Beta Doubling

Many of the OB practices I've been to before have you pee in a cup and they use one of those cheapie pregnancy test strips like I use to verify pregnancy.  More often, I'm seeing doctors that do a pregnancy test via blood work, which is far more accurate.   The quantitative hCG is taken two days apart to verify that the value is doubling.  In a healthy pregnancy, the beta value should double at a consistent rate.

The best chart I've seen is this one, although the standard saying is 48 hours:

hCG Information

In many early pregnancies, the hCG level will double every 31 to 72 hours. As the pregnancy progresses, hCG levels rise and the doubling time increases. "Normal" Doubling Time hCG levels Doubling Time Under 1200 mIU/ml 31-72 hours Between 1200 to 6000 mIU/ml 72-96 hours Over 6000 mIU/ml more than 96 hours hCG levels rise during the first 6 to 10 weeks of pregnancy then decline slowly during the second and third trimesters.

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) Levels From Conception hCG Level 0-1 Weeks 0 - 50 mIU/ml 1-2 Weeks 40 - 300 mIU/ml 3-4 Weeks 500 - 6,000 mIU/ml 1-2 Months 5,000 - 200,000 mIU/ml 2-3 Months 10,000 - 100,000 mIU/ml 2nd Trimester 3,000 - 50,000 mIU/ml 3rd Trimester 1,000 - 50,000 mIU/ml

In theory, this means that with a beta of 16 on Monday, it needed to be 32 or higher for the pregnancy to be off to a good start.  

My value?  54

YAHOO!!!!!  This means that my doubling time was actually 27 hours, significantly faster than the 48 hours that one would expect.

I'm super excited.  Getting pregnant was hurdle #1.  A doubling beta was hurdle #2. My next hurdle is an ultrasound, where I need to see a normal, round yolk sac and a healthy heartbeat.  But that won't be for about 3 weeks so I have a bit of a wait ahead of me.