153

Yeah. Friday's beta was 153.  So according to the handy calculator at IVFer.com, that's a doubling time of 52.3 hours, and a daily rate of 1.37.  Not the A+ that a 48-hour doubling time would have been, but I have been a solid B-student kind of girl ever since college, so I will accept that gentleman's B and have done with it.  Extra credit for the progesterone of 72, though.

I would probably be in better shape if I hadn't run through a three-pack of Fact Plus ("As insensitive as your ex-boyfriend!") in a pathetic attempt to assess relative line darkness with regard to sample dilution.  For some reason I got a very pale positive this morning, after a dark midafternoon test yesterday, and am inclined to view it as evidence of a dropping hCG level, but whatEV.  I might like to be disabused of that notion.

Julie suggested a home beta-testing device along the lines of a glucometer: instantaneous readings, whenever you need a little reassurance (or fuel for the engine of doom).  Hey, if they sell home Dopplers, why the hell not.

So. I don't even know what to think, or how to feel. Other than hungry. But that's just the progesterone.

Comments

[Kim]

Can you imagine if we actually had home beta testing kits? I think we'd be at risk for some serious blood loss. I can do it... just one more pint... thunk.

Glad to hear the not bad news. What's the next step?

[jane]

been furiously refreshing all morning. I'll take the B. Bs are our friends. As are just showing off. Yeah B! Thinking of you and sending you peace and strength.

[MistyD]

I like that number. 153 sounds promising. Glad to see the 72 progesterone. Wouldn't it be great to fast foward past the first trimester?

[KellyH]

Delurking to say. . . um. . congratulations? Crossing my fingers for you, Jo.

Some pregnancy tests have less dye in them than others, even ones in the same pack and/or same batch. Maybe that accounts for the fainter line this a.m.

[dish]

My Hope Bitch wants to call your Hope Bitch and get her all riled up. I'll ban her from the phone until you give the ok, but I'm pretty sure that she might have her own cell phone on the sly.

Having lunch with C, so we'll pool our good vibes for you. *chicken bones chicken bones*

[Shelley]

As far as HPTs go...well, I'm not an expert, but there's urine dilution, differences in things you ate/drank, differences between HPT brands, differences in HPTs of the same brand, hell, even differences in how long you pee on the blasted things. They're not meant to measure AMOUNT of hormone, just that the hormone is THERE. Not that I haven't done the exact same thing, mind you. But the beta don't lie, and it sounds like it's doing what it should. Thinking of you.

-S

[susan]

Nice numbers. The lighter line doesn't necessarily mean your hcg is dropping. It can change depending on saturation levels (i.e., if you took in a lot of fluids, the levels would be less concentrated). Also, if you do it first thing in the morning and you have gone 8 hours without testing, then you do it after 3 hours, there's likely to be a difference too. But you probably already know all this. It just makes me feel better to say it because I desperately want to see this happen for you!

[Christine]

That lighter-line-in-the-the-morning-after-a-dark-line-in-the-afternoon thing happened to me, too. Ignore ignore ignore! Your numbers sound pretty good to me (says she who could not get her doctor to provide any numbers at all). Still shaking the whole chicken here.

[C]

I think that means I can have fried chicken for lunch and write it off as For The Greater Good...
don't you think?

[Jo]

Oh yeah, forgot to say: I will be back in for another beta on Wednesday. So, yes, update then, which I will type while wearing my BRAND NEW PIXIES T-SHIRT.

Yeah.

[Kendra]

I have been living for this moment ALL WEEKEND. So glad the numbers are good! Now I'll begin living for the Wednesday beta update.

[tracy]

Warning... Hope bait ahead!

My first HCG was ridiculously low... 36, I think, 13 days post-transfer. Two days later it was 50 something. Not even close to doubling, you say? So did I. But my RE said that at such low levels, the reading could be off by as much as 15%, so they re-tested the first blood draw and got 27. And if *that* was the more accurate reading, then the second reading was, in fact, doubling (barely). It took four more days (longest fucking days of my life) to decide I was truly pregnant.

So let's just say that anything is possible. Good things as well as bad.

[Juno]

Jo,

I think 153 sounds like a lovely number. I wouldn't worry about the intensity of pee stick lines, lots of factors affect them.

Have fun at the Pixies! I am filled with envy.

[getupgrrl]

Well, the good thing about 153 is that all the numbers add up to 9, which is the luckiest number in the universe.

So.

Yeah.

Pretty much.

[Mollie]

Wow. Hanging by the proverbial thread here. But happily, I know you are rocking out tonight and I have nothing to worry about. No matter what, you are Jo, and Jo is on her way.

[Julia]

Glad to hear it. I'm especially glad to hear about your concert festivities tonight.

Are you going to be a beta-obsessive bitch like I was a get a million blood draws?

We're going to need a slogan for you, you know. An acronym of some sort. Grrl has taken NBHHY, but something equally catchy will do.

[Julia S]

Whooooooooooooooooooosh.

Betas going up are better than betas going down. Or just sitting there, not going anywhere, but looking stupid and cluttering up the blood.

Therefore, I shall celebrate. Quietly.

[AyEnDeeAreEeAyAitch]

Do ya remember Monica from Deviant woman? If I remember right her beta didn't double like it was supposed to and look what happened to her?

[Molly]

Wednesday can't come soon enough! Enjoy your concert tonight.

[wix]

jo, i know you know that pcos changes the rules ever so slightly, so look at a nice, solid B as miles ahead of an F. we can't all be A students, anyway; if we were, who would skip class and hang out in the back of the auditorium wearing bauhaus shirts and writing out the lyrics to "there is a light that never goes out" on the backs of the seats???

[Mia]

Wednesday cannot come soon enough, although today's news is encouraging. Hope Addict may have to be set free here soon - sending some lovely thoughts in her direction.

[Brooklyn Girl]

I'm crossing my fingers, holding my breath, and hoping good things for you.

[Mamarama]

Really, Jo, the B students have a lot more fun than the A students...and they're cooler too. Enjoy the Pixies. I wish we were going together. I got the green shirt. XOXOXO

[Summer]

Please have a wonderful time not miscarrying at the Pixies concert. You could even wear nice underpants, if you wanted to! And if you don't have nice underpants, well then, we know what to send you for Kwanzaa.

Hope Addict and I are that wishing and praying that soon you'll be wearing brand-new great big maternity bucket underpants....

[Moxie]

Summer, seriously. Jo's punk rock. She's going to keep wearing low-rise thongs, just in a bigger hip size.

Wonderful beta number.