One Day at a Time

A lot has happened this week.

I haven't mentioned yet on my blog, but I've managed to finally pull together something resembling a support group in my area. We've had 2 meetings and I'm feeling pretty excited about it after trying for so long to get it going. I really hope that it keeps going. I had a long conversation with my buddy Carol about how to facilitate a group because she's so awesome at it. If I can do half as well as her then I'll be on my way.

I found out yesterday about my blood work that was sent to California. All the results were negative, so I won't need to take intralipid. That is sort of disconcerting because it means that the only treatment planned during pregnancy would be progesterone and tons of folic acid. I don't see how that will miraculously make anything come out differently than it has in the past.

The interesting part is that I'll find out sooner than later. I did a test on Tuesday morning and got a faint line. I went for more blood work yesterday (which was a story in itself) and had a 56 for the hCG. I'm due to repeat the test again tomorrow to see which way the number is going. So all in all, I'm currently pregnant. I'll know tomorrow if I can dare to hope a little bit and hopefully when I call the office about my results I'll find out more about the lack of intralipid treatment and what that might mean for this pregnancy. I feel like I need to be doing something. Maybe stand on my head?

I think I've said this before, but please please don't congratulate me for getting pregnant. I know that it's a difficulty for a lot of us in this boat and I don't want to diminish that, and I definitely don't think it's easy getting pregnant, but this is my 10th time. TENTH. There is nothing left to congratulate about any of this until someone hands me a screaming baby.

For all I know the hCG level could be down tomorrow and I'll be back at square one. Even if it has gone up there's making it past the 9 week mark and then past the 19th week mark which seems like such a long time. But I can't get ahead of myself. I have to just think about the here and now.

Some good news is that I've been working with the RE out by Boston for all of the lab work and getting me on progesterone treatment and they are so on top of things unlike my local OBGYN's office. I emailed both doctors Tuesday morning and immediately heard back from the RE. I only just heard back from my OBGYN last night. He said he saw my labs and then later checked his email. I mean seriously? He hasn't checked his email from 9am Tuesday to 11pm Wednesday? He also asked if I was going to call the RE to let him know. Did he think I snuck into the office and forged a lab slip to get the blood work done? I emailed him back that the RE was the one who ordered the labs and is sending one for a repeat on Friday. Umm, duh. Dr. OBGYN isn't instilling me with much confidence.... I'm not sure what the next steps will be as far as who manages my care, but like I said a bit ago: one day at a time.

As for the blood work story, I let a student attempt to draw my blood which consisted of about 7 vials because I was also getting the recheck my hematologist wanted done for the APS. He managed to get the first vial fine, but the second snapped in and nothing happened. So the trainer tried to help by fishing around. Then it all went down hill. I passed out. Get out the ice packs and the smelling salts. I finally woke up to them calling my name and I was all sweaty but at least I didn't wet myself! Something to be proud of. They hadn't finished drawing my blood so after I was ok to walk they moved me to a side room with a recliner chair and she finished me up. They made me sit around for a bit and drink water then finally let me get on my way. What a mess! I guess I won't be having students learn to draw blood on me again.

One last thing. For general blog maintenance I've been moderating comments because I've been getting a lot of comments in Chinese. I don't know Chinese and while I can put it in a translator and get something back 99% of the time the comments make no sense or are completely unrelated to my post. I'm not sure who these people are who are leaving comments in Chinese or if it's some weird automated thing but please stop. If you want to leave a comment, please do it in English and have it relate to my post. I'm going to call that blog etiquette.