More on today's great beta and my scratching

I am still so happy about that call from the nurse earlier today...ahh...1126, music to my ears. Doubling time of 46.6 hours...beautiful! And I'm so happy I get to have another beta drawn on Thursday.

Now, last Thursday when the nurse called with my beta, she excitedly told me my number, told me to come in for my 2nd draw on Monday, and said my ultrasound would be around November 18th. So from that conversation I was thinking they would only do two beta draws.

Today a different nurse excitedly told me my number and asked if I could come back in on Thursday for a third draw. Is that what they always do? Is it because my numbers are somewhat high so maybe my ultrasound will be moved up? Is it because I've had those previous ectopics? I'm not sure what the reason is. All I know is that I'm happy that I'll have a third beta. One reason I'm happy about getting stuck again is that I'll be able to see if my numbers are continuing to rise appropriately. A secondary reason is that if my ultrasound really is the 18th, it will be nice to only have one more week to wait between the third beta and the ultrasound. (I know that sounds ridiculously stupid, but mentally these little countdowns are easier if they're shorter.)

So I mentioned a rash in my previous post and yeah, this thing is hella annoying!! I must backtrack for you a bit. So a few weeks ago I started having itchy skin, like REALLY itchy skin. It was primarily on my torso - the front part between boobs and navel. But there was nothing there...no rash, no bumps, nothing...just super itchy skin. My first thought was that maybe Tide added an ingredient that my skin didn't like, so I promptly bought dye-free, perfume-free Tide and washed all my clothes, sheets, and towels. Didn't help, damn it! I bought Aveeno soap so that I wasn't using any products with scents. No help. Previously being on the medicinal cocktail of stims, triggers, antibiotics, etc made me think maybe I'd had a little reaction. I tried a number of home remedies for itching including lemon (SHIT that hurts when you've scratched open the skin), baking soda & water, paper towels soaked in oatmealy water - NADA!! I wanted to take an Aveeno bath, but baths really aren't allowed in the 2ww so that wasn't an option (and many people still don't recommend them even though I'm out of the 2ww.)

Well maybe a week or so ago, I noticed my itchy area now had a very faint rash. It almost feels sandpapery in nature and it's not widespread, but I have a small patch on that original itchy area on my torso, and then little patches scattered around - one on my lower back, one on the back of my neck, 1 on a shoulder, etc. It's the weirdest thing! No pain with any of these areas, but all of a sudden they will get soooo itchy that I swear I would rip my skin off if I could. Of course when this all started, knowing I MAY be pregnant, I worried about what was safe to take. But I've tried Aveeno anti-itch cream, Desitin, Gold Bond powder, hydro-cortisone cream, Claritin, Benadryl spray - all pretty benign things, especially in small doses. Nothing works well, though I'd have to say the top contender is just the Gold Bond powder. But after using that I look like I just finished fighting a 5 lb bag of flour and lost.

So I continue to itch. I showed the nurse my rash this morning when I went in and said I was going to call my dermatologist about it but I wanted to see if they thought it might be medication related. She looked, confirmed with me that I had had chicken pox before (yep) and asked if it hurt (nope, ruled out her thought on shingles) and said it didn't look like a reaction to the meds I'm on now. They decided to send me back to the phlebotomist's room to have her take a couple more vials of blood to check for a couple of viruses that could cause rashes, like parvovirus (fifths disease). After googling it, I was relieved to read that it's generally pretty benign in adults and doesn't usually cause issues in pregnancy (phew) but really my rash does not really look like the pictures I saw online at all. Anyways, the doc & nurse recommended that I see my primary care doctor (which I don't have) or my dermatologist. So, I have an appointment with the dermatologist Friday...wow, don't do me any favors by getting me in before I scratch myself to death. Okay, I'm really just kidding but I'm not sure that I'll have skin left by Friday. And in the meantime, my results from the bloodwork the RE ordered to check for a couple viruses should be back by the end of the week.

Now that I've bored you all to tears with my saga of itching & scratching I will sign off for now. If you know of any good home remedies for itchy skin or rashes, please feel free to comment below this post. I'll try any suggestions I can get (as long as they're safe.)

This section was edited on 11/9 because of my terrible math and my realization that it will be 3 days between these 2 betas, not 2 days (I'm a math dummy): Thursday will be my next update with beta results. Ideally we want to see that beta at 3185 or higher (that would be doubling within 48 hours.) We could even see it at 2252 or higher and still be ok (that would mean it's doubling within 72 hours.) But I'll breathe easier if it doubles within 48 hours. So come on 3185!!!