Recap of the last month

Guys, I am so sorry that I have slacked on this blog this last almost month. :( Life has been one hectic ride lately. I started a job part time, my father in law came to stay with us a bit, then he ended up in the hospital for a week and a half and for the last 2 weeks or so we have had both my father in law and mother in law staying with us for a little bit. Add in all the extras with 2 littles and the holidays and well, something had to give. I am sorry that it was this, but I am all ready to share all of the updates now :) So buckle up and hold on tight!!!

I left off in my last post that I was unofficially pregnant and that I had beta blood work that Monday. I arrived at my appt about 20 minutes early and went in hoping they could take me right back and they did. They did a quick and simple blood draw and then I was off to work. The waiting game had officially started. The local clinic sends the result asap to the clinic in California and then they reach out to me with the results. Last time we were waiting for the email from California in came in about 1:30 in the afternoon so I was expecting it to be about the same. 1:30pm came and passed and then so did 2:30 and 3:30 and so on. I had to take my daughter to gymnastics at 5:30 and I was sure the results would come through while I was sitting in the metal building where I get minimal to no reception, but even when I left there was nothing in my inbox. I decided to call California and the nurse looked into it and said that they had received the fax with my results, BUT the fax cut off just before they could read my results. Just my luck!!! They had tried to contact my monitoring clinic to resend the fax, but the clinic had already closed for the day. The next morning, I called the monitoring clinic while in car line dropping off my oldest at school and asked if she could resend the fax asap. Then I waited....and waited....and waited. The guys were anxious and texting me asking if I had heard anything at all which was only making me that much more anxious. FINALLY, after what felt like eternity the email came through...

Hi Melinda

I hope you are well.

We received your HCG level.

CONGRATULATIONS, The level is 172 !!!!

This means you do not need to repeat another blood test.

Your estimated date of delivery is: 08/1/2019

Yay!!! I couldn't contain my excitement. I was at work, but I quickly stepped outside to Skype with the guys and share the news with them. Seeing the smiles on their faces just made every step of this process worth it and that much more amazing. 

The next step was to continue my meds. Dr. S upped my Estrogen injections from .2cc every third day to .3cc every third day and he also increased my progesterone injections from 1.0cc everyday to 1.5cc everyday. I continued with prenatal vitamins and progesterone capsules daily as well. I was down to the end of my first shipment of meds so the clinic overnighted me all of my meds needed to get me to 10 weeks (which is when I should be able to stop meds and graduate from the clinic and start seeing my usual OB for the remainder of the pregnancy). For anyone curious, this is what arrived the next day. It was a bit overwhelming at first but after a few days you begin to feel like a real pro ;) Inside each of the bags are all the alcohol swabs, needles and syringes...tons of them!

Per Dr. S's orders my next appt was to be an ultrasound at 6 weeks to check that baby was growing appropriately, had both the gestational sac and yolk sac required to sustain the pregnancy and to attempt to find a heart beat as well. My appt was on December 7th. My ultrasound tech was nothing short of AMAZING! We talked the entire time about my journey and the dads and she was so supportive. Sometimes I wonder if these nurses and techs think I am crazy for doing this (some may think so and that is totally ok) but this tech made me feel amazing throughout my appointment. She allowed me to take a few pictures for the guys and explained everything we were seeing. We were able to see the heartbeat flicker on the screen (which I got on video for my IPs) which was such an amazing feeling. It instantly put my mind and heart at ease. I had been beginning to wonder what we would see at this appt because I wasn't "feeling" pregnant. This put all those worries behind me. 

The next appt was scheduled for another ultrasound at 8 weeks. Leading up to the appt I was beginning to have some of the same worries as the first. I am not experiencing pregnancy symptoms other than being a bit more tired than usual. Although I wasn't experiencing anything to make me truly worry, like bleeding, I wasn't sure what was going on in there the last couple of weeks. As much as I am grateful to not be feeling sick in any way part of me was hoping for a sure sign that baby was all well and good in there. My appt was this morning and I had that same wonderful tech as last time and yet again she was super pleasant and just amazing to work with. She allowed me to record a short video of the baby's heartbeat again since it is even more noticeable now. Baby is growing perfectly and measuring right on track and his/her heart rate was 156 :) This appt left me feeling extremely grateful to be capable of doing something like this for another couple. The guys and I were communicating after and they are just so thankful and I just feel honored to be on this journey with them. They were amazed just how much the baby has grown in 2 short weeks. Some words and phrases they have used since chatting after my appt have been, "I feel all emotional," "AMAZING," "OMG," "so happy," "Thank you so much," "this is incredible," "Unbelievable," "Wow! We can see the heartbeat" This excitement and pure happiness is exactly why it was so important for me to start this journey....I feel so incredibly blessed!

We are still waiting for official word from California, but in the meantime here is the cutest little 8 weeker ever ;)