1st Dr. Appt- Early Due To Cramping

My stomach has been killing me for the last few days, not in the standard pregnancy "I'm gonna throw up" sort of way...but hurting. Honestly, I can't tell what the problem is. Maybe it's gas pain, maybe it's cramping, or maybe it's something else. I'm leaning towards gas pains, but they have been pretty severe and constant enough that I began to think that it might be something more. I called my new OB office to get in a few days earlier than my first scheduled prenatal appt (which was Friday). Since my stomach pain was low enough to be where cramps would be and more severe than menstrual cramps, they did an internal exam and ran some bloodwork.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with what hormones a woman's body produces during pregnancy, this next part is not going to make a lot of  sense. I'll try to explain as I go, but I make no promises about the clarity (or accuracy!) of my explanation. After a woman ovulates and the egg is fertilized the ovary from which she ovulates produces progesterone. My doctor said that this hormone  relaxes the uterus so that when the egg implants it doesn't cramp out to get rid of the foreign body (aka, the baby). If your ovary doesn't produce enough progesterone, your uterus can cramp causing pain and potentially a miscarriage. So they are checking my progesterone levels. If they are low (should find out tomorrow) I will be put on progesterone suppositories to increase levels and, hopefully, keep my body from rejecting the little bean. They are also testing for HCG, which is the human pregnancy hormone. The amount of HCG in your blood increases as your pregnancy progresses at a predictable rate (it normally doubles in about 48 hours). They tested my HCG levels today (which I'll find out tomorrow) and they will test them again on Thursday to see if the HCG in  my blood is doubling the way it is supposed to. Last time, I found out that I was probably miscarrying when I had really low HCG levels and then that I was for sure miscarrying when they started decreasing.

Assuming that my levels are rising, once they reach between 1500-2000 a pregnancy should be visible on an ultrasound. So, as soon as my levels hit that magic range, I will have an ultrasound to make sure that the egg implanted in my uterus and not somewhere else (which would be an ectopic pregnancy, which is very dangerous for the woman and always fatal for the fetus).

So, that's where things stand right now. I am waiting to find out if my hormone levels are alright and hopefully make sure that this baby is growing. They also prescribed me some pain medication if I needed to take it, but I'm hoping to hold off on that. If you guys could keep me in your thoughts while I wait to find out how my little rainbow is doing I would really appreciate it!