Best day ever!

Today I had my second blood test. This time, I phoned the clinic on my way home from the blood lab at the Misercordia (Nate was driving, don't worry!) and left a message saying I had done the test so please let me know when they got the results. Only a few hours later, they called me and said my numbers were very strong and more than doubling every 48 hours. We were hoping to hear my hcg levels were at least around 2500-2900... and they were at 4413!!! That's a doubling time of approximately 28 hours! The nurse said based on that it's definitely possible there's more than one baby in there. We also received our first ultrasound date for April 5 at 12:45. I'll be just over 7 weeks then, and we'll be able to see how many little beans I have and they will be able to detect the heartbeat(s). After that ultrasound, I will receive my referral to my OB.

I've been very very nauseous today, and peeing like crazy which makes me happy. When you have been trying to have a baby for over 6 years, and have had miscarriages, nothing makes your day like feeling like you are truly pregnant. In fact, I was a bit worried over the weekend as my nausea and tender boobs had kind of eased up. Actually worried is an understatement thanks to my hormones. However, the nausea returned full force this morning and with those awesome blood test results, I'm feeling incredibly positive. Also, while I was worrying about not feeling sick (and poking my boobs to see if they hurt more yet), I did a bit of googling (BAD Katie!) and found a really great site on miscarriages. There was one section about disappearing symptoms and it said that it is normal for symptoms to come and go early on. Also, it said that chances are if someone were to miscarry, they would be feeling the symptoms until afterwards (which is true, as this happened to me last time we were pregnant and miscarried after being taken off of the support drugs; for a few days afterward I still "felt" pregnant).

My pants are already feeling a bit snug at 5 weeks, so I am living in my roomy jeans and yoga pants. I don't feel confident enough to buy mat pants (plus I feel a bit ridiculous even contemplating that at 5 weeks!) but one of my best girlfriends, Cathy, brought me some of her mat clothes on the weekend and there are several pairs of pants that will work great within the next few weeks and carry me through for a good while.

Another one of my best girlfriends, Kelly, brought me a beautiful gift basket full of stuff to pamper myself with as a congratulations. I can't wait to try everything out! Here is a picture of all the goodies:



Do I have great friends or what???

So far I haven't had many weird cravings, though I have plenty of aversions. The one semi-weird thing I have been devouring like crazy is pickles. I know. I'm embarrassed to even type that... I'm a walking pregnancy cliche! But I find the tart taste of the pickles helps counteract the nausea. That, and plenty of soda crackers and ginger-ale.

So that's the update on us. I love being pregnant, and I love the little baby(ies) inside of me so much it makes me well up even thinking about it.