"Greater than 20"

On any typical day, those words..."greater than 20"...could mean almost anything. Number of items on my grocery list, movies on my Blockbuster que, DIY projects around the house, ounces of icecreme I can eat in one sitting, number of pounds I probably need to lose due to my icecreme addiction. Almost anything. Today, however, what "greater than 20" means is my progeterone count! WOOHOO! Greater than 20 is a great result!

I went for my first post IUI blood draw yesturday morning. Yesturday was 5 days post IUI (and day 19 of my cycle). When the nurse called me with the results, i was antsy, fully prepared to hear her say that my progesterone is low again. But, fate played one on me this time. The nurse said that my level was "greater than 20, which is excellent". YES!! She said this meant that my corpus luteum is doing exactly what it's supposed to, and thickening my uterus lining in preparation to hold a fertilized egg. Now, this doesnt necessarily mean that all things are all right, yet. I go back next friday for my second blood draw, which is when they will give me the official pregnancy test to find out if I am, indeed, prego.

Patience might be a virtue, but for those of us who have little of it, it's torture!

Brian and I bought a pregnancy test a few days ago. And took it, knowing darn well it would register positive since the trigger shot that I gave myself before the IUI procedure would still be in my system. (It lasts in your system for 10 days) We just wanted to see it say positive. HA! We got all excited and then just looked at each other like, well, hopefully it will be the same result next week. It was worth the $10.99 we paid for the package of two digital tests. And we will probably take another one on monday, since that will be enough time for the trigger shot hormone to be out of my system. Hopefully my body will be producing the hcg hormone on it's own, due to being pregnant, and it will register another positive. It could be negative though, even it I am pregnant. If there is not enough time that passes between when the trigger shot hormone is gone and my body is producing high enough levels of natural hcg to register on an over-the-counter pg test, then we could get a false negative. That would kind of suck. I'd want to go buy more tests and pee on a stick every morning all week. Friday, the 7th, when I go back for the true test, my blood test, we'll know for sure!

Life is so funny! You just cant plan some of the ironic things that happen. This time last year we were getting ready to leave for a cruise with our good friends Jeremy and Amy. We left on August 8th, 2008. That very day, Amy found out she was pregnant. And here we sit, waiting for the pregnancy to take hold. And I will find out definitely if I'm preggo on my August 7th, 2009 doctors appointment. One day off of exactly one year following their news, we just may be blessed with the exact same news.

With 2 miscarriages this year, i'm SO hopeful that the 3rd time is a charm. I know I said it felt right last time. But can I say that it feels even more right this time? If I'm insanely positive, will it make a difference?