Second hCG blood test this morning. If the kid is in there and alive and growing, the hCG hormone levels should double every other day or so. The hCG level on Wednesday was 363. Because we’re in this (painful) collections jury trial, I had my cellphone on silent and missed the call, but as soon as I saw the missed call, I grabbed my phone and ran out into the back hallway to listen to voice mail. And today’s hCG level is…777! THAT’S right, if we were in Vegas that’d be money! So the kid is in there, clinging on and taking his nutrients like he should be.

I had to call back to schedule a next appointment (which until this morning I didn’t know I would have). They’re going to do an ultrasound to check on the baby’s sac Wednesday morning, then a week after that, they’re doing another ultrasound to check on the heartbeat. I’ll try to get that last one on video. 🙂 Unfortunately, everything from today on is going to be additional out-of-pocket expense. I’ll have to do an updated accounting for those who are interested.

Before we hung up, the nurse said, “Oh, and you still have all your meds, right?” I told her I had no estrogen patches left but I had SOME progesterone still in the vial for the shots. She told me I need enough of the two so to call the pharmacy right away and have them overnight refills of the two items to me. That would be 8 patches and 2 vials of progesterone. TWO VIALS? That’s how much I had to begin with! I asked how much of that I would be using, and she answered, “You’re going to keep that up until we see the heartbeat, so about 2 weeks’ worth.” WAH!

For fun though, Flip Flop Girl helped me (via IM) calculate the kid’s due date. The “clinical age” of the baby is calculated based on the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period, so we checked the calendar and both arrived on the date of November 25. Thanksgiving baby! That also means that Rebecca is going to be right-on. People were telling me 40 weeks gestation would bring me to the end of December, but turns out, they were counting 40 weeks from conception, which is not how it’s done. So unless the baby is a week late (and Flip Flop says the doctors would not allow a pregnancy beyond 41 weeks; they’d induce) or a month early (also unlikely), it will be a November baby.

YAY! I’m officially preggers!