4 weeks, 5 days

Thank you to everyone that keeps praying for us. We've made it through two more rounds of beta. I'm realizing that most people have no idea what this means. Beta testing is a blood test done to determine the amount of hCG or "pregnancy hormone" in your body. hCG is made by cells that form the placenta, which nourishes the egg after it has been fertilized and becomes attached to the uterine wall.

At 4 weeks in gestational age, the range of beta levels is 5 - 426. In a normal pregnancy, the level of hCG will double every 48-72 hours.

My initial beta came in at 16 which, while a positive pregnancy, was considered in the extremely low range. We were basically told that we should prepare to lose the baby. On Thursday (48 hours after the initial beta test) we went in again for beta #2 and our number increased to 43, more than doubling! We surprised the nursing staff and, in all honesty, even ourselves. We opted to be tested for beta #3 on Saturday, another 48 hours later. This time our beta rose again to 84. Another slow, but low, appropriate rise.

Our nurses are concerned because my beta seems to be rising very slowly, although it is still in a "normal range". They have asked us to wait 5 days before coming back again to give my body and the baby some time to play catch up. Our next beta (#4) is this Thursday. We are shooting for a level of at least 420.

Once we hit a beta of 1000 they will be able to see the baby (or babies) on ultrasound and give us a better idea of what's going on and if they baby is healthy and measuring appropriately. We are praying and hoping. After several long walks and longer talks, we realize this is completely out of our hands. So for now we're holding out hope that this really is our sticky baby. One thing I know for sure is we have a little fighter in there.