hCG After a D&C

Just a little suggestion for all you TTCers who are TTC after a pregnancy loss. Before you start TTC again, be sure to get your hCG levels checked before peeing on a stick.

This is the latest development in my long drawn out roller coaster miscarriage. Ever since I miscarried on December 3rd, I've had my blood tested to monitor my hCG levels and see that they go back down to zero. As of yet they still haven't. What does that mean? It means that there might be some remnants of the pregnancy remaining, and until it's 100% removed my body is thinking it's pregnant. Even more so... this has got me thinking, since I was 4 months pregnant when I miscarried in September... my hCG levels would have been sky high up until the loss. What if they missed something on my D&C and ever since September when I thought I was ovulating regularly and TTC that I actually wasn't... and that the BFP I got in November was just because my hCG levels hadn't gone down enough to zero yet??

This would be good news and bad news. It would mean that I didn't actually loose #4... that I just got a false positive. The bad news, well not bad, but the annoying news is that it put me through all this stress and worry over what is wrong with me, and that if that is the case and since my levels aren't down to zero yet, I would most likely need ANOTHER D&C.

So, to research my theory I discovered that if tissue was left after my D&C, it would still cause my body to produce hCG, make my body think it's pregnant, go through all the motions it would if I were (i.e., building up the uterine lining, giving me symptoms) But after about 20 days my body would realize it's not pregnant, and flush everything out and start again. Since my D&C I have only gone a max of 21 days b/t "cycles" so that just makes me believe my theory even more. I am so tired of all this run around, it's ridiculous.

I go in to the doctor again on Monday to have my levels checked, so I will know by Tuesday at the latest if they've gone down or not. I am hoping and praying they have gone back down.

UPDATE: I am now on CD26...the longest one yet, so let's hope it's out of my system???

Pregnancy Test with Conception Indicator

This is something that I, as a TTCer, think is VERY cool. When I saw it, I don't know why, but I was excited. It just shows how much science is progressing and before we know it, we'll know as soon as we get pregnant, that we are!

This is the NEW Clearblue DIGITAL Pregnancy Test with Conception Indicator. Not only does it tell you if you are pregnant or not without having to worry about faint lines or evaporation lines, but it also will tell you roughly how pregnant you are!! Like a normal pregnancy test, it detects the pregnancy hormone hCG in your urine. This baby also calculates the concentration of it (hCG should double every 48 hours in a healthy pregnancy) to determine roughly how far along you are. I can see it being a little off for some women because some don't produce high amounts of hCG during pregnancy, and if you are pregnant with multiple babies it might tell you you are further along than you are. But still, it's very cool. Just another thing from my friends at Clearblue! I don't use any other test but their digitals!!

I've heard some women say they are found at their Walmarts, but others say it's only available in the UK. I have found them on ebay, but have yet to check Walmart. If any of you readers have found them somewhere let me know!!