A Great Day at the Lab

Today dh had a little peak into my world, and it was actually a very good day in IF world!  I asked him to come with me for my blood draw.  I go every two weeks, and usually try to go before he gets home from work, but we were having a home phone installed this afternoon and there wasn't time.  I didn't want to leave as soon as he got home and miss out on Charlie's awake time, and I really didn't want to do it when Charlie went to bed.  Dh agreed.

We drove 15 min to the hospital and I ran in while dh and Charlie waited in the car (hospital germs!).  No one was waiting, and I was greated by a very friendly face.  I have seen this receptionist several times since my pregnancy and last time we talked about my son, who was with me.  She asked about him and I was open.  She immediately shared her faith with me and told me what a blessing he was.  Today when I walked in, I was greated with "how is Charlie?" and a smile.  Isn't that the nicest thing?  I am so bad with names and two weeks later she recalled his.  Wow.  And it got better.

Unfortunately the lab seems to have quick turnover.  I have yet to see anyone since I had Charlie that was there when I was pregnant with him.  But today that changed.  She called my name before she even turned the corner, said she saw my name in her system and couldn't believe it was me.  She had drawn my blood a ton during my pregnancy (and no, I didn't recall her name because I am so awful!) and she had shared with me back then her own IF (she went into menopause way early like her mom).  The best part was when she turned to the receptionist and said, I had a part in that little guy!  I could see her heart swelling with pride, and I agreed.  It took a village to get Charlie here, and she was one of those people that makes life (and the lab) so much nicer.  She was eager to look at pics of Charlie and couldn't believe how fast the time had gone.  I guess she is manager there now.  I can't believe I hadn't seen her before.  I brought Charlie and Craig in with me after we had eaten dinner (the blood takes 45 min to process and I take the serum with me to mail it). 

I was glad dh got to see how much love we are surrounded by that he doesn't even know about.  It made me think about how I really need to bake these people some cookies and send them a nice card.  Maybe I will even stop in on the way out with my newborn this fall (God willing!)-last time I didn't deliver at this hospital, but this time I will.  The lab was so much better to do this as a family.  It was even fun to show dh how I have systematized everything and had the package in the mail before we even left the hospital.  My dh appreciates efficiancy!  lol

Please say a prayer for the lab manager, Kristin.  I asked how she was doing and just got a shoulder shrug for her.  And I will be praying that all of you have a Kristin in your life, at the lab or somewhere close, that makes the IF journey that much easier.  (also, search "lab" for more lab tricks to make life easier-I have a whole post about it!

P.S. My ultrasound/appt was supposed to be today, but got moved to Thursday.  Also, the draw was for progesterone again, so hopefully it will keep climbing so I can stay on the smaller shot dose.

All Lab Results Are Not Alike

I have removed my recent post due to its "inflammatory" nature (not your comments, basically my title which was not correct in hindsight).  That wasn't my intent and I assure you, I am working on it.  I seem to be having a lot of "foot in mouth moments."  Sigh.  I hope you all know that I really do mean well.

However, the information I gained from it was very useful and new to me, so I am including it here.  In the words of the lovely Mrs. Blondies, "Dr. Hilgers uses a different scale (ng/dL) than what you often see in other labs (pg/mL) so the number from Dr. Hilgers are going to look like 1/10 of the numbers of what other labs will say. So estrogen that is 259 pg/mL from another lab is actually 25.9 ng/dL on the scale used by Dr. Hilgers.  The progesterone scales seems to be the same across labs (ng/mL)"