You Down With hCG?

Yeah you know me!

I know I've started all my recent blogs with videos.  Today I will refrain, however, since my choice in video may be a bit offensive (you should probably get this if you get the title's reference).  Anyway, today I thought I'd talk a little bit about hCG.  I am currently in my two week wait for my first ultrasound which is scheduled for August 16th, so I need to do something to pass the time!

First to catch everyone up....

Last time I was on here I had just found out I was officially pregnant via blood test and I had an hCG level of 242.7 at 15dpo (days past ovulation).  I went back in for my second blood test on August 2nd (two days after the first test) and my new hCG levels were at 638.  At this point, some of you may be wondering what all this hCG stuff means.  Basically, hCG is human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that is produced by the developing placenta once conception is achieved.  Once conception has occurred, the woman's body begins producing hCG and the amount of the hormone increases rapidly...usually doubling every 30-72 hours (this rate is for levels below 1200mIU...the doubling rate slows as levels increase).  

                              NORMAL HCG DOUBLING TIMES

hCG Level	DOUBLING TIME EXPECTED
Under 1,200 mIU/ml	Between 30 and 72 Hours
1200-6000 mIU/ml	Between 72 and 96 Hours
Over 6,000 mIU/ml	Over 96 Hours

Early home pregnancy tests (HPTs) measure hCG in a woman's urine and vary in sensitivity.  I used the First Response 6 Days Sooner test, and it is supposed to measure hCG levels as low as 12.5mIU (which is pretty low since most HPTs measure between 20-100mIU).  Since I got a positive five days before my missed period, that 12.5 seems about correct.  

At 15dpo, when I had my first blood test measuring hCG levels, my levels were at 242.7 and two days later they had jumped to 638!  By this time I had already done a pile of research and reading up on hCG levels and knew these were excellent numbers even without my doctor telling me.  Here is a chart showing average hCG levels that seems to be pretty standard across multiple websites.  It shows the normal ranges of hCG at various weeks the past last menstrual period (LMP).  As you can see by looking at week 4, my hCG levels should have been between 5-426mIU.  Mine were at 242.7 and 638 that week.  

weeks since LMP	mIU/mL
3	5 – 50
4	5 – 426
5	18 – 7,340
6	1,080 – 56,500
7 – 8	7,650 – 229,000
9 – 12	25,700 – 288,000
13 – 16	13,300 – 254,000
17 – 24	4,060 – 165,400
25 – 40	3,640 – 117,000
Non-pregnant females	<5.0
Postmenopausal females	<9.5

As you can see from my numbers, I began within the normal range for the week but then my levels jumped and were then higher than the expected range.  When this occurs, the question of multiples always comes into play.  Of course, my numbers weren't hugely off the charts, so it does not mean I'm having more than one baby.  As per the experts, hCG is a very poor predictor of multiples since the levels have such a vast range.  A woman with low hCG numbers can have multiples just as easily as a woman with extremely high levels can have just a singleton birth.  The only real way to know is through an ultrasound.

Besides knowing if your hCG levels are within expected range for where you are in your pregnancy, the doubling rate is equally important.  One way doctors can tell if a woman's pregnancy has a chance of miscarrying is when her levels do not increase like they should.  If a woman's levels do not show signs of doubling properly, then this may be a sign that the pregnancy will not continue.  

Remember from earlier that the typical doubling rate is every 30-72 hours with levels below 1200mIU.  I went in for two blood tests...the first to get the base or beta hCG level and the second to measure the rate of increase.  I found this great little hCG calculator tool on BabyMed.  http://www.babymed.com/tools/hcg-calculator.  Basically you enter in your levels, how many days past ovulation each test was done, and BAM!  It calculates your doubling rate.  My doubling rate was every 34.42 hours, so I was definitely happy about that!  Also, as per the chart below, I am above the maximum hCG level range for where I am in my pregnancy.  Once again let me remind you that this does not necessarily mean I have more than one baby!  There are forums all over the internet where women are agonizing over these numbers and questioning the possibility of twins or more.  I will know next Thursday (August 16th) how many little beans I'm toting around and no sooner!

My numbers look great!!!

So there you have it, a bit of exciting information about hCG!!!  Are you thrilled?  Wait, there's more!  While I'm on the topic, there is another really cool website I enjoyed fooling around with...The BetaBase http://www.betabase.info/index.php.  This site allows you to add your hCG levels into the database and become a statistic!  In better terms, it uses the information input by thousands of women and then charts  hCG level averages of singleton, twin, and triplet births.  Here are the current charts:

Beta Scores for Successful Single Pregnancies (heartbeat detected)

I'm well above average here...then again, I always have been! ;-)

Beta Scores for Successful Twin Pregnancies (heartbeat detected)

As you can see from these numbers, my levels fall more within the averages for twin pregnancies.  

   

Beta Scores for Successful Triplet Pregnancies (heartbeat detected)

I'm not too far off triplet levels, ahhhhh!!!!

Once again, these charts can be found at the The BetaBase website.  When examining these charts, you get a really good idea of how vastly expansive hCG levels can be and see why it could be astoundingly difficult to actually predict how many buns you have in the oven.  But it is still fun to check out and pass some time pondering what it all means!!! The site also charts average hCG doubling times for singleton through triplet pregnancies.  It's just a very cool site, I highly recommend it! 

On that note, I think I'll wrap things up for this time around as I think I've officially slacked off enough at work today.  What can I say?  Slow day at the office!  And although there is a ton of information out there about hCG and pregnancy, I hope some of what I provided helped entertain and enlighten at least one person!  Once again, thanks for reading.

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Mother Nature FAIL

Now while the title of this post may sound negative, it's not quite all that bad.  I'll explain...

Cat pictures always make bad news good!

I have been keeping quiet over the past week or so while anxiously awaiting the results of my first IUI.  Something in my head went the route of "don't tell anyone cause it could jinx the results!"  Well that is just idiotic!  Nothing of the sort will jinx the outcome of an IUI.  There is only about a 10% chance that a natural IUI (one without meds) will be successful in the first place.  That's 10% less chance than doing it the old-fashioned way, if you know what I mean.  Both those percentages are based on success rates when no fertility issues are involved...having those can drastically change that number (and of course age is a mass factor, too). Needless to say, my first IUI was not a success story.  Here is how it all went down...

On May 28th I got my LH surge.  For those unfamiliar with the acronym, LH stands for Luteinizing hormone.  Basically it is a hormone release by the anterior pituitary gland.  In females, the release of this hormone triggers ovulation.  Usually ovulation will occur within 24-48 hours of the LH surge.  The LH surge is detected through ovulation predictor kits (OPKs).  They are sort of like a pregnancy test...you pee on a stick and it tells you whether you are surging or not; pretty simple and straightforward.  Once the LH surge is detected, you call the doctor and then go in the following day for the IUI.  The IUI is a very simple procedure that takes less than a couple of minutes.  Basically the doc takes the thawed, washed sperm and uses a catheter to directly inject it into the uterus.

See, very simple!

After the procedure you have to lay down for 15 minutes, and then you're off to live life as you normally would...with the exception of cavorting around bars and living it up like you were in Vegas!!

How NOT to handle the wait!

Remember, at this point you should already be thinking like a pregnant woman!  Once you're done at the doc's, the only thing to do is wait the 2 weeks it takes for fertilization, implantation, and a hopefully a positive pregnancy test.

Well, that's not exactly how it went for me.  My LH surge occurred on the 28th.  On the morning of the 29th I had my IUI.  I took the rest of the day off just for good measure.  I ate healthy, relaxed, didn't drink booze...I was a model patient!  But that doesn't always guarantee a successful outcome.  Unfortunately my hormones and Mother Nature decided to do their own thing.  Six days after the IUI on the 3rd, bam, my cycle went nuts!  To make TMI less TMI, I started my period 10 days premature.  Now this never happens so I was highly disappointed in my hormones for acting like uncontrollable morons!  But what can you do?  Mother Nature will do as she pleases and usually at completely inappropriate times!  And this was obviously the time she had chosen.  Oh well, now what?

I called my doc first thing Monday morning (June 4th) and let him know that Mother Nature failed me (please review title of post now).  Today (June 5th) he had me come in for another vaginal ultrasound to check out the goods and make sure there was nothing to be overly concerned with...basically making sure it was just a wonky month and all systems were still go.  Lucky for me, all systems are still go!  But the doc did decide to go ahead and put me on 50mg of Clomid for this next cycle.  Clomid is used to treat ovulation issues in some women, but for me it's basically being used to increase my progesterone and lengthen my cycle.  I have no issues with ovulation, so once again we're going to wait on the LH surge and proceed as normal.  With Clomid my chances for conceiving with IUI jump from 10% to 20%, so that is a bonus!

So on to more good news!!!  Since I was 10 days early this month, now I get to go back in for my next IUI within the next 11 days or so.  This is good news because I don't have to wait all those additional days this month.  When you're trying to conceive, any extra waiting is just torment (especially at my age)!  The only concern I really have right now is the increased chance for multiple births that comes along with Clomid.  There is a 5-12% chance of twins (depending on your source, with 8-10% being the norm), a 1% chance of triplets (highly unlikely for women over 35), and .1% for quads (yeah, that's not happening!).   Since I ovulate like a champ, I am concerned that any drug which excites my ovaries to produce more than one viable follicle at a time may be risky. But I'd rather have twins than no children at all, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Aren't they just so damn cute!

Be careful what you wish for!

I think that about catches everything up to date.  This evening I start my Clomid, take it for the next five days, wait until day 12 of my cycle to start testing with the OPKs, and hopefully by day 14 or 15 will get my surge and be in for the next IUI by day 15 or 16 (June 17 or 18).  This time I will not keep it a secret that I've gone in.  No more of the paranoia regarding jinxing the whole thing.  If it's meant to be it will happen when the time is right...everything is about timing!  Hopefully this time around I will come back with a positive result and a successful procedure story.  If not, well then it's off for one more round before other methods are discussed with my doc.  So here's to the rest of this month!

Want to learn more about IUI and Clomid?  Try this link: http://www.raising-twins.com/clomid.html

Please drop me a vote at Top Baby Blogs by clicking the button below. Also, feel free to join me on my other Social Media sites by clicking on the additional buttons below that!

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