The suspense was nearly killing me.  On Tuesday morning I did my ritualistic boob poke to make sure they were still sore (Oh... don't give me that look. You did it too.) and they weren't.  At all.  I poked my boobs on the way to the doctor's office.  Still nothing.  I poked them some more while I waited for that call.  That time they were a little sore but then I had to wonder if it was because they were actually sore or if they were sore because I had been repeatedly poking them all morning. 

When the call came with the beta number of 149, I poked them again.  Still nothing much happening there, unless I poked them from underneath!  Ah!  A little sore under there.  Those boobs were just playing hard to get.

Yesterday they were about the same.  If it hadn't been for my fatigue I would have been sure that this pregnancy was over.  Then when last night came around and despite a 1 hour nap that afternoon, I was still ready for bet at 9 pm, I was reassured.

I went to the lab this morning and headed home preparing myself for the grueling afternoon of waiting for the phone to ring.  I made lunch for the boys and talked myself into eating a salad.  Just as I was about to sit down for lunch. my cell phone rang.  Oh my goodness!  I only had left the lab less than 2 hours ago.

The nurse's voice was chipper, but this nurse just seems to always sound that way.  She is the type of lady who probably dots her i with a heart with a curly Q tail.  So I allowed her to lull me into a sense of positivity and then her voice got even higher when she told me that my numbers look "Really great!" and that they are "really pleased with them!"  She finally spilled the number to be 349.  Yep.  349.  It doubled and then a little.  I am good with that!  Of course it wasn't quite the crazy high number I was dreaming of but, hey, I'll take it.  A doubling time of about 40 hours with 31-72 being normal. 

Please keep the prayers coming as I will not feel "out of the woods" until I see a heartbeat.  Thanks again to all of you.  Your support means the world to me. 

Today I went for my first beta hCG blood test and then had a yearly physical with my general practitioner in the same building.  My blood test at the RE's office took no more than 2 minutes from the time I walked in to the time I walked out.  Then after a short flight of stairs I went to my GP's office.  She is a quirky lady who has a heart of gold but she has a couple of theories.  The first is that I can only have boys.  She has no evidence of this, but she just has this intuition about me.  Her second theory is that the baby looks like which ever parent put in more "effort" in the act of baby making.  Based on this, I am slacking in this department. 

After a quick chat she took my vitals and then, as she finished taking my blood pressure she quite literally grabbed a roll of my stunning belly fat and said, "You should have lost this before you got pregnant."  Thanks for pointing that out, Doc. 

Then after picking up Gavin from preschool, treating him to a birthday lunch from McDonalds, we headed home. 

After lunch I put Joey down for his nap and then my phone rang.  They were already calling me with the results from my blood test!  The kindest nurse I have ever known told me that my hCG was 53.8.  At first I was disappointed.  I don't know why, but I had it in my head that I would have been in the 100s.  I am only 14 days past ovulation but was hoping to have a nice high and reassuring number.  Then, I decided to compare to my levels from when I was pregnant with Joey.  I kid you not, they are still written on a dry erase board that hangs on the side of my refrigerator.  I have them recorded other places but I have never been able to bring myself to erase them. 

With Joey on 14 DPO my hCG was a whopping 24.5!  So now I am feeling better about my 53.8!  Also, I plugged it into this beta calculator and saw that it is actually a little above average.  So, I will go back on Friday for another draw and that is when the real obsessing can begin. 

In the mean time, Happy Valentines Day to you all! 

And a very very Happy Birthday to my favorite 4 year old Valentine! 

Gavin having a picnic on the kitchen floor