you best be sitting for this one

monday i went in for my baseline which is bloodwork and my ultrasound to make sure i have lots of little follicles ready to grow and get big and strong.  of note, i had about 8 on each side which was muy bueno.  this visit is typically followed by a call from the nurse telling me the results and i expected her to tell me which day to start my chlomid.

i missed the call by a nano second but got the following message (and again, you best be sitting for this one):

"just calling to give you your results from today and umm and we cannot start treatment this cycle because your hcg level, which is the pregnancy hormone, is not negative it is positive but it is a low positive. [i'm sorry? what? you said i have a positive pregnancy hormone? i definitely have my period right now, it is not spotting] ummm so when that happens we don't know quite what is going on. [sorry, still not really following...] it could be implantation is starting but it is a little later than we would have thought.  umm the first check we like that level to be at 25 and your level is at 22. [22 is really close to 25 - - i am no quant person but that is only 12% off normal numbers...that feels pretty close] so, it is a little lower than a first check would be here. [huh?]

there are some other possibilities which could be bio chemical where the pregnancy starts but does not complete so we are actually going to ask the lab to run progesterone tomorrow. [so wait, i was pregnant?  huh?] we will call with those results.  [progesterone level just came in moments ago and are a super low at 1.3 where normal is 10.  this might mean that it was bio chemical pregnancy which she said is pretty common.]

ultimately, they had me come in today for blood work...but really was a pregnancy test.  huh?  here they will be looking at my hcg level to see if it is rising - for a normal pregnancy they expect it to double every 2-3 days.  if they are lower that suggests that it was a bio chemical pregnancy which again means that it started but did not complete for whatever reason.

i can't help but laugh at this!  kate's law strikes again! can it never be a simple yes or no?

the nurse has been amazing and totally diplomatic in sharing all of the news and answering all of my questions.  in fact, i didn't even call her till about 1pm yesterday because i was waiting for her to call with the progesterone levels - which happened much later in the day.  she told me how she was surprised that it took me so long to call.  in retrospect, i think i am a little surprised as well!

i am approaching this from the perspective that i am not pregnant but totally encouraged by the fact that i can get pregnant.  but i will know more - and hopefully a more conclusive yes or no - when my blood results come back later today.

more to follow...