It was a Thursday. Three days ago to be exact. September 4th, 2014.
I worked all day (for Emily) in an effort to stay super busy every hour of the day. Keeping my mind focused on something besides our blood pregnancy test that day was a good thing. Even though we took a urine test one and a half days earlier, and it was positive, I was still a bit nervous. After all, there were a lot of factors at play including a lot of hormones and medications that were altering Emily's body.
Emily called me at work after she had her blood drawn that morning. She sounded up beat about the visit. For her I knew it was mostly because there may be an alternative to the progesterone injections that were making her life totally miserable. I can't blame her.
We were told we'd get a phone call with the results by 6pm. SIX PM??!!!?? These fertility clinics sure know how to torture the already tortured. We had expected Emily would receive the call instead of me. So, I sat around waiting to hear from Emily. It was better that she get that call because I swear, my heart stops when I hear news like that. And, I've had to answer that call 3 times before so I was glad to pass the buck to our amazing Emily. Not too sure what she thought about that though...
The afternoon hours went by slowly even though our schedule at work was hoppin'. At about four o'clock I was up at the front desk and heard my cell phone ring in the back office. I missed the call. Minutes later I grabbed my phone and saw that indeed it was the doctor. I immediately called Emily and asked if she had heard. She said no. I called the doctor back hoping I could track down whomever called me. If you've ever worked with Utah Fertility Center you understand that it's practically impossible to just call them back. It takes a lot of transfers and messages before you finally receive another call back.
Luckily, after speaking to two different people, Anne Marie (our nurse practitioner) was on the line. Her voice was neither excited nor depressing. All that kept going through my head was this is our last chance. She explained to me that Emily's number came back at a 65 (?) which meant that indeed she WAS pregnant!! I breathed a sigh of relief. She also went on to indicate that they would move forward in giving Emily a different type of Progesterone in hopes of healing her rump, hips and legs. She hadn't walked normal in weeks. Anne Marie asked me how I was feeling. I told her I was hanging in there, the rest of our conversation is a blur. Mostly though I had questions for her. Specifically, I wanted to know if Emily's level of 65 was average or above average, hoping to find out if they thought one or both of the embryos implanted. She indicated to me that it was an average number and she thought that probably only one embryo implanted.
I have to be honest. My heart sunk a little. We were really hoping for two babies as we used our very last two embryos this time around. And if it were two babies, we'd be done. BUT, at the same time I was overjoyed with the news that indeed, we had a baby on the way! For now... This was the best news EVER and a total and complete miracle in my opinion. Emily is the ONLY reason our dream is coming to life--literally. It's because of her total and complete selflessness and love that we just found out we're pregnant! Thanks Em! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hung up the phone and sat for a minute at the front desk. I immediately called Emily and told her what I had learned. I think I was in shock. I was even a little shaky. Even though we knew that the test would be positive, finding out officially is still totally and utterly nerve wracking. As ten minutes passed, then twenty, then thirty, the news spread around our office. Everyone was thrilled, and I, well I felt like a zombie and probably looked like one too. I felt as if my body had just crashed. I was tired, no--exhausted! I checked out. I had only made it through the day because of the enormous amounts of adrenaline pumping through my body.
Because of all the hype, I had forgotten to call Loge. I jumped on the phone and told him the good news (although he already of course knew the results of the urine test.) He too was overjoyed and asked right away if they thought there was one or two babies.
Unless you've been through it, you can't imagine what it's like to know that your biological child, your posterity, your very own baby is growing somewhere other than inside you. It's just incredible to think what's even taken place. I wish I could grow our babies but we truly believe that our INCREDIBLE friend is the very next best thing. We are so lucky. Although, lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.
This Thursday Emily will have her blood drawn again to make sure her levels of hcg are increasing. We are hopeful that they will be. After that we wait until this baby is seven weeks gestation before we can do an ultrasound to confirm a singleton or twin pregnancy.
Either way, we are thrilled, THRILLED!
(Below) This was a picture taken by Paula that very day (before I got our happy news). I'm standing next to Ischalyn who is pregnant with her first, a baby girl due in October. And next to her is Jamie who is also pregnant, with her fourth boy, baby Brayden. We had a lot of reasons to celebrate babies that day! And I ate a cupcake for every one.
Missed you big time Emily!
