different states at the time (they're together now).  I called my former boss, the urologist, and got her to help me get sorted out on the bloodwork and progesterone.

I also called the mom of the new family I'm nannying for and told her.  I will be very busy after April since I'll be talking care of the little boy they just adopted (he'll be about 9 months), the one she's pregnant with (due in late December, will probably be between 3-4 months), and my own child.  They are very excited for me and have already started thinking about coverage for when I'm out after the birth.

Yesterday we told our siblings (although one of mine isn't back in the country yet) and our grandparents.  Everyone is very excited.  This will be great-grandchild #12 for my dad's parents, #2 for my mom's, and #1 for both sides on D's side.  It's the first grandchild from both my parents and D's parents.

I finally got to give D the announcement present that I bought before the wedding.  I was orginally planning to give it to him to tell him about a pregnancy, but after 3 years I had lost track of where it was hidden and he got it out yesterday.  It had some cute turtle baby towels, etc and the Everything Father-to-be Book, which he started reading last night.

I'm still amazed that this is really happening and thank you all for your congratulations and your prayers (especially you, prayer buddy, whoever you are).

My current symptoms are bloating, slight nausea and food aversion.  The nausea seems to have kicked in after taking the progesterone.  I woke up to go the bathroom about 2:30 and decided that I better eat something.  I need to go shopping later today.

I'll be calling my local ob/gyn momentarily and PPVI in about an hour and I'll update later today with what I learn from them.

Updated:
I forgot to mention that I had to buy a bra on Saturday (before get the BFP) because I left my bra at home since what I was wearing Friday had a built-in bra.  I have a feeling this bra won't fit for too long.

My first ob appointment is on Monday, August 16 and I'll have an ultrasound.  It's at lunch time so D will try to make it.

Beta #1 (run locally)

My friend, the doctor I used to nanny for, helped me get  bloodwork drawn to be run locally and also to be sent to PPVI as soon as I can get in touch with them tomorrow.  I got the HCG number just a few minutes ago and P+15 it's 572.  I'll post the story of everything so far later, but I'm going to evening Mass in a few minutes so this is just a quick update.  I got a progesterone prescription (suppositories, can't get PIO on Sunday) and I'll start that tonight.  The local lab should have the progesterone in the morning and I'll update once I hear.  I'll be calling both PPVI and my local ob/gyn tomorrow and I'll let you know what I learn.

P.S. Does anyone have a link for a chart of average HCG days post ovulation?