Baby measuring 1 week behind + no heartbeat!

smiles731 · August 2015

I went for my second transvaginal ultrasound yesterday...100% certain I'm 7 weeks based on conception... First day of my last period was June 8. I have a 33 day cycle approx. DH and I DTD June 24, 26, and 28. He was traveling after these dates. I went to the doctor on July 16 and nothing could be seen on the ultrasound but I did test positive via bloodwork and high progesterone levels. Dr told me to come back in 2 weeks so I went back yesterday - August 1...and determined I was 6 weeks - baby is only .33-.36 cm - I read at 6 weeks avg measurement is .4 cm. and there was no heartbeat. We could see a yolk and gestational Sac plus a little blur/blob baby...so disappointed. It was my birthday and I had a plan to tell family which went right out the window. It's also my first pregnancy and scary to not know what's going on inside my body. Can anybody offer words of advice? Doctor said to come back August. 10...is this too soon? I pay $105 every time I get an ultrasound as my insurance won't cover it until my deductible is met. Any help would be appreciated!!

smiles731 · August 2015

See below for ultrasound pic

alanna3622 · August 2015

August 10 is a good time to come back. Any sooner could be too soon and any later and you would be gnashing your teeth in impatience.

The thing about ultrasounds in the early weeks is that they involve such tiny measurements!

I would really recommend that you be careful about who you tell and why at this early stage. It may be helpful to ask yourself: Is it just that you are excited and want to share the happy news? Can you picture yourself explaining a loss to this person? If you went through a scare or a loss, would this person be a true support or would their knowledge add to the stress or be a burden in some way. Is this person knowledgeable about pregnancy?

I went through something similar myself - baby measured a week behind. With us, we actually measured 5.2mm Crown to Rump Length with no heartbeat - that is technically a miscarriage. I tried to go alone to the "confirming" ultrasound but husband insisted on attending. Thank goodness, because we ended up seeing a heartbeat together on that next ultrasound.

I won't tell you not to worry because that is obviously not going to happen

but i will have my fingers crossed for great results at the next visit.

smiles731 · August 2015

Thank you so much for your advice...it really helps to hear from someone whose been through this before. I wanted to tell immediate family and a couple close friends who would be there for me either way but don't want to get everyone excited for nothing. How many weeks pregnant were you went you went through this?

Hullabaloo2016 · August 2015

At 6w3d my LO measured at .33cm, everything I looked up showed this to be very small and I should have been closer to .6cm. I was worried. But, we did have a heartbeat of 120. I had my 2nd ultrasound at 8w3d and measured a nice healthy 2cm with a very strong heartbeat of 176.

It's amazing how much a few days can make, the heart starts beating right around 6w, for you it may have even just been 1 day too early to see a heartbeat.

alanna3622 · August 2015

Hullabaloo2016 said:
It's amazing how much a few days can make, the heart starts beating right around 6w, for you it may have even just been 1 day too early to see a heartbeat.

So very true.

@smiles731 I was "measuring" 6w3d at my first ultrasound. It was frustrating because AFTER the ultrasound and all of the dating questions they asked me, I (well, husband) remembered the exact date of my LMP - I don't track my periods because I am irregular and we were not TTC. We were also intimate only once during that cycle, so we knew conception date. By my next ultrasound 14 days later, I was measuring 4 days earlier -- which was in tune with our information about conception and LMP.

Early pregnancy is so stressful. Once you see that heartbeat though you will feel so much better. That's the wonderful thing about early scans. And then after 12 weeks you will feel even more relieved. Hang in there.

Edit: because words

medforthesoul · August 2015

Hi!

I had a similar situation with my 2nd.

I had no idea how far along I was because I was BFing my 9 month old and my period hadn't started back after having him. Bean was measuring about .3 cm as well and no HB. We went back 1 week later and saw the beautiful little flutter of a healthy heart beating.

I don't think 8/10 is too soon to go back.

Baby could've implanted a little later than usual after fertilization so don't stress too much about the measurement. Plus, like PP said, the parts that are measured are SO tiny.

Fingers crossed for you!

4N6s · August 2015

It could have been too early... Good luck!

smiles731 · August 2015

Thank you all for the positivity! I will try to stay as upbeat as possible during the next few days and promise to update after my visit!

cMichelle0423 · August 2015

Unless you were charting and temping, you can't use your LMP as an accurate guess for when you ovulated. You could be off a few days and that's why baby is measuring a week behind what you thought. Also, it can be normal to not see much at 6 weeks. I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks with my second and you couldn't see a Hb or anything. Just the sack and baby. If your doctor didn't seem concerned, I wouldn't be concerned either.