15 dpiui: HCG beta test results today

yeah things really have been pretty quiet this past week, so when i found the above encouragement it made so much sense!  i've been a little quiet myself this past week since my last update, but truth be told i've been trying to find anything i can to distract myself from thinking about the outcome of this iui cycle... while it included making darling baby headbands for some client/friends, and even though making those are fun, they weren't the best method of trying to keep my mind off of the elephant in the room! but, today was the day... i had my HCG beta test, so by the end of today we found out the results  of how our first iui went.  not going to lie, it's pretty nerve-racking sitting around waiting all week to go test, and then more waiting for the call to come back from the bloodwork.  so i'll show you the constructive things i "did" to fill my time this past week...

it included getting my progesterone checked on tuesday 1/29... which i was totally convinced was going to be low and i was going to need suppositories to help.  anything over a 10 confirms that you indeed ovulated {which was the other reason for the progesterone check},  but given my history of low Prog. levels i thought for sure they would be low... but God blew me away with a  level of 18.1!

and talk about a war wound from that blood work!  the newest nurse on staff drew my blood from the inmost vessel in my arm, and i don't know if she missed or what happened but i had this nice bruise just a few hours later, and it's still there a week later.  needless to say today i asked for the stealthy-barely-feel-a-thing nurse and now have no bruises on my left arm from today! yay =)

then, after reading about another blogger doing this after her HCG injection, i thought this would be a totally brillant idea to pass the time....

i stocked up on a bunch of dollar tree tests to "test the HCG out of my system," J just shook his head when i explained what/why i was doing this!  so the logic behind it is this: since the hormone you're injected with is the same hormone for pregnancy, i figured i'd test till the "false positive" went away... so if you look closely at days 6+5 there's a faint line {yeah i know they're out of order}, then days 7+8 there's no second line... i figured once the false positive from the HCG trigger shot was gone, then i could wait a few days then start testing for the real HCG to see if this round worked.

so last friday morning, unbeknownst to J i took this test and saw this faint, faint second line... to which i showed J and asked for his second opinion {while making his breakfast i might add, hey don't judge the kitchen has the best light}!  and he said why aren't you just waiting till monday??

which in a way i agreed with him because i didn't want to get my hopes up that this was the real deal on our first IUI cycle... but because i just couldn't help myself i wanted to check on a digital because let's be honest they either give you a "pregnant" or "not pregnant" option, no fickle and barely there line to scrutinize over like the cheap-o tests.

so last friday evening while i was waiting for J to get home i picked up some digitals, and i had every intension of waiting till the next morning to test again... i just couldn't help myself, as soon as J got home i buckled and took one and it didn't really even think very long,
and it popped up with this word...

it was at that moment that i knew this was really happening, but the true test would come today to see how high my HCG beta levels were.  and before i share that, i just want to share that again after taking this test J asked why i wasted the money on these hpt's because we were going to have to pay money to get blood work done anyway today... i explained to him that i've never in more than a year and a half have had the satisfaction of seeing a positive pregnancy test, to which he kinda understood my logic... or maybe he was just humoring me a little.

soooo... that brings me to today's appointment i told the nurse that i had gotten a few positive hpt's at home over the weekend {yes i took the second one to make sure i hadn't been dreaming}.  and she congratulated me and said that i will need to go back again wednesday + friday to make sure my betas are doubling each time... then if things go the way they should we will have our first ultrasound to finally/hopefully see something other than just the empty uterus we've grown accustomed to seeing for the past year + a half!

so i guess that means we're pregnant {and not quite celebrating yet} i think it will feel a little more real once we get to see a growing tiny baby and hopefully a tiny heartbeat to go along with it!

we certainly aren't out of the woods yet {i know a lot can happen over the coming weeks}, so if you are reading this please include my body + uterus in your prayers, that they cooperate and keep sustaining a healthy environment for this new little life.

i am just blow away and still processing this news {cautiously of course}but i think we're now one step closer to God's "something glorious."