I won\\\'t spoil too much of the surprise. You\\\'ll have to listen to the podcast this week for all the updates. But the number may give you a hint. :)

And I\'m not sure why Libsyn is putting /\'s in my post.

So beta more than doubled today (DT 46.7 hours). I started spotting yesterday though, which of course freaked me out. And my progesterone has plummeted from 60 to 16. So I have to go back on the PIO. Progesterone has always been an issue with me and I was worried to go off the PIO. Not excited about going back on but will feel relieved to know I'm getting a good dose of progesterone. Plus, I'd stick needles in my eyeballs to keep this pregnancy. So I have to go back in on Tuesday for another P4 check and I think, beta, and then maybe they'll actually talk ultrasounds with me.

Waiting impatiently for my 4th beta. These last 2 days have about killed me. I wish I wouldn't get so down and worked up over things. It's hard not to want this soooo badly and to be so scared about all the what ifs. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful posts--especially to all my former BG members on Baby*Center and FF. I give you all a formal apology in my podcast for being such a bad friend. :)

All right, just hoping the next hour goes by really fast!

Update: Yay, they called early today. Beta is 1677. I'm very pleased with this number. Sure, it didn't double but DT was 53.7 hours which is better than it was last time (62 hours). AND it went up. AND it went up by 86% (last time it was 71%). Sure the chart doesn't look as pretty but I'm leaning towards a vanishing twin. BUT, my clinic isn't really happy and wants me to come back on Sunday. That'll be five betas for me. I wanted to sleep in on Sunday. :( I wanted to be done with beta hell. Oh well, I am pleased with the number. Thought it would not go up that much. And I think Sunday will yield another good number. Fingers crossed!

I don't like that things are slowing down. I really wanted a nice doubling beta. Here are the betas so far:
Beta 14dpo: 180
Beta 17dpo: 527 (DT 46.5 hours)
Beta 19dpo: 902 (DT 62 hours)

Go back again on Friday. This week is so friggin' long!

Beta for today is in:

14dpo: 180
17dpo: 527
DT: 46.5 hours
Progesterone up from 36 to 49

It is hard to breathe. It all seems surreal. My only experience with betas before were those going in the opposite direction or those who were never positive at all. Another beta on Wednesday and Friday and then it's a long month wait until the ultrasound.

I tested with the internet cheapie test on Thursday (13dpo in the picture below) and again on Friday. Seemed to be getting darker but on Saturday, it looked the same. I was nervous--having flashbacks on my chemical pregnancy. But the beta results came in on Saturday (from Fridays 14dpo test) and it's 180. Absolutely thrilled with that number. Took another Accu-clear and it's darker and the IC test from today is much darker. Official beta is tomorrow and then Wed and Fri to check for doubling.

It's all so surreal right now. I don't feel particularly pregnant except for a few signs here and there. Just hoping to make it through the beta hurdle this week.

Thanks so everyone who posted comments. It means so much to me that there are so many people out there rooting for me!

I'm in utter shock. This week has been hell. The 2ww after IVF is so awful and I was getting no sleep and was feeling pretty on edge. So when I tested yesterday (13 days past retrieval), I was basically just confirming a negative. I about fell over when I saw the 3 lines on 3 different tests come up so dark and so quickly. I had to run and get a digital to confirm and it was so awesome to see the word "Pregnant" come up!

Official beta is not until Monday but I got one drawn today on the sly. Won't know the results until tomorrow or Monday though but I couldn't resist. Please, please, please have this be something that sticks this time. Please let this be for real. I'll update the site with my betas next week.

So those are the 2 beauties. We transferred 2 blasts: 1 early blast grade B and one regular blast grade B+. There were 2 morulas left that they may freeze. And so now begins the true wait. And the wait sucks. It's probably the worst part of IVF to me. You do so much stuff and then you're sent on your merry way to twiddle your thumbs and just wait. I've been taking it easy since transfer and tonight I'm officially off "bedrest."
Now I just fight to keep hope alive. Hope abounded before this cycle. All signs are pointing to yes! And yet, I sit here and think about what I will drink next Friday when I get a BFN. It's a vicious thought process. Your mind plays so many tricks on you. Hoping to post good news here next week...see, that sounds hopeful right?

Quick update. Out of the 12 eggs retrieved, 11 were mature. On day 2, we had 7 embryos. 4 were 4 -cell and looked good so they told us as long as we had 3 8-cell by day 3, we'd do a 5 day transfer. They said they'd call us by 9am on Monday to let us know which day we'd transfer.
I woke up at 6:30am and I couldn't sleep. Was up all night with nightmares about missing the call from the embryologist. 9am passed. 10am passed. 11am passed. Finally, at noon, I called them. We still have 3 grade A 8-cells right now. The other 4 are chugging along too (although not as many cells and not as pretty). So we're bumping up to a 5dt. This is new for us and we're pretty excited. This cycle has definitely been about quality over quantity.
So hoping we have something left on day 5 to transfer!

Well, I had ER today. We got 12 eggs--so just one more than I expected. It's less than the 14 and 20 of yesteryear's IVFs but still, anything in the double digits is good in my opinion. And my last 2 cycles, about 75% of my eggs turned into embryos so that means I'm hoping for 9 embryos this round. Won't know until Sunday. Until then, I wait. In the meantime, I have a meeting to go to. Yuck, who wants to go to a meeting on ER day? I hope they don't mind the spacey look I have or the fact that I'm crampy and bloated. It's a shame life has to continue around you while going through IF treatments. All I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep some more.