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Monday, January 26, 2009

More information

My friends and I always joke about how, before infertility and miscarriages, we had no idea about how exactly our bodies worked or what hormone was which or what is a good level of hcg (or what hcg even was!) We had no idea you could or even should (or want to) take a pregnancy test early, or how addicting it is to pee on a stick.

So, for those of you who are in our place, let me fill you in a tad. My number from last friday, 8.5, was the concentration of the pregnancy hormone, HCG, in my system. In medical terms, anything over 5 is pregnant. Most pregnancy tests read at 20 and above, but a few read below (like First Response Rapid Response which has been tested at 6!)

Ideally, that HCG number will double every 48-72 hrs in early pregnancy. And you might often hear that its not the number that matters- in and of itself- its the doubling that matters. While very true, its still much better, in my opinion, to have a higher number on the onset of a pregnancy, it means that you have more of the hormone in your system. Which is good.

So, my number of 23.5 is a doubling time of 47.91 hrs (I used this handy calculator.) Right on the border of that 48 hr window. While I have to be honest and say that I wish that it was higher and that it had tripled instead of doubled, I'm still pleased. This is moving up, and not down. Its moving in the right direction!

Of course, this pregnancy is not a "sure thing" by any means. My last pregnancy doubled up to 50, then dropped like dead fly on the wall. Hopefully these injections that I'll be giving myself daily will help keep that baby safe and snug.

I feel like God has given me hope, and that's so precious to me. But, we can't stop praying!! Please keep praying!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

WooHoo!! Keep climbing baby!

d e v a n said...

Definitely still praying!!! I'm so glad the number doubled though!! (love the calculator, I was adding furiously in my head. lol)

Amanda said...

TONS AND TONS OF PRAYERS AND POSITIVE THOUGHTS.

Susan said...

That's great news (and might I remind you that you're right on the border of the *faster* side of the 48-72 hour window--rather than having a doubling time of, say, 71.2 hours or something)!

Still thinking of you and your little, tiny one. Take care.

Kady said...

Prayers upon prayers, Tracy!!

theresa said...

Hope they keep going up!

Raechel said...

This is thrilling! Grow, baby, grow!!

Melanie said...

This is encouraging, Tracy!!! I am still praying and remaining positive for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm soooo glad it's looking up for you at this point. I know all about those numbers and doubling or not and it always freaked me out too! With my last two pregnancies, mine doubled in the 80 hour range... it was soooo scary. BUT...those babies are both living and breathing today so try not to worry :)