What should have been great news...

For those of you who already know, we have had quite an exciting and scary week. Last Friday, during a routine check up I asked for a pregnancy test to be run because I was three days late. I was stunned when the doctor came back in and said, "Yep, you are pregnant." I called Rich, we told my parents and his parents, and thought we ought to buy a lottery ticket since our luck was starting to change.

I went straight from the doctor to get blood work done and my hCG levels were 6500. The doctor scheduled a repeat of the hCG for Monday. On Monday, I was at a conference when I got the call saying my levels had dropped to 5850. I left immediately and headed back over the mountain to get an ultrasound done. I already knew that falling levels was a bad sign because the numbers should be doubling. Three hours later, the ultrasound showed no sac. Yep, no sac!? With numbers beyond 1500 there should be a detectable sac. The doctor was confused, I was confused, and with nothing showing up in my tubes we didn't have a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy either. His best answer was that my body was taking care of things on its own. I was skeptical and worried because of the continued pain so I began researching just about anything related on the internet.

Yesterday, I followed up with more bloodwork and my levels had dropped to 4630. Again, falling, but not very drastically. There should be a dramatic change in levels if my body is resolving the issue on its own. At this point I was very annoyed with the doctor over here (who I had never seen before b/c I had only seen the nurse practicioner for annual check ups), so I called Dr. Bateman's office and was thrilled that they could fit me in today and hopefully give us some answers.

I was able to see Dr. Bateman today for a follow up US and hCG count. Again, nothing showed up on the US. However, the biggest question that I had was finally answered.... How was my hCG level 6500 during the 4th week of pregnancy? Well, even though I had a period after the last IUI, it wasn't a true period. I was actually pregnant with no idea. In retrospect, this explains why I was so incredibly tired and bloated during the last two months. However, it was an ectopic pregnancy. Dr. Bateman thinks that because my hCG levels are down to 2400 today that my body is doing well taking care of things. I explained to him, just like the other 2 doctors that I've seen, that last Monday I was in excrutiating pain and think that this has to be a piece to the puzzle.

Flashback to last Monday - Rich and I were on the way home from the gym when I suddenly got extremely sharp pains throughout my lower abdomen. I was driving and could not even get out of the car for 20 minutes after we got home. It literally felt like someone was tearing my insides away from my belly button. Rich did a quick WebMD search and came up with appendicitis or ectopic pregnancy. I knew it wasn't appendicitis because it wasn't on the right side and in fact was more localized to the left. He was ready to rush me to the ER, but I wanted to give it a little more time before getting stuck in the ER waiting room. After an hour or so, the intense pain subsided and I was left with crampy aches in my back and abdomen, which I still have today. Knowing now that tubal pregnancies are life threatening, I will not argue with Rich about going to the ER ever again!

Dr. Bateman's diagnosis of this pain is that the pregancy, which was much farther along that we thought, was stuck in my tube and this pain was the tube expelling it into my abdomen. Lovely thought, I know! This would explain why my stomach was so bloated that I didn't want to wear anything but sweats. I swear it grew 5 inches in just a couple hours coinciding with the pain.

Anyhow, I just got off the phone with the Dr. Bateman again and have another US and bloodwork set up for Friday morning. He wants to follow me very closely until everything is resolved. The good news is that we were able to get pregnant through the IUI. The bad news is that it was tubal so my tubes obviously aren't doing their job. We haven't discussed the ramifications of this pregnancy yet, but after spending the last six days on the internet I know that having a tubal pregnancy is not good. It decreases your fertility (like we need that!) and increases your chances of having another tubal pregnancy. On a positive note, if we can get through this without laparoscopy to remove the tissue I will feel much better and we will hopefully have a better chance in the future.

I have had increased pain since my visit this morning, but I'm hoping it is just because of all of the tests. What started out to be the best news we could have ever asked for has now turned our lives upside down. The last three days have literally been the longest three days of my life because I have not been able to function other than sitting in front of the tv or looking for answers. As I told Rich this morning, my mind has been on overload and even getting the dishes washed seemed to be an impossible task. However, after finally getting some answers from a physician that I trust, I feel like I can actually function now and in fact just did the dishes:)

I will be sure to give an update after my visit on Friday.