A Pregnant Pause

Shannon and I received a call at about 10am EST today - Saturday - from Dr. Yash. Our carrier tested "positive" with a beta level (i.e. an hCG level) of 18 mIU/ml. I put "positive" in quotes because a number like 18 lands a woman into the gray area one could call "a little pregnant". We're two weeks post transfer and at that time the beta for healthy pregnancies range from 5 to 426. Good news, right? Well, the beta typically needs to be more than 25 before a physician officially considers a woman pregnant. With a beta of 18, we might have a pregnant carrier simply on the low end of the scale or we might have a struggling embryo (or two) not fit for this world. In response to such a score, our doctors will be performing another blood test to ensure the beta continues to rise; the results will supposedly be available to us Monday morning our time. More waiting. However, I'll be the optimist and point out that because the beta level is higher than 5 and because we're two weeks in, we've clearly still got one to two embryos vying for life.

Apologies, by the way, for the silence 'til now since our return to Boston. Frankly, we were beat and had little to report. Shannon's health is finally recovering after taking a full week off from work; I've been back to work full time and using it as a distraction from the waiting anyone pursuing IVF knows so well.

Finally, I wanted extend one more thank you to everyone for your continued best wishes since our return. Please know that Shannon and I return those sentiments. Our experience is unique to us but not to this community. There are many couples in this world with their own stories and their own struggles and all deserve our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers. In light of our current situation, we'd like to make a particular shout out to those in the midst of the 2WW (two week wait) like us. Go beta!