I went to the Doctor Monday for some possible spotting. He said he didn't think my uterus After a miserable 12 hour wait full or prayer and pondering, we went in Tuesday morning and saw the proof. There was baby Beebe's heartbeat and he/she was moving all around in there! So amazing. The heart rate was between 160-175 and the doctor said there's nothing to be concerned about and all looks good.

We're officially excited!

Despite the fact that I get motion sick at the drop of a hat;  for some crazy reason I thought I might be one of those people that dodged the “morning sickness bullet,” but boy was I in for a surprise. Starting at about week 6 I began feeling a little queasy, and it wasn’t until week 7 while on our Thanksgiving trip to California that I started feeling really crummy. I would wake up at 4 am every morning starving to death and having to go to the bathroom, once that was taken care of I sometimes could manage to get back to sleep. As the day wore on I would get so sick, but NOTHING sounded good to eat. At one point we were visiting some friends parents and I went to their bathroom and laid on the floor I was so miserable.

The first time I actually threw up was the day after Thanksgiving. I hadn’t really eaten all day and thought I had made it through, when I took one bite of a cheeseburger and started bawling in front of my entire family at Johnny Rocket’s (a bit embarrassing really). I was so mad that despite being starving as soon as I took a bite I thought I’d puke. I finally managed to shove the food down and it lasted about an hour until we got back to my parents front yard and I lost it all. I knew that would be the beginning of a LONG ride. 

 Once I returned from Cali with a terrible cold I started puking almost every morning, and felt like I could have the entire day really. Tried, ginger in various forms, vitamin B6, eating prior to falling asleep, eating when I wake, up, etc. Nothing’s really seeming to do the trick. 

  Last Friday/Saturday I was so worried something was wrong because I felt great compared to how I’d been feeling, but then it came back to bite me, and I was back to my daily throwing-up. Yesterday I puked 3 times (3 AM, 6:30AM, and 7:30 AM). Finally got through it, and hoping that this will be the worst week…..we shall see.

Because of the “complications” I went into the Doctor for at the beginning, the doctor has done a series of blood tests to ensure my HCG levels (that’s the pregnancy hormone that pregnant women produce) are going up as they should in a normal pregnancy. For those of you that don’t know, see below for information on what HCG levels are and what they mean (information provided by the American Pregnancy Association).

Apparently if your HCG levels are doubling as they should then you have a good chance of a normal pregnancy. Many women who end up miscarrying will never have the appropriate level increase. My levels for the three tests I had were:

 November 5- 503 HCG Level 

 November 8- 1823 HCG Level

 November 12- 7500 HCG Level (approximate…I can’t remember exact)

Based on these results my doctor really thinks we’re dealing with a viable pregnancy. I hope he is right

 HCG Levels and what they mean

The hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (better known as hCG) is produced during pregnancy. It is made by cells that form the placenta, which nourishes the egg after it has been fertilized and becomes attached to the uterine wall. Levels can first be detected by a blood test about 11 days after conception and about 12 - 14 days after conception by a urine test. In general the hCG levels will double every 72 hours. The level will reach its peak in the first 8 - 11 weeks of pregnancy and then will decline and level off for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Key things to remember about hCG levels:

·             In a bout 85% of normal pregnancies, the hCG level will double every 48 - 72 hours. As you get further along in pregnancy and the hCG level gets higher, the time it takes to double can increase to about every 96 hours.

 ·             Caution must be used in making too much of hCG numbers. A normal pregnancy may have low hCG levels and result in a perfectly healthy baby. The results from an ultrasound after 5 - 6 weeks gestation are much more accurate than using hCG number

·             An hCG level of less than 5mIU/ml is considered negative for pregnancy, and anything above 25mIU/ml is considered positive for pregnancy.

 ·             The hCG hormone is measured in milli-international units per milliliter (mIU/ml).

 ·             A transvaginal ultrasound should be able to show at least a gestational sac once the hCG levels have reached between 1,000 - 2,000mIU/ml. Because levels can differentiate so much and conception dating can be wrong, a diagnosis should not be made by ultrasound findings until the hCG level has reached at least 2,000.

 ·             A single hCG reading is not enough information for most diagnoses. When there is a question regarding the health of the pregnancy, multiple testings of hCG done a couple of days apart give a more accurate assessment of the situation.

 ·             The hCG levels should not be used to date a pregnancy since these numbers can vary so widely.

 ·             There are two common types of hCG tests. A qualitative hCG test detects if hCG is present in the blood. A quantitative hCG test (or beta hCG) measures the amount of hCG actually present in the blood.

 Guideline to hCG levels during pregnancy:

hCG levels in weeks from LMP (gestational age)* :

·             3 weeks LMP: 5 - 50 mIU/ml

·             4 weeks LMP: 5 - 426 mIU/ml

 ·             5 weeks LMP: 18 - 7,340 mIU/ml

 ·             6 weeks LMP: 1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml

 ·             7 - 8 weeks LMP: 7, 650 - 229,000 mIU/ml

 ·             9 - 12 weeks LMP: 25,700 - 288,000 mIU/ml

 ·             13 - 16 weeks LMP: 13,300 - 254,000 mIU/ml

 ·             17 - 24 weeks LMP: 4,060 - 165,400 mIU/ml

 ·             25 - 40 weeks LMP: 3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml

 ·             Non-pregnant females: <5.0 mIU/ml

 ·             Postmenopausal females: <9.5 mIU/ml

* These numbers are just a GUIDELINE-- every woman’s level of hCG can rise differently. It is not necessarily the level that matters but rather the change in the level.

Today I went to the doctor because of some abnormal vaginal bleeding. Going into the doctor I was just scared Jenny thinking she had some sort of serious problem, however, coming out I was scared MOM Jenny. The doctor, as always asked “is there any chance you could be pregnant?” (I always struggle with this question because of coarse there’s a chance, but am I purposely trying….no. So technically speaking I could be any day you ask) The previous month I was 45 days late took two tests and wasn’t pregnant, but this month, when I had NO CLUE, I was…funny how things work.  Anyway, they gave me a urine test and he comes back at the end of the appointment and says “guess what….you’re pregnant!”

   The doctor seemed much more enthusiastic than I. I was in total shock.  This definitely wasn’t the way I’d dreamed of finding out. I thought it would be like on TV (lame, I know). I’d be late for a period, buy a test with Jeremy, wait for the results in anticipation together, and then celebrate. But as we all know life is never like Hollywood and God is full of surprises. Once I left the office I called Jeremy and he asked how the appointment went and what did I say??? “They made me take a pee test and it was positive.” Talk about TERRIBLE DELIVERY.  I have to say that I never handle big deal/surprise situations very well. From getting engaged to getting flowers, I never have the reaction that would seem normal to most people. I think it just takes me a while to let it sink in and it all seems surreal or something. At any rate, I know I’ll always regret not telling Jeremy in person in some sort of inventive way. 

    The following day I had an ultrasound, however nothing showed at all. This is apparently good because they wanted to rule out eptopic pregnancy, and it was most likely too early to see anything at that point. However, I don’t like the fact that there was nothing there and now I have to wait what feels like an eternity to see something. Having faith in something good that you can’t see (God) is one thing, but having faith in something you can’t see and you know what the statistics are is a whole different ballgame.