Ok, so I'm not pregnant again.  Not unless some heavenly miracle has occurred.  Which, being the good agnostic that I am, I strongly doubt.

I went in to the Acute Care Clinic last Friday night for what felt like a pretty brutal UTI (I try not to make a habit of going into the ACC for routine concerns, but there were no appts. to be had until several days later, thanks to the cosmic aligning of New Year's Day and the funeral of a President). 

I had been in pain all day, and had been filling myself with fluids, but had been unable to pee except for the tiniest trickle.  I warned the medic taking my vitals that I might not be able to perform as expected when he handed me the plastic cup.

Much to my surprise, I aced the "pee in a cup" portion of my exam.  And then some. 

After much waiting, the MD came into my room with an expression of subdued glee on his face.  He looked me in the eye and asked, "Did you know you have a positive pregnancy test?"

Immediately, I stammered, "I just had a baby."

I explained to him that there was no possible...I mean NO POSSIBLE...way that I was pregnant.  He asked me how long ago I had my baby (who just so happened to be in the waiting room with my mom and my boys).  When I told him a month ago, he left to go "check on things".

Several hours later...

(Ok, not really hours, but it felt like it...I had already read every poster on the wall at least three times and had considered playing with some of the equipment laying around)

Just as my mom was bringing Isabella in to me so I could nurse her, the doctor came back in and immediately began discussing the results of my pregnancy test.  Much to the shock of my mom, who backed out of the room quietly, thinking who knows what about what she'd just heard.

The MD informed me that it was not typical for a pregnancy test to still show positive this long after a pregnancy.  He told me that I would need to come back in 48 hours to compare the lab results and see if the hCG levels were falling and that I would need to follow up with my doctor.  He was vague but scary when he talked about what could cause a positive pregnancy test at this point.

I had my blood test today (48 plus holiday plus national day of mourning = Wednesday lab test).  The lab tech working the front desk is also a Cub Scout mom, so it was fun explaining to her why I was there for a pregnancy test. 

The whole compare levels thing is bull because the Friday night test was urine (qualitative), so there are no numbers to compare.  The urine test is yes or no.  The blood (quantitative) test will give me a number. 

My lab tech friend said their urine tests are sensitive to 20 mIU, so I figure that if the blood test numbers are below 20, there's probably no need to make a doctor's appointment.  I think under 5 is considered negative, but since I have my post partum check up in two weeks, I'll wait for that so long as it's under 20. 

I'm not even totally clear on what all can cause a positive pregnancy test, but seeing as how I just had a baby, it makes the most sense that the hormones just haven't cleared out of my system yet. 

What a weird thing to happen, though, huh?