Slowly sinking in

It's very slowly sinking in for my husband and me that this is actually happening. We'll be seven weeks tomorrow (again, knocking on wood - this has got to stop). Someone who also dealt with infertility but has since been blessed with a baby girl wisely reminded me that once you see a good, strong heartbeat, the odds of a miscarriage fall below 5%. She's been through all this before - including several miscarriages - so she knows from whence she speaks. If anything, she was more paranoid than I during her last pregnancy, so I know I'm not too far out in the deep end.

I have to say that it helps that the spotting has stopped (restraining myself from physically knocking on wood but I can't stop myself from doing it in my head). The twice weekly progesterone shots must be doing something other than being a pain in the ***. :) I'm not complaining about them. If anything, I welcome them as a little extra reassurance that Junior's going to stay put until early October.

I've finally taken the plunge and signed up for several maternity classes. I must be crazy to tempt fate in this way, but it has to be done. The first class, meant to be taken in the first trimester, is in two weeks. The rest take place during the third trimester. If we sign up for the package, we get a discount. Not a bad deal since the package included all of the classes I wanted to take anyway, including the all important Baby Boot Camp. In this one we'll learn what to do besides stare at each other dumbfounded once we bring our colicky, little bundle of joy home. I've watched children before, even babies, but this one will be different. We won't be able to give Junior back at the end of the evening when he/she starts putting up a fuss.

One more interesting note: when it's someone else's pregnancy, the weeks fly by; when it's your own, they c - r - a - w - l by at a geriatric snail's pace.

Anything more? Well, I've discovered that I can very well live without any more snow for the remainder of 2010. Our pup is banned from the deck until all traces of snow melt and she is no longer tempted to use it as a handy dandy rest stop (in her mind, snow equals bathroom break). Our cat has taken over the chair overlooking the hallway, kitchen, and living room. Oh, and I miss coffee. And chocolate. And I can't stand flax oil.

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Shoot. The nurse just called. My progesterone levels haven't budged: still 10.3. Since the last PIO injection before yesterday's blood work was 4 days prior, I'm guessing that they measured my own, non-PIO enhanced progesterone levels. I'm disappointed but hardly surprised. Given that I was diagnosed with luteal phase defect when my progesterone levels dropped off too quickly during the 2WW, I'm guessing the corpus luteum, the progesterone production factory during the first trimester, isn't functioning up to scratch. I assume I'll be on progesterone supplements for the remainder of the first trimester at least. After that, the placenta will take up production. Perhaps at that point my levels will improve.

I'm now going to be on 300mg progesterone suppositories nightly in addition to the PIO. Any little lifeline I can get, I will take wholeheartedly.

So the early spotting wasn't due to low progesterone levels. What on earth was it about, then?