Congratulations!

I think my new favorite word in the English language is "congratulations." That's the word the nurse said when she left the message telling me that my surrogate was pregnant.

On Friday, August 5th, a nurse from the fertility clinic called to let me know the news. She left a message because I couldn't get to my phone when she called. I was working at my hospital when the message popped up so I called Derek and put him on speaker phone. I said I knew that the nurse had called and I didn't know if I should listen at that moment or wait until I was done with work. My amazing and supportive co-worker said that if I wanted to leave early I could so it was up to me if I wanted to hear the news at that moment or not. I vacillated for a minute or two and then decided I wanted to listen right away. So, my co-worker, Derek (who was on my work speakerphone) and I listened to the message on my cell phone (on speakerphone) and celebrated together. My co-worker was great and let me stop working for an hour or so while I processed the great news.

Now I'm going to try to remember these numbers but they may be wrong. I was never great with math. Math homework might be Derek's job.

My surrogate had an hCG (the pregnancy hormone) level of about 1,200 on Friday August 5th. The nurse said Chloe would have to go in again on Monday to make sure her hCG level kept increasing. The number should double approximately every 24-48 hours.

On Monday August 8th I got another call about 10 minutes before I was supposed to go into a job. I decided to answer it and heard the news. Chloe's hCG levels were up to about 3,800 so things were definitely going well. Then the nurse said something else to me. Chloe also had a sonogram that day and the doctors saw two sacs. So it looks like Chloe is pregnant with twins!

I was excited. Then scared. Then more excited. Then a little nervous. Then totally thrilled.

The nurse then explained that my doctor likes to do a third hCG test. So once again I had to wait for more results.

Yesterday, Thursday the 11th (which is my mother's birthday, by the way), I got a message saying Chloe's hCG level is up to almost 14,000. It was great that I could call my mom with such good news that day. And it was a relief to hear that everything is still progressing in the right direction.

I am starting to understand why people don't announce a pregnancy for the first few months. It's still so scary to get through this time and every time the phone rings I'm still holding my breath and praying for good news. But my lucky streak is still in full force. Soon Chloe and I will go in for an ultrasound and see what we can see. In the meantime, I really have to get around to buying that lottery ticket. I'm still having good luck and I'll need the money now that it looks like I'll be having twins.