Warning: This post might contain TMI. Boy, I’m throwing it all out there right away, huh?
Monday morning I was supposed to start my period, but, I swear, I had felt pregnant for going on two weeks. I know, all of the Web sites say this isn’t possible. Tell that to my body. And my nauseated stomach. And my swollen uterus. And my headache. And my dizzy head.
So I did a home pregnancy test. Those three minutes were pure anguish. As the nearly imperceptible pink line appeared in the little window, I wondered it was wishful thinking. But no, it was definitely there. Just barely, but it was definitely a pink line.
I called my husband who was already on his way to work.
“Um … I think we might be pregnant.”
Silence.
“I peed on a stick. The line is really faint, but the box says that’s positive.”
He had been kind of pacifying my “I feel pregnant” comments over the course of the last ten days or so, but this announcement seemed to get his attention.
We were both admittedly shocked. We’ve only been trying for two cycles, and given all of my health conditions (all Type 1 related), we were sure it would take us quite a while.
We decided I would call the doctor when they opened.
I struggled to concentrate on getting ready for work. I actually pulled the test out of the trash can a couple of times to reassess the line. Yes, it was still faintly pink.
After getting lost in the doctor’s phone mail system several times, I finally got through to the nurse.
“Well, we can do a blood test to confirm. I’ll send the requisition to the lab. If you go tonight after work, we’ll have the results in the morning.”
Sigh. Another wait.
I went to the lab after work. Tuesday morning came after little sleep. I slept with the phone by the bed. By 11:00, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I called the doctor’s office.
“That’s interesting,” the nurse says. “It looks to be slightly positive.”
Slightly?! What the heck does that mean?! My mind is reelling.
“Your quantitative HCG is 29. Normally, we are looking for 50 to confirm the pregnancy. So it could be really early …”
Right. Exactly what I expected. She leaves out the part I read on the internet, though … it could also be an early miscarriage.
“Why don’t you come back tomorrow and we’ll do the test again to see if the number is going up?”
What? Wait another TWO DAYS?! “OK. Sounds good.”
I had the blood drawn again last night. The girl who drew it recognized me.
“Weren’t you just here?” She checks the requisition and then she understands. “Ah, you need another one.”
Apparently this is standard procedure to confirm that the pregnancy is successful. Your body starts to produce this HCG hormone when the egg implants, but it is not uncommon for you to miscarry the egg early on. Most women who experience this don’t even know they were pregnant. So they want to confirm that the level of HCG is growing. It should double every couple of days.
So this morning we are still waiting. The symptoms are still here, and the period is not. Come on, HCG!
A sweet journey to motherhood 