my life this week in one picture...

i.am.pregnant.

this picture is only 1 of 6 (yes, 6) hpt's i took to confirm, followed by two beta checks at the re's office, but it appears our first cycle of treatment was lucky enough for us!!

i was extremely sick at work last wednesday, causing my brain that was already analyzing every twinge and symptom to really kick into overdrive. following an extremely relaxing yoga session (private one last week as no one else showed), i rushed home and as much as i was holding out for this week, poas...much to my surprise there were two lines (i did 3 of the "old fashioned" tests followed by 2 digitals).

i called the dr. first thing in the a.m. (after peeing on 2 more sticks and getting positives) and went in for my first beta. they called that afternoon to say that for it being so early (i was only 11 days past ovulation) my hcg level was a "good" 28.9 with my progesterone being 22.8! she scheduled me for a 2nd beta for 4/7 (date i was originally going to go for my first) to make sure it was rising.

i went in first thing yesterday morning 4/7 and got a call much later in the afternoon to say my hcg level had risen to 389 (i was now 16 days past ovulation) and it was doubling/tripling as good/better than it should. my progesterone is a strong 21.9!

i am to continue with the progesterone suppositories 2x a day for at least the next 7 weeks. i have an ultrasound next wednesday 4/15 to check for the sac, yok sac and fetal pole to make sure the baby is "planted" where it should be. i am not too concerned about this being an issue as with my pregnancy with anthony, i didn't have any issues of it not being where it was supposed to be. they said not to expect to see a heartbeat during this u/s as it's too early to see it, but that i will be scheduled for another one 2 weeks after that (end of april) to check for the heartbeat...that will be the last appointment with the re and then i'll be released back to my ob!!

we are cautiously optimistic and decided to go ahead and tell people as we realized just a few short weeks ago that there really is no "safe" time to start telling people. i also felt that you all have been so supportive of me during this whole treatment, that i would need your support after should something go wrong.

ok, enough with the pessimism...i'm trying to be optimistic!

it's just a bittersweet time right now for my family. my sister expected it would happen eventually, but no one really expected it would happen the first time, so of course she was surprised when i told her...and upset. i've talked to her once since last thursday (even though i've been in her presence on more than one occasion since then). i am not pushing it. i will give her her space and as my mom said, "she will come around". i'm not taking it personally (trying not to anyway) and i know she just needs time to deal and process everything. she said she is happy for us and knows we've been trying for a long time so she's glad it worked for us as soon as it did. i'll take that.