4 weeks & Tales from Beta Day!

First, thank you all so much for your incredible words of support and congratulations! Sean & I were all teary eyed reading all the comments last night. You are the most amazing group of women I have ever had the pleasure to know. To hear that my story has given you hope is unbelievable to me! I know that feeling so well, I remember the stories that gave me hope and still give me hope each day.

Second, I can hardly even believe I am typing this, but I am 4 weeks pregnant and according to Babycenter, our little one is the size of a poppy seed. The baby (babies?) is also working on a primitive placenta & an amniotic sac. INCREDIBLE!!! My due date is Christmas Eve! Sean & I met at Christmas and were engaged at Christmas, so it is a very appropriate time for our miracle to arrive!

Third, I promised you all the beta day details, so here we go!

Sean & I woke up at 6:15 on Thursday, got ready and headed out for the clinic a little after 7am. I was still feeling calm and dare I say, perhaps even a little bit confident. My nurse was thrilled to hear that I had not tested and drew my blood a little after 8am. She instructed me to call between 1-2pm for results.

Sean & I made a plan: I was to drop him at the office, spend the morning with Amanda , pick up Sean up at the office around 12pm, grab lunch, drive home & call the clinic together after 1pm.

Great plan, right? Well, the universe had other plans...

I arrived at Amanda's after 9am and we had a yummy Pan.era breakfast and decided to head to Tar.get. We were chatting & getting ready to leave when my cell rang.

Me: (panicked) IT'S THE CLINIC!!!

Amanda: (excited) Are you going to answer it?

Me: (shrieking) NO!!!

Split second decision, answer the phone.

Me: (scared to death) Hello?

Nurse: Emily? You know how you said you weren't really feeling too much?

Me: (hesitantly) Yes...

Nurse: Well, you better get ready because you are going to be feeling a lot pretty soon. (long pause)

Me: (more shrieking, lots of disbelief) AM I PREGNANT?????

Nurse: YES!!! Congratulations.

Me & Amanda: Commence screaming and hysterics and of course, crying!

The nurse & I exchanged more details such as beta #, which I thought was 54, but learned today was 56, next beta which is Monday, lots more congratulations and disbelief.

Amanda was shooting photos the whole time and as soon as I hung up, we hugged and screamed and cried some more. I was stunned and completely caught off guard by the early phone call.

I decided to call my mom and more crying and hysterics ensued. She was OVER THE MOON to hear she was going to be a Grandmother.

I felt a little guilty that Sean hadn't been there for the big news, but immediately began formulating a new plan to surprise him.

I told Amanda I wanted to go to Tar.get for a bib or onesie and some balloons. She loved it! We rushed out the door and the plan was in action.

In the mean time, Sean calls my cell phone because he is trying to book a week at the beach for June and needs my input. I am dying inside, bursting to tell him, but I stay calm, cool and collected the whole time on the phone. The secret is safe!

Found this bib & onesie @ Tar.get, it says, "Daddy's Little Sunshine" and balloons at Par.ty City. I picked a congrats balloon and a Happy Bday balloon since transfer was on Sean's birthday and we had talked about how a BFP would be the greatest gift ever.

We arrived at the office pretty close to 12pm, so Sean wasn't entirely shocked to see me walk in the door. He was perplexed by Amanda and Nolan and of course, the gift bag and "Happy Birthday & Congratulations" balloons. He was like, "What's this?" I said, "Happy Birthday! Open it!"

He pulls out the onsie and bib and is extremely confused and asks, "What does this mean?"

I reply, "WE ARE PREGNANT!" He says with trepidation, "How do you know that?" I explain and he jumps up, hugs me so tight and gets very emotional. Much more excitement and congratulations ensued from all Sean's coworkers. It was an AMAZING moment. Amanda videotaped the entire thing and I am so thankful she was able to document it, especially since our families are long distance.

I thought that infertility and IVF had taken a lot of the surprise factor out of the BFP announcement, but was I ever wrong! Yesterday was one of the best and most emotional days of my life. It was very cool being surprised by the nurse and the icing on the cake to be able to surprise Sean like that. I have not stopped smiling.

We all left the office and began calling family as soon as we got into the car. Everyone was very excited and emotional. We felt like screaming it from the rooftops and between the phone, the blog and face.book, we pretty much have!

We had a celebratory lunch and then hit up Tar.get again for the all important DIGITAL!!! I promptly peed on it upon arriving home and "PREGNANT" popped up in less than 30 seconds. Another amazing moment!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in awe and total disbelief. I kept saying to Sean, "Can you even believe it???" and he would just shake his head. Every time I heard him tell someone he was going to be a Dad, I got teared up all over again.

Even though our families could not be there, I know they will love seeing Amanda's video. It was such a departure from the original plan, but it could not have worked out any better!

In retrospect, I think I knew I was pregnant. As beta got closer, I felt more calm and confident. I think I was just afraid to admit it to myself, although by that morning I told Sean I thought it was about an 80% chance of a BFP. Both my mom and Sean's mom said they had a good feeling and Christi said she knew when I started posting my symptom checker.

Speaking of, here is the latest installment!

Symptom checker: Getting very crampy! All day yesterday and today I am feeling cramps and pulling and activity. My boobs are HUGE and sore. They are also very, very veiny. Sean is in awe of the boobs and said that the boob fairy has paid me a visit :) I am also hungry every 2 hours or so. My sense of smell is heightened & am having very detailed, vivid dreams.

I am having my beta rechecked on Monday, u/s in aprox 2 weeks and I have my first ob appointment on May 15th , which continues the birthday theme - it's my stepdad's bday!

I can't tell you how excited we both are. I can't wait until Sean gets home so we can go to Barn.es & Nobl.e! I plan to enjoy every moment as it comes and not worry about all the things I cannot control. I hope and pray that our miracle is growing healthy, big & strong...

Thank you for reading, commenting and cheering me on! I cannot wait to share this phase of my journey!