Yea, but she’s talking about a difference that a few days would make, not the difference of a whole 28+day cycle.
Usually they can tell exactly how old (in days) an embryo is by how big it is. It’s a fairly exact science.
Wonky results aren’t always always bad news, but usually they are. Lab error might account for strange results, or maybe something else is at play, such as a twin pregnancy where one failed to develop and was reabsorbed.
At any rate, EmAnJ, hopefully you have cause to be cautiously optimistic. You know we’re all rooting for you, either way!
A restrained and sedate “Yippee” then. I know absolutely nothing about infertility protocols, but it seems like you are getting testing done every other day, and I wondered if this is the normal procedure. It sounds to be almost like skipping lunch and then jumping on the scale to see how much weight you lost. If it is stressful, and knowing the numbers won’t mean that there is anything that can be done to alter the outcome, why do they not wait a bit longer in between tests?
You are correct that the protocol is every two days for fertility patients. Normally, I would have done two every two days, then once a week for two weeks, but since my numbers are all over the place, they asked me to continue with going in every two days. It is stressful, but will eventually relieve some of the ambiguity. If my numbers go up properly for the test today, I likely won’t test again for a week.
Thanks for answering the other question, sarabellum. That’s what I would have answered as well.
I’ve been following this thread but haven’t commented – while I haven’t been in this situation, the suspense has got to be incredibly stressful! Many sticky thoughts headed your way.
I really hope this works out for you! I’ve followed your threads, since I’m pretty much on the same path myself. I just found out I was pregnant on Father’s Day (around 6 am), then started spotting around midnight - my second miscarriage in 3 years of trying, but the first time I’ve known I was pregnant. It was hell doing blood work for days and worrying about the numbers (there was a tiny hope in my heart that it was just spotting and everything would be fine, even thought I knew better).
I really, really, really hope everything turns out ok for you - it would be great for you, and would give me hope as well
When I was pregnant with #2, I started spotting around 8 weeks. I’d recently had an early miscarriage, so the midwife asked me to come in. I got blood drawn and went for an ultrasound as well, which showed a happy little embryo doing whatever it is embryos do. Just to be on the safe side, I went back for a second blood draw two days later. The spotting stopped and I went on my merry way, much relieved.
Several days later, I got a call from a different midwife at the practice, asking me how I was doing after my miscarriage. What miscarriage, I asked? Apparently, the results from my second blood draw indicated that the pregnancy wasn’t viable, and she thought that I must have miscarried. After some discussion, we decided that I hadn’t miscarried and that there were two explanations. One was that it was possibly a twin pregnancy, and one of the embryos had been reabsorbed. The other was that I was just a bit too far along in my pregnancy for the blood work numbers to be really useful.
Personally, I’ve had situations like this that went both ways. My first pregnancy (1 year before my first was born) ended in a strange, ambiguous miscarriage. The doctor finally concluded after a month of odd bloodwork results and 3 sonograms that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. That was a very long month. Somehow I managed to avoid a D&C.
Pregnancy #2, I had spotting at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. Every time, I was sure that a miscarriage would start at any minute. It didn’t. The baby was born at 41 weeks, and at that point I was glad to be rid of the little sucker.
Update: My numbers from yesterday are only 229 (from 180) which is no where close to where they needed to go. The spotting is getting heavier, so this is it, I guess. I just hope it’s quick and not too painful, and I don’t need medical intervention.
Thanks again everyone for all the support and well wishes! I’m staying positive and looking forward to hopefully getting knocked up with a sticky one when we do IVF in December/January (if all stays on schedule).
Really, really sorry to hear this
I may be cycling at the end of the year too, so if this happens, we can keep each other company during the stress of it all.
Yes. We did our first cycle in 2009, which was successful, and now have a 15 month old son. We’d been hoping to get lucky second time around, but over a year of trying later (this takes us up to a about 4 years in total) we’re coming around to the idea that we’ll have to go back to the clinic if we want to have another baby (I’m not trying for another 3 years this time!). It’s just a question of deciding when to get the process started again.
We’d been thinking about going back in a couple of months to get the ball rolling and get all the tests out the way (we’ll have to repeat everything as it’s been a couple of years since we had them done the first time). That would mean perhaps doing a cycle later in the year, beginning of next. It’s just a case of deciding when would be a good time, if there’s such a thing!
They went from 229 on Sunday to 494 on Wednesday. The nurse said it’s not viable, but now they are concerned it’s ectopic. I go in for an ultrasound on Tuesday morning, and was instructed to go to the ER if i start having severe cramps.
