Surprising, shocking BFP

I am in shock, really and truly. Beta #1 – 73.?? at 13 dpo. I was so sure it was a bust that I didn’t even bother to HPT.

I had a next steps consult with my dr. today. I moved sperm to the clinic today. I told the nurse who took my blood that if it was a positive, I was going to give her a hard time about mixing my blood with someone else. I actually found out before my dr. because the embryologist saw me bringing back the tank and had just done the pregnancy test so she new it was positive. She went to talk to the nurse and she and the receptionists told me. I couldn’t believe it. The embryologist wanted me to take the sperm back to the sperm bank. I thought about it, but told her no way. I needed it for good luck and would pay the storage. My dr. called to congratulate me and said he knew I was in shock. I couldn’t really say much on my side because my mom was here and could over hear what I was saying. He said that they want to see the number increase by 66% on Friday (to about 115/120).

Wahoo!

My consult with my dr. went well. I told him that I was running out of questions so I didn’t have that many and he said that was hard to believe. LOL. I told him that I was ready to move to the next stage and ask a different doctor about pregnancy and labor. He laughed. He told me that I knew more that some RE’s. I said, I find that scary, but I certainly know more than my PCP or her nurse practitioner. He asked me if I felt pregnant. I said no. He asked if I had felt pregnant last time I was pregnant. I said no and that in fact, in looking through my notes, I was equally as sure I was not pregnant then either, but that I was also sure that I was going to ovulate early and had some follicles on my right side before cancellation, so I may not be the best judge.

I am so thankful that he met with me without knowing if this cycle worked or not. I just really needed that information. Just in case.

He started out by explaining how he would change my protocol and explained how Lupron and Antigon work (which I really already knew). He explained that I was not over suppressed. He knew I was a tad worried about that after he posted on the clinic discussion board to someone else that you could be over suppressed if you were on BCP’s for too long before a cycle and I was on them much longer than what he said. He assured me this wasn’t the case and if anything I was under suppressed. He said that he would do no Lupron at all and start stims with no suppression. Once my lead follicle got to 14, we would start Antigon. He would have me come in for a cd6 check instead of waiting until cd9. He said that he would also up my dosage of Gonal F to 6 amps to start instead of 5.

I asked what was next if the Antigon didn’t work because my understanding was there were only Lupron or Antigon. Did that mean that IVF wasn’t really an option for me? He said that if that didn’t work, there was one other protocol that they could use starting with Lupron and switching to Antigon. He said that they use that for poor responders and patients with low ovarian reserve. That Antigon is expensive and you start it much earlier in the processes so they didn’t do that protocol unless they really needed to.

I asked him if it was my imagination or was my right ovary under performing and was this indicative of a problem. He said that it was possible. My right ovary had some follicle development, but he would have expected more. He couldn’t tell if it was a result of the lead dominant follicle suppressing the other follicles, he said that he did see some smaller ones, but didn’t measure them because they were not viable. He assured me that statistically, it was not possible that one ovary had all the good eggs. Maybe my right ovary has problems, maybe not, but either way, I don’t think anything can be done (although I forgot to ask him about that specifically).

We talked about egg maturation. He said ideally in IVF they get between 10 – 15 eggs and that you can get more, but you sacrifice quality and fertilization. He said at 20, you could be borderline hyper stimulated. I asked him if at 24 at trigger and 27, wasn’t that too large and indicative that the egg was over mature. He said that 24 was borderline and reminded me that I had one at 16. I asked him wasn’t 16 too small and probably immature. He said at 16 it had a 50/50 chance.

He said that they recommend waiting a cycle so I couldn’t go in January and would have to wait until February, but he would not have me start BCP’s with this period. He said not to be surprised it my next period was delayed and I had an extra long cycle (5 week cycle) next time. I looked at him skeptically and said, we will see since I tend to have 22/24 day ones when not cycling.

My Anti D titer test results were in, sort of, they only gave him my blood type, which we already knew. He was going to call because he said sometimes they don’t put anything if no antibodies were detected. I would be happy if that is the case, but the lab was so confused and didn’t really understand what test he was talking about so I would have been shocked if they got it right. I think I will ask to have them do that test on Friday while they already have my blood.

We talked about my .16/.15 results of last cycle. I asked if that could have just been HCG left over from the trigger shot. He said that other hormones can interfere and could cause a false positive. I asked if I got anything under a 5 today, if I should just consider it failed. He said, well, maybe if you got a 4 or something it might still be possible, but either way they would want me to come back for a second beta just in case.

We talked a bit about my tooth infection and what might have caused it and how it made the 2ww go much faster. He said that pain killers were fine in the first trimester (and pregnancy) and he had prescribed them, but the pharmaceutical companies were afraid of the liability so put all kinds of disclaimers on them. He said that if Extra Strength Tylenol didn’t work, the next best choice would be Tylenol with Codeine. Next would be Viacdin. He would not recommend Motrin.

There you have it. My “what next” consult that I hopefully will not need if all goes well.

I am so happy, I am tempted to share my news. I learned my lesson last time and I will be keeping it under wraps for now. My friend Heather, my cousin, my sister, my acupuncturist, my fellow ttc’ers, and the internet (not counting my dr./clinic of course!). That’s it for now until at least another good beta or two and I can see the heartbeat.

I guess this goes to show that the power of positive thinking is just b/s.

Wow, the shock is starting to wear off a bit and I am just plain tired at this point. I will be hoping and praying for a health and happy pregnancy with an actually baby at the end of the road! Life would be too cruel to get another positive after such a crappy cycle and to loose it. I hope. I hope. I hope. I hope that this works out.