Beta #2 and pretty bird

DH and I drove through the snow this morning to get our beta #2. I've been going a little nuts the past few days, convinced I was no longer pg since I don't have any symptoms except: sore boobs (thanks to progesterone supps), bionic smell and ravenous hunger, from which I suspect I may always have suffered. This is, of course, the same dance that all long-time IFers will do in those early days before they've seen the bean on ultrasound and/or having gotten through the testings. For me, I'll maybe feel secure in this pregnancy in its 39th week. MAYBE.

Anyhoo, line item #2 has been checked off in my handy-dandy pending-cartwheel checklist!

1. Beta #1 (12/29): 242 - check!
2. Beta #2 (1/2): 1,206 - check!
3. Beta #3 (1/7)
4. Ultrasound #1 - 6 weeks (1/13)
5. Ultrasound #2 - 8 weeks (@ 1/27)
6. Released to OB (@ 1/27)
7. First appt with OBGYN (@ 2/8)
8. CVS test (@ 2/15)

Beta #2 rose to 1,206, for a doubling time of 41.4 hours. Yippee! Of course, Peanut had rock star betas (and 6 & 8 week ultrasounds), so still in cautious mode. But a good second step!

I also convinced the drunken weekend nurse to let me schedule a 3rd beta for Thursday, just to give me peace of mind in the 11 day wait until the first ultrasound. I have a feeling my usual nurse would have tried to talk me out of it, saying it wasn't needed, betas start rising more slowly as they get higher, so it may lead to needless worry, etc. But I know all this and I just need to break up the time knowing/hoping that the betas are still rising. So I got lucky that this 2nd beta happened to fall on a weekend, double yay!

Finally, as I was hopping into the shower this morning, I looked out our bathroom window, which overlooks the backyard. It's been snowing pretty much non-stop in New England for the past 24 hours and for several days over the past week. Our backyard is blanketed in white, but standing out, clear as day, this morning was a beautiful, bright orange bird. I don't think it was a cardinal, it was definitely more orange than red. But it was such a pretty picture than I ran nekkid to our office to grab the camera and snapped a shot of him. It's not the greatest picture since it's through the windowpane, but you can see him in the upper right quadrant of the photo. I felt like it was a lucky omen: not only is orange my favorite color, but it seemed like such a vibrant splash of life (this new bean(s)) in an otherwise quiet, blank canvas (my ovaries).

Happy New Year's, my friends!