Genetic Testing Results, and a Shock

The nurse called yesterday morning, as the genetic testing results were finally in. Female. Chromosomally normal. I was heartbroken, as we'd hoped for a daughter for so many years. However, the call served of confirmation of what I'd already known for weeks in my heart. However, that news wasn't shocking. Instead, it was the four pregnancy tests that I took last night, each of which showed a strong positive. It's been four weeks to the day from my D&C. I haven't had a cycle yet. We had sex one time. Once. It's possible, though very very unlikely that it is retained products of conception - basically tissue that the D&C (really a D&A) didn't remove from the uterus that still has a blood supply. Now that the Supreme Court decision on health care reform is out (I'm an attorney who specializes in this area), I'm headed to the hospital for an HCG draw. If this is indeed a new pregnancy, I will have been pregnant all but about 6 weeks of this year, with four separate pregnancies. I'm afraid. I'm scared. I'm happy. I'm nervous. Everything, all at once.

Aren't you glad you use Dial? Don't you wish everybody did?

I don't really care what soap or deodorant everyone uses, but I really wish they'd just be sure to use SOMETHING. This pregnancy so far the worst symptom is that my sense of smell is out of control. I can smell milk souring two streets over. The absolute worst though, are body odor smells. A guy got in my elevator today who'd just been out for a run and I almost lost it and threw up.

Here we go again.

On January 6th, our son Montgomery was rushed to the emergency room with an anaphylactic reaction to green peas. While in the emergency room watching the doctors tending to him I heard internal pop sound and went to the bathroom to find myself hemmorhaging heavily. I was six weeks pregnant, but the blood tests revealed that it was actually a chemical pregnancy. I bled heavily for over a week, and was heartbroken. I'd been off birth control for a year before we'd managed to conceive, and feared it was going to be a very, very long time before we were able to again. Then, in February, I got pregnant again. I was so scared, afraid to hope. And, rightfully so. I miscarried again March 18th. Follow up blood tests showed this too was a chemical pregnancy. Overwhelmed with sadness, we decided to take a few months off. Let my body heal, let me heal emotionally - and just try to work through the pain. We were going out to dinner on the night of Friday March 13th and I just felt ... off. Nothing really wrong, I just had a sneaking suspicion that I was pregnant. Assuming that I ovulated 14 days from the miscarriage, I would've only been at most 3 weeks, 5 days along. My period wasn't even due yet. I had one digital pregnancy test left and as Patrick got ready to go out, I snuck in the bathroom to take it. It seemed like it took a long time for the results to come up - but when it did, it shocked me.

I thought maybe it was just the HCG leftover from the previous pregnancy. Over the next few days, I took another four pregnancy tests. Each one was positive, though light. I called my doctor's office and told them that I'd tested positive again. They brought me in for some HCG testing. CD 32 - HCG 306 CD 33 - HCG 474 CD 36 - HCG 1,845. Doubling times were 36-37 hours, which to me seemed quite good. I normally ovulate from day 18-20 in a cycle, but with the miscarriage, who knows. I know I had a positive urine test on CD 26. I had an ultrasound today on CD 37 and there's a small gestational sac in the top of the uterus. They said that I don't look like I'm 5 weeks 2 days along, so I'm curious as to what the elevated HCG levels may mean, if anything. I am trying so hard not to get excited, not to get my hopes up.

I'm failing. Miserably. I can't believe we're going to be a family of five. Or six. The ultrasound tech said that the sac seemed small compared to my numbers, so it's a possibility that I'm pregnant with twins. We have a follow-up ultrasound in two weeks to hopefully see more.

Rainy days...

We had a wonderful time on our trip - we stayed in Lucerne, Switzerland but drove all over. Before our eight days were over we managed to see parts of Germany, France, Austria, Lichtenstein, Italy and almost all of Switzerland. We had to change the way we travel quite a bit to accommodate Julian's nap schedule - but overall, I'm so glad we went. I'll have tips to post later about traveling with a (very mobile) 11 month old. In the meantime, if you have an opportunity to travel with your children, don't let the fear of what ifs keep you homebound. Sure, they may not remember the trip - but you will.

And trust me, the stories about the trip will more than make up for their lack of memory. For example - did you know that a baby can lose a hotel room key in between the seemingly infinitesimally small space between the wall and the skirting board? And that the baby can do this no less than five minutes after you assure his father that there is no way that the baby can lose the key?

This pregnancy seems to be going o.k. - aside from a scare this past Monday when my blood pressure dropped to 80/60 and I fainted twice - necessitating a trip to Labor & Delivery to monitor contractions that didn't seem to stop. I had a bleeding episode when we were in Europe, but everything seems to be fine now. An ultrasound after we returned was unable to pinpoint what the problem is.

Hard to believe Julian will be a year old in less than two weeks. Harder still to believe that we'll have two sons before the summer is over. Time is going by so very fast.

He's a traveling (little) man...

Before I was 17, I had never stepped foot out of the U.S. - and only briefly visited Oklahoma, California and D.C. in addition to my home state of Texas.

The travel bug hit me much later in life. I didn't have a passport until I was 22 or 23.

By the time Julian was a week old, he had already been to three states. By a month old, he was up to five. His passport came in the mail about a week ago, and he already has his own frequent flier number.

We're traveling to Switzerland a week from Friday for nine days, with a little drive into Austria, Lichtenstein and possibly even Germany and France. We've only made hotel reservations for the first three days - and secured the rental car. The rest is going to be of the "fly by the seat of our pants" type of travel. We've taken him into Canada but this will be our first big international trip with him (not counting our trip to Northern Ireland/Ireland when I was about 5 months pregnant with him).

For those of you that know us - this should be no surprise. We ended up yesterday on a 12 hour road trip because I didn't want to clean the house. The trip to Zurich? Meh - flight sale on American that was too good to pass up.

He's flown maybe 10 times or so - so I'm pretty experienced at the fervent "please no diaper blowouts while we're on the plane" prayers. We've never been on a flight this long with him, though - and never to a place where we didn't speak the language.

We tend to travel light - especially for our international trips - but with him in tow that may not be as possible.

Any tips for travel with an infant? Anyone with suggestions about where to go on the trip? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as with each day my stress level rises higher with regard to the trip. We bought a lightweight collapsible McClaren umbrella stroller for the trip - as our huge Mutsy wasn't going to be flight compatible. Trying to figure out how to transport him around (he's topping out at over 25 lbs. now) when we're not carting him in the stroller, how to keep him entertained on the flight, how to get him to easily adjust (ha!) to the time change, etc.

Just today, for instance I managed to secure an appointment to fix my passport to finally show my married name. Only my appointment was just an appointment to get in line behind 100+ other people who were also traveling within the next two weeks. No blackberry or cell use allowed. I had to reschedule as there was no way I could miss a day's worth of work for it.

So what say you? What has/hasn't worked for long flights and travel for your family or for your friends?

Well that was rather rude of me...

I forget that all of you don't follow me on Facebook and Twitter - so when I'm lax about updating here some of you were thoughtfully wondering about our amnio results. So sorry. Thank you for those of you who wished us well.

Everything on the scan came back fine, and our son is genetically "perfect." Measuring a week ahead still (ahem. RIGHT ON TIME according to my dates, but whatever). We're struggling coming up with a name for him - but thankfully we still have some time.

This pregnancy has been much, much easier thus far on me than Julian was - aside from the annoying swelling and sciatic pain that I've never had before. Most of the time, I honestly forget that I'm pregnant at all until I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror or a stranger asks when I'm due.

Julian has started patting my belly, and we tell him that there's a baby brother inside there that is coming to live with us. I know he has no concept of what that means, and if his behavior when I was holding his six month old cousin is any indication - we're screwed. While I was holding Lincoln, Julian was livid and was trying as hard as he could to push Lincoln out of my lap and on to the couch. He was fine playing with Lincoln by himself, but when I picked him up - all hell broke loose. Granted, he'll likely be just shy of 15 months when this one gets here - so there's not much that we can do right now to really tell him about the baby. He doesn't understand it - and couldn't possibly given his age.

On the way back from Texas we apparently picked up some superbug and we've all been horribly, horribly sick since then. First Julian came down with it, then Patrick. Then my mom (who is Julian's daytime caretaker) got sicker than I've ever seen her in my life - with uncontrollably shaking and fever. Now it's my turn. I've been battling it since last Friday, and have missed work since then aside from two brief cameo appearances in the mornings this week.

Waiting is the hardest part.

The amniocentesis was yesterday.

Before the amniocentesis itself, we met with a genetic counselor and a geneticist for about an hour. They asked us a lot of questions about our family histories, about birth defects and learning disabilities on both sides, etc. We discussed the amnio in depth, and they gave me many opportunities to reconsider my decision to go ahead. They both stressed multiple times that my chance of DS was still in the normal range (1 in 313) versus the arbitrary cut-off of "abnormal" (1 in 311). I knew, in my heart, though, that there was no way that I could possibly wait another four to five months to find out for sure. So, they walked me across the hall for the amniocetesis itself.

Before they started the ultrasound, they asked if we wanted to know the sex.

"Yes." I said. "Yes. We want to know."

Not that it would've mattered.

As the sonographer was measuring the femur length I said "oh. damn."

She looked over, inquisitive - "Is something wrong?"

"Another boy."

Now, when I found out I was expecting again, I said that I wanted to have another boy - as I had the whole boy thing figured out (at least at first). I had tons of boy clothes, etc. I would be a liar though, if I didn't say that I was jealous of other people who were pregnant or recently had girls. As we're not sure if we'll try for another after this one, a part of me was disappointed. But there was a greater part of me that sat in wonder - looking at the screen as our son waved his hand in front of his face and then FLIPPED ME OFF. They weren't able to get a good profile shot so we are unsure as to whether the nasal bones are present (if they aren't - it's a soft marker for DS). However, there were no other indications on ultrasound that were cause for concern (a shortened femur or humerus, cardiac defects, cardiac echogenicities, tricuspid regurgitation, cystic hygroma, duodenal atresia, omphalocele, polyhydramnios, choroid plexus cyst, renal calyceal dilation, and echogenic bowels). Certainly, that doesn't mean that we're out of the woods - but it is good news nonetheless.

We elected to pay extra (or hopefully have our insurance pay extra) to have fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) testing done to expedite our results. The full amniocentesis results are available in about 1-2 weeks, but the FISH results should be available in 24-48 hours.

Most women who had one told me that it was relatively painless - akin to a shot. Now, as someone who gave herself shots for years as part of infertility treatment (both the sub-cutaneous ones in my belly and the intramuscular ones in my thigh - including one in which I BROKE the needle and had to dig it out) I will say that for me personally, that was a bit of an understatement. When the needle punctured my skin, I barely felt it. When it broke through the uterus, I whimpered a bit as a massive cramp wracked my body.

They took out what seemed like an inordinate amount of pale yellow amniotic fluid (two very large vials worth). As the perinatologist was removing the needle, I almost came up off the table it hurt so bad. I had some fairly bad cramping last night - but I have to say, that even though it hurt more than I expected to I would do it again if faced with the same situation.

So... for now, we wait. And I have to say, that as anxious as I was about the amnio I'm far more anxious waiting for results.

I desperately want this baby to be o.k.

amnio-sity

close enough to animosity anyway.

Amniocentesis scheduled for monday Feb. 16th - meeting with the genetic counselor on the same day. I've been googling low Papp-a results all day and really shouldn't be doing that. No good things can come from scaring yourself half to death.

The hospital by us with the best fetal medicine department can't fit us in for four weeks. Which if something is wrong, severely limits our options timing wise. So it looks like we'll be going to Lutheran General in Park Ridge instead as they can get us in a week from Monday.

If you've had an amnio I'd love to hear about your experience. I'm petrified of needles (how I got through all those years of self administered fertility shots is beyond me) and honestly just scared. Really scared.

Seeking input, personal stories, etc.

My first trimester screening report had the following information:

NT: 2 mm
CRL: 68.8 mm
GA @ US: 13 w0d
Free Beta HCG (MOM): 2.08 90th percentile
PAPP-A MOM: 0.57 20th percentile
Delta NT: +0.32

First trimester cut-off risk DS: 1 in 311
Before screening: 1 in 696
After screening: 1 in 313

Trisomy 18/13 first trimester cut-off: 1 in 150
Before screening: 1 in 1,302
After screening: 1 in >10,000

We're scheduling an amniocentesis. The information I've gotten from Dr. Google isn't terribly reassuring. Any input, guidance, personal stories, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Right now I'm a nervous wreck.

In other news, I've inexplicably gained 10 lbs. this month!!! I'd lost 3 lbs. last time, but I'm up for a total of 7 lbs. Not cool.

Otherwise, things are good. Heartbeat fine, fundal height fine.

My heart is still lodged in my throat.

I'm sure it will all be fine...

Things have been a bit hectic here.

Julian turned 9 months old over the weekend, and celebrated it by walking. He's walking everywhere now - it excited bursts of 8-9 steps at a time. He can walk for longer periods if he doesn't realize he's doing it. Otherwise, he's a bit like a cartoon character walking off the edge of the cliff. As long as he doesn't look down, he's good. The minute he realizes he's not attached to someone or something - faceplant.

Last night I ended up working at the office until almost nine, so by the time that I got home he was already asleep. Unfortunately he's still mostly co-sleeping (with my mom actually, as he won't sleep in my bed). He hates his crib with unbridled passion. We're working on transitioning him to it, but it's VERY slow going. And the "crying it out" thing only works when everyone in the household is game and doesn't go in to rescue him from his "baby jail."

Sigh.

I broke the news to work this week about baby #2. Everyone was a bit surprised, but seemingly supportive. I'm only taking the full paid leave of three months this time, and no unpaid leave.

We're planning a trip to Switzerland at the end of March. Flying into Zurich - and then who knows what we're doing from there. Of course, J will be 11 months old by then - so clearly, we are insane. It'll be the first transatlantic flight we've taken in coach too - (waaaaaah, I know. I shouldn't bitch - but it was REALLY nice when Patrick had super fancypants Executive Platinum status with American and we got free upgrades all the time). The cost to upgrade to Business now would be 3x the cost of our tickets, so uh - no thanks.

I'm freaking out at the moment. I had my triple screen and ultrasound at 12 weeks (when I was measuring 13 on the dot) and the risk of trisomy came back at 1 in 10,000. Whew. Good. BUT - the risk of Down Syndrome came in at 1 in 313. An abnormal result in my doctor's office is 1 in 311. When I had Julian (remember, just last year) my risk was 1 in 1,300 or something. Markedly different. I'm only 29, so my risk should be considerably less than it came back as.

Right now, I'm feeling overwhelmed. Other than amniocentesis, I don't know if there are other tests they can do. We really want to have another child - and I may get flogged for this - I will be brutally honest in saying that I cannot personally parent a Down Syndrome baby. I know that some people have found them to bring great delight to their families, and I applaud that. I just know that for our family... that simply isn't possible. Even at 1 in 313, the risk is very low. Rationally, I realize that.

I also have a connection to this baby already, and the thought of even potentially terminating has my heart in shreds and I've been sobbing all afternoon.

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow afternoon. My heart will be lodged firmly in my esophagus until then, I guess.

Crushing.

I have had a crushing, mind numbing headache for what seems like the last month. Light hurts, sound hurts... it's piercing pain.

The OB said it's likely just progesterone related. All I know is I wish it would let up, because I can barely function. I'm eating tylenol like candy and it's not doing anything.

Time to finally get up and get the tree down, I guess.

At a loss...

My sister-in-law told me she was pregnant on Thanksgiving day, with her seventh child. She was a few weeks ahead of me, and due in early July. She asked me to keep it quiet, and I did, though I nearly stumbled a few times. On Christmas Day, she told her parents who were visiting for the holidays. And then she called her brother - my husband - and told him. Everyone's excitement was a bit tempered.

She and her husband had just sold their house at a huge loss and moved into a rental. She's a phenomenal mother - and homeschools all of her children. Her parents and brother worried that she was stretched too thin, that her husband's fishing trips were taking him away too long from his family. She's been dealing with a thyroid problem this last year, and they were worried about her health. How will she manage? Financially? Physically?

I have to admit there was a part of me that was jealous she was pregnant. I was baffled at how she could have a seventh when I struggled so hard to get to the point where I was hopefully having a second. I was angry that it was just so easy for her. Angry at who? I have no idea. Not her. The universe, perhaps. How embarrassingly petty of me.

We got a call late last night that she was in the hospital, and that she'd lost the baby. She was about 13 weeks along.

I'm at a loss as to what to say to her. I don't want to cause her additional pain, but I wish I could let her know how sorry I am for her loss. How much my heart is breaking for her.

Last night I started spotting pink after we went shopping for awhile. This morning I'm bleeding a deeper red. I hope that it's just the clot resolving itself. When I called the doctor's office Friday they said not to be alarmed if I had bleeding.

I'm afraid to hope for much of anything right now.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

A little over two weeks ago, I got extremely sick after eating baked potato soup for lunch. Violently, horribly sick. I went back to work on Thursday and Friday though I still was having severe abdominal pain. That Friday Friday, Patrick, Julian and I were out to dinner and I fell ill and was unable to finish much of my food. There was a searing pain in my lower right abdomen, and I was nauseated and unable to eat. The pain was absolutely blinding but I begged Patrick not to take me to the hospital. Saturday morning, I woke up and felt better. Then I ate again and an hour later was doubled over in pain.

By Saturday evening the pain was still unbearable so I finally caved.

We were in the emergency room for about 5 hours before I was admitted with likely appendicitis.

The ultrasounds were only able to show them so much, and they were unable to give me a CT scan to determine whether it was truly appendicitis, a gall bladder issue, or kidney stones because of the pregnancy. We did get to see the baby's heartbeat though - thumping away at about 150 beats per minute.

So based on my symptoms, they bet on appendicitis. I had an emergency appendectomy that Sunday morning. And as it turns out, my appendix was not to blame. During the surgery the doctor found evidence of a burst ovarian cyst due to a large amount of free fluid in the cul de sac, which is apparently common in pregnant women.

They gave me a lot of zofran for the nausea and an IV drip of morphine - and then vicodin - for the pain.

The nurses and surgeon were amazingly nice, except for one night nurse who I wanted to stab in the neck with a blunt pen. She kept insisting I just needed to take ibuprofen (not permitted for pregnant women) and needed to "suck it up" about the pain. The doctor humiliated me a bit at discharge and said that I was in so much pain because I was "surprisingly chunky" in the abdomen and she had to cut through a lot of fat. Look, chica - I get it. I'm not extremely thin - but that was a bit rude and in front of my husband. Patrick said she said it to him before when I was in recovery after the surgery.

I ended up there three nights and four days, and then was sent home without any clear explanation as to why I was still having extreme pain on the right side after meals. The following Thursday I called the doctor's office in tears and they told me that it was just surgical pain. Friday I vomited three times from the pain and finally went back to the E.R. - the doctor there seemed convinced it was my gallbladder but the ultrasound didn't show any stones. So they sent me back home after nearly 7 hours and told me to eat a low fat diet.

They did another pelvic ultrasound that day. Baby's heartrate was up to 171, but they found a subchorionic hemorrhage. I've been trying to follow up with my OBGYN since then, but with the holiday the office has been pretty non-responsive. I went to a hospital where they're not delivering anymore, so I guess they're having trouble getting the records or something. I'm not spotting but I've had some horrendous cramps over the last week that take my breath away. I'm just trying to be hopeful.

Paper Anniversary

Our first anniversary is a week from Saturday. Thankfully, I realized it now as opposed to a week after the anniversary. In our relationship, I'm much more the stereotype attributed to men of being forgetful and not as emotionally available. It's something I'm working on... slowly.

So. Christmas is only five days after our anniversary, and I've already spent a mint on him for that. The traditional gift for the first anniversary (why yes - I am pregnant with our second child and it's our first anniversary, because we're scandalous like that) is paper.

I'm crafty as long as it doesn't involve knitting, or sewing - but don't have too much time. He likes: penguins, 60s Italian films, soccer (Newcastle especially), travel, gardening, hockey and reading.

Any bright ideas for an anniversary gift?

Sleepy

I don't remember ever being this tired and consistently sleepy when I was pregnant with Julian.

*yawwwwwwwwwwwn*

I don't know how I'll manage to stay awake through the end of the day.

And pssst - if you're lurking? How 'bout saying "hi"? I'd like to know a little about you.

Fuzzy math.

I will never understand the "conentional wisdom" of pregnancy dating.

At the ultrasound on Monday, the tech had a difficult time finding the embryo with the abdominal scan and so I ended up with a transvaginal. After a few tense moments, I finally saw a glimpse of the heartbeat flickering on the screen.

And there was just one.

Whew.

However, I'm not completely in the clear yet. The ultrasound measurements showed that I was just barely 6 weeks pregnant. Only, that's impossible - as by the time of the ultrasound I've known that I was pregnant (from a positive generic HPT on November 17) for three weeks. The math just isn't adding up.

I didn't get the crown to rump measurement, but the embryo had clearly distinct arm and leg buds and the heartrate was in the 120s. I had this same issue when I was pregnant with Julian and then later in the pregnancy they started pulling the "whoa -this baby is way too big for his age!" Only he wasn't - he was perfectly in line with where he should've been based on my dating, notwithstanding that an early ultrasound is supposed to be the most accurate measurement of a pregnancy's duration.

They moved my due date up to August 2nd. According to my LMP I should be due 7/19. I don't think either is accurate. I think somewhere in the middle is probably correct.

I still haven't thrown up this time. Which is a huge change from last, when I was throwing up every day four times a day or more. I get queasy on the train, but the only thing I've noticed is I'm constantly exhausted and craving meat all the time. And considering I eat mainly vegetarian that's a big change for me.

Countdown.

Did you know that if you get pregnant while you're breastfeeding that you are nine times more likely to have twins? Yeah, me either.

If you consume dairy products (which as a mostly-vegetarian I eat cheese, milk, etc. to excess) you are five times more likely to have twins (theorized to be due to increased absorption of insulin-like growth factor).

Taller women (woo! I'm only 5'6" so I'm in the clear there) and women who are overweight (did not dodge that one) are more apt to have a multiple birth.

Having a previous twin pregnancy ups the risk, as does being over age 35. Having a large number of previous pregnancies also increases your risk.

And of course, infertility medications - which isn't a factor for me this time.

Apparently being Nigerian also skyrockets the chances up for you, due in large part to a diet high in cassava - a type of yam, which causes hyperovulation.

If you're Asian or Hispanic you're at a decreased risk, while African Americans are at a higher incidence of multiple births.

If you get pregnant on the pill you're also more likely to have multiples.

And then of course, there's the family history of the mom - and no - the father's family history does not matter. Until late last week I thought I was in the clear here, as I didn't think I had a family history. Until my stepmother called me and told me my grandmother (who died when my father was a child) was a triplet. Before this little bit of news, my doctor was hinting at the possibility of twins. Based on a variety of risk factors she said that instead of the 1 in 33 shot for most pregnancies of a twin or higher order multiple pregnancy, I had a 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 shot.

Our ultrasound is tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

As a little girl, I always wanted twins. But as adorable as the twins of some of my friends' are - now, with a seven month old I simply don't see how I'd manage with three under 16 months old.

I'm praying hard tonight for just one. Just one, healthy little one. Patrick is a nervous wreck as he's had some kind of psychic power (or predictive abilities far outweighing mere chance) about my pregnancies thus far. He's convinced there's two.

We'll see. I'm trying not to be too nervous. But I'll say one thing - if there's two in there this time, I'm done. No more. Not ever. Finis.

Unlike my sister in law who I have been trying to hide the news from my in-laws that she's pregnant with her seventh child. Seven! And her oldest isn't even 11 yet. Absolutely no way that I could manage that life. I have a hard enough time with my one.

In other news, J is almost completely weaned. We've had just a few night nursings in the last week to calm him down. The doctor said that based on my pre-term contractions with him I need to be fully stopped by the end of my first trimester.

I completely switched out my regular clothes for maternity this weekend as all of my "fat" pants are woefully inadequate at buttoning at this point. Sigh. And I'd like to hide it at work for another month or so. I doubt that's going to be possible.

Pelt

I don't know if it's hormones run amok or that I'm pregnant with another boy but I seem to be growing quite the pelt.

I have a five o'clock shadow now on my legs, where I otherwise could go for a week without shaving before anyone noticed. We won't even mention the underarm fiasco, the trail already sprouting on my belly or... no. We simply won't go there.

Let's just say that I am now single handedly supporting Gillette.

*shudder*

Don't mind me, I'll be sitting over here in a corner methodically cornrowing my leg hair. Handy, considering we're expecting 6 inches of snow by tomorrow.

nervous anticipation

At this point in pregnancy the doctor said she likes to see doubling every 3 1/2 days. Last check mine is 4,569 and doubling every 1.6 days, so the doctor said "I'm going to need you to come in for an early ultrasound" and hinted that there was a strong possibility of twins. I'll be brutally honest, that would be my worst nightmare right now. Since Patrick is going to be out of town all this week I asked if we could just keep our regularly scheduled ultrasound on the 8th so he could be with me. She said that was fine if we wanted to wait.

An HCG level that is rising rapidly is also a potential sign of Down Syndrome or a molar pregnancy.

They upped the progesterone to 2x a day. The odd thing is, I don't really feel pregnant at all. I've not had any morning sickness and don't feel pregnant at all.

I just want one. One, healthy baby.

Oh, and I had to break out the maternity jeans this weekend as I can no longer button anything in my closet.

On the pills again.

Progesterone was only at an 18, so I'm going to be popping the little coral pills again.

100 mg. once a day.

First ultrasound will be 12/8 at 8:00 a.m.

I'm so amazed that this is actually happening. I know a lot can go wrong from the point that I'm at now, but I just keep reminding myself that nothing bad has happened yet.