At the close of the two week wait comes the day that your months of preparation have all led towards. The big blood draw that will conclude if the transfer worked, if your surrogate is pregnant, and if your road to parenthood is well underway!
On Beta Day, your surrogate will report to her monitoring clinic for a blood draw. The entire process is over in about 5 minutes. The blood results are then tested to check a number of hormone levels for results that highlight a positive pregnancy result. These hormones include
Estrogen LevelsEstrogen performs a variety of functions in pregnancy. Most importantly, Estrogen will keep the uterine lining ideal for the development and growth needed in early pregnancy. Estrogen will encourage placenta growth and encourage blood circulation as well.
Progesterone LevelsProgesterone is a vital part of achieving and maintaining pregnancy. In many cases the medicines used in the first stage of IVF can cause the body to produce very low, if any, progesterone on its own. As the progesterone will help the placenta grow and nourish the fetus, it is important for your doctor to keep a close eye on this hormone in the early weeks of pregnancy.
hCG LevelsHuman Chorionic Gonadotropin is a hormone the body begins producing nearly from the moment of conception. The hormone levels generally continue to double every 48 hours during the first few weeks of the pregnancy. This is the hormone that turns a home test positive or negative, and can range greatly woman by woman.
There is no standard number that indicates a normal, weak, or strong pregnancy. Different women produce different levels of these hormones and not all blood pregnancy tests are taken at the same time on the same day. More important than the size of the number is the rate at which it doubles over the next few weeks.
Once the tests have been completed the clinic will send the results to your doctor for review. From there, your nurse will call you as well as your surrogate to discuss the results. This is a time to ask your nurse any questions you may have about what comes next or any other questions you have about the medical protocol. In many instances the surrogate’s medications may be modified in order to raise borderline or low hormone levels to a more comfortable range.
In the event of a negative beta the surrogate is generally directed to stop all medications immediately.
Shared Conception is an expert in surrogacy. Give us a call today and let’s get started on building your family.
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