B is for Beta

Yesterday morning I woke up early and drove the 40 minutes to our fertility clinic for a 3 minute blood draw.  This would seem like no big deal, except that yesterday was our beta test. For those of you not well-versed in IF jargon, the beta test is your first check to see if all your time, effort, money, emotions, and sore bottom have resulted in a significant amount of hCG in your bloodstream which will tell if you are in fact pregnant.  

I was the first person through the doors at 7am. I actually beat the phlebotomist in and had to wait a few minutes for her to get set up. I slept fitfully the night before and dreamed varying versions of how we would receive our test results, so I was anxious to get this going. After a quick prick and a vial full of blood, I was on my way home to await the results.

Ken and I lost a lovely friend and neighbor this week. Yesterday was her funeral. I wasn't sure I was up for the service, so we attended the visitation service on Friday and offered to stay at their house during the funeral to accept any flowers/food deliveries while the family was away. Ken and I were sitting in their garage, icing down sodas and bottled water for the afternoon's gathering at the house and I was literally about to crawl out of my skin from sheer anticipation of the phone call from our nursing staff. I looked at Ken and said "I REALLY need the phone to ring, I'm not sure how much longer I can wait!"  Thirty seconds later my cell was ringing.  Oh crap, this was the moment of truth.  Was I really ready?

We aren't sharing the news broadly, but for the 6 of you who actually read this blog, I thought I'd let you in on the secret.  Our beta results were positive for pregnancy! Our doctor likes to see a number over 50 for a single embryo transfer and ours was 87. I will go back on Tuesday for a second beta test to confirm that the numbers are rising appropriately, but right now I'm not thinking about Tuesday.  I'm reveling in the fact that my nurse said the words "Congratulations Lindsey, you are pregnant!" It was a precious comfort on an otherwise sad day and I know that Carol is celebrating our news in heaven. 

This morning I couldn't resist taking a home pregnancy test. I've peed on many a stick over the past 6 years and have NEVER seen that elusive second pink line.  Seeing that second line felt like a MAJOR victory!  I know we have a long way to go yet, but right now we are giddy with the hope and possibilities in our future.