Not so good news... **UPDATED**

LinziLoo09

So I woke up this morning to bright red blood. Not a ton of it. No clots. And no cramping. But period-looking blood. We're on vacation in Maine right now, so we called our OB's emergency line for advice. They said it could be any number of things but that if we wanted more of a definitive answer as to what is going on, we should go to the ER for an ultrasound.

We went to the ER, and they took urine and blood samples. In the ultrasound they found a heartbeat of about 120 bpm, which is low but reasonable for this early in the game, as it's supposed to speed up from this point forward. The tech had a lot of trouble measuring the baby though. She said it was in a weird position (my uterus is also tipped, so who knows if that makes it harder), and she wasn't totally sure how to get an accurate measurement. We did belly and transvaginal ultrasounds. She had to send the photos to a radiologist physician offsite, and he would call the ER doctor.

When the doctor came back in, she said that my cervix was closed and my HCG was at the right level. However, the baby "does not look like it should at this point." She said they think it's an early miscarriage. They can't find any other causes of bleeding - no SH, no infections, etc. She continued to emphasize that the cervix is closed, so they can't be sure. But then she would re-emphasize that the baby probably isn't developing appropriately. 

So now I'm just more secured in my limbo status, though I'm probably on the negative side of the limbo. And I'm finding myself wavering emotionally between 1) well if it's a chromosomal abnormality, there's nothing I could have done to prevent it...this is just what is meant to be, 2) those ER people don't specialize in ultrasounds, maybe the kid was just scrunched up and everything is fine, 3) seeing the heartbeat makes it so much sadder for me. To add insult onto injury, my symptoms are as bad as they've ever been. I'm so nauseous; acne sucks; and the fatigue. It's just like...if I'm going to have to go through this loss, why can't I do it without other pregnancy symptoms? And I wish I wasn't on vacation while going through this. We're staying with friends, who have been great about it, but I really just want to be at home alone where I can cry in peace.  
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UPDATE!!! The ER doctors in Maine are complete morons. So our OB was amazing - they worked us in first thing this morning. We saw little baby blob again, and it has a heartbeat of 123. Measuring just three days short of my estimate based on ovulation, which is perfectly normal. They did find a subchorionic hemorrhage, which has been causing the bleeding. They're doing lab work to test my progesterone to see if I need supplements, but he said that most of these will resolve their own. We have another ultrasound in two weeks to check on the progress.

So let's talk about the complete idiocy of the ER doctors. They told me the baby "wasn't where it needs to be developmentally". The OB said that all you can check for at this point is cardiac function - which is what I had thought - that we can't really see any anatomy yet. He said, "I won't even tell you all of the crazy things they said in their message to me, but they claimed that the baby's heart was on the outside of its body." This would be a one in a million odds unicorn of a pregnancy, and he said you CAN'T SEE THAT if it were the case until around 12 weeks. He was baffled that they seemed to so confident in their analysis of the situation. They also DIDN'T SEE the subchorionic hemorrhage, which was so evident on the screen that I thought it was the baby at first.

I have never been so relieved at medical error in my life, and I am furious at the ER clinicians, particularly since we have a boatload of bills for completely unhelpful service coming our way. It baffles me that they would confidently tell me I'm having a probable miscarriage based on a super rare diagnosis that can't be made at 7 weeks made by a radiologist who wasn't even onsite for the ultrasound - he reviewed pictures via email. If this baby makes it to term, I plan on sending them a picture of my "probable early miscarriage" with a note that says FUCK YOU <please excuse my hormones...my baby has a temper>. In the meantime, I'm going to have our OB draft a letter on their misdiagnosis and the unnecessary stress it caused, and I will be angrily contesting any charges we may have based on their medical incompetency. But however that turns out, I'm just SO relieved to have a happy ending and a healthy baby! 

beff12

I'm so sorry to hear all of that, @LinziLoo09. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you can get some answers soon.

dmontgo

@LinziLoo09 I am so sorry you are going through this. I have no words. I can't imagine the emotions--there is no one right way to feel. I am sending good vibes and thoughts your way. I am sorry I am absolutely no help, but please know I am thinking about you!

Christinaruth74

Omigosh. I am so sorry that you are stuck in this awful limbo right now. 
Sending so many positive T&Ps and sticky vibes your way. 
When do you head back home? 

LinziLoo09

@Christinaruth74 - We're heading home tomorrow and have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday. We'll call first thing Monday to try to get slipped in then for an ultrasound, if nothing definitive has happened at that point of course.

Christinaruth74

@LinziLoo09 I'm so glad you'll at least be home soon... Regardless of which way this pendulum ultimately swings, it's always better to be home. Hugs, momma. 

unicornsthecat

@LinziLoo09 I am so sorry to hear about this. You are in my thoughts. I hope you get some answers very soon!

cayaylonglegs

@LinziLoo09 oh Linz I am sorry to hear you are going through this. You are in my thoughts and I sincerely hope everything goes well.

RatsPJ

@LinziLoo09 FX you get in to the doc ASAP and that she has good news. 

penelope4612

I'm so sorry that you're going through this.  My fingers are crossed for good news on Monday/Tuesday.

PensiveCrayon

@LinziLoo09 I'm so sorry to hear the news. Here's hoping for a good update soon. ❤️

LinziLoo09

No bleeding since this morning, just a couple of light brown spots. So I'm playing the waiting game  

dmontgo

@LinziLoo09 FX this is a good omen! Still creepily thinking about you.

slartybartfast

Oh man what a terrible time. I hope you get some real answers soon. I'm so sorry . Keep us updated 

zubenescamali

oh I hope everything turns out okay and that those ER docs are just ignorant and trying to give you worst case scenario.  i'm so sorry you are going through this.

LinziLoo09

DH and I were just talking about how annoyed we were with the visit. The tech said that the baby was "difficult to measure" and that it looked 7w5d, which would actually be a week ahead. From what I saw, It kind of just looked flush up against the side of the sac, but you could see the heartbeat. And the doctor wouldn't say what looked 'off' about the ultrasound at all. Just that it didn't look how it should developmentally at this stage, I asked her what that meant, and she couldn't give more detail. Seems like they're just kind of little blobs at 6 weeks, so outside of a heartbeat, how does it not look how it's supposed to?! It's just incredibly annoying for them to not explain what that means when nearly all other signs point to normal - hcg, sac size, heartbeat, no infections, symptoms. My only other symptom is the bleeding, which had even stopped by the time we got to the ER. I really want to know what in how the ultrasound looked made them confident enough to say it looked like an early miscarriage.

Sorry for my venting. This also really annoys me because this kind of thinking makes me feel like maybe there's hope when honestly it doesn't look very good. I hate wavering between grief and hope.

doodleoodle

I'm praying for you! 

LCartee2016

@LinziLoo09 I'm so sorry you're stuck in this awful limbo right now. My prayers are with you. 

dmontgo

I would be so annoyed, scared, and uncomfortable as well. I honestly am skeptical about a lot of doctors. I know not all are bad, but in my experience they love to give the worst-case scenario and hope for the best even if the facts don't fit.

I'm sorry you were treated I'm such a callous and worrying way. I hope your regular doctor will give you peace of mind and give you good news. I would be hopeful too, but I can understand how traumatic being treated that way would be extremely distressing. 

More and more good vibes being sent your way. Again, I'm sorry.

penelope4612

At 6w 4d my ultrasound showed a blob with a HB of 120.  So I agree, I'm not really sure how specific you can be about whether or not the pregnancy looks normal.  But I'm not an ultrasound tech or an OB.

jenlynne0624

My us was around six weeks or so too and blob like. Heart beat was about the same too higs and prayers, mama. 

ashleaf2018

Agree that it kind of sounds suspect. They may not have enough experience to have seen a baby scrunched up like that. FX that there is nothing but good news here on out. With my loss I had the bright red blood and huge clots but no cramping. No clots and a closed cervix is a very good sign! Not sure what your routine or vacation are like but any kind of super strenuous activity can cause some blood. Sometimes it's a way for your body to tell you to slow it down. Definitely hoping that's all it was for you!

whitneyp26

I'm really sorry but don't freak out yet! My last pregnancy started with the ER and the stupid desk people at my Drs office wouldn't even have me in! They told me it looked like I was having twins and to be on bed rest. When I got to my doc she told me they don't know anything about prenatal stuff at the ER and I was CLEARLY not having twins and had a small Subchorionic. I am hoping that's what it is for you! Stay positive if you can and you're in my thoughts!

bakerstreetboys

I'm so sorry that you're going through this right now.  Fingers crossed super hard for you and hoping that you get answers soon.  Our u/s at 7w2d was just a little blob with a heartbeat, so like you said, I can't imagine what else they'd expect to see.

slartybartfast

I'd stick with hope for now - it seems entirely logical that the ER doc was out of her element. It just is horrible not having a clear picture of what's going on

beff12

That's really frustrating - I am hoping that the ER doc wasn't well trained in matters of OBGYN. I'm glad you'll be home soon and will be back with your own doctor. I'm glad that the bleeding has stopped. I hope you can take it easy until then. 

Mamax2

@LinziLoo09 I'm sorry you're in such limbo right now. I posted a few weeks ago that I went to the ER for the same reason. Bright red period looking blood, no clots, but there was a lot of it. By the time I had the ultrasound, my bleeding had stopped, so they never found a cause of it. Baby was measuring at 6w6d (which looked blob like squished against the sac), and there was a heartbeat. My ER doc told me that since they had to officially diagnose me with something, they were diagnosing me as "threatened miscarriage or early miscarriage" as they mean the same thing. I don't know what made your er doc say the baby didn't look like it should, and I'm sorry he said that. I'm hoping that they told you early miscarriage because they had to give you an official diagnosis, and that's what the symptoms pointed to. I called my OB the next day, and the doc told me that my hcg was where it should be, for that time in my pregnancy, and once they hear a heartbeat, you're chance of miscarriage drops some. My doc also told me that brown spotting after my incident of red blood was normal. All of that to say, I've been through the same thing somewhat, so I understand how you're feeling. I'm hoping that you have a good outcome, and maybe those ER docs were just not fully understanding how to deal with a tilted uterus, since OB isn't their specialty. 

DiFazette

I'm sorry you're dealing with this.  I'm crossing my fingers for you that when you get back and can go to your OB they'll do an U/S that will look perfect.  Hugs.  

LinziLoo09

Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate the reassurance. It's all light brown spotting and no clots now. And morning sickness is as strong as ever. So we'll see how things turn out in a few days. At least with early miscarriage there is a reassurance that there is nothing I can do either way, but something about that heartbeat makes it so much more difficult. Thank you all. 

aevan011

So sorry you're having to go through this. I hope that this week brings you good news. Will be thinking about you. 

sammyl1221

@LinziLoo09 Sorry to hear you're going through this hun.  I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Please try to stay optimistic. I don't want to downplay anyone's positions but they are ER doctors.... Not specialists. Wait till you go to your obgyn who knows exactly what everything is suppose to look like. I'm not really sure what they could've saw to deduce their reasoning to that. The fact that the bleeding turned into brown spotting is good. The fact that the heartbeat is 120 is good. At 6 weeks mine was at 128. Please keep us updated. Fingers crossed for good news for this week! 

jennbaylor12

I'm so so sorry you're dealing with this!! I was also having bright red bleeding and my ultrasound at 6w6d looked just as you described with a hb of 120 and everything is fine :-) Mine was also labeled 'threatened miscarriage' - DH is an ICU nurse and said that is the most common and generic name use to justify any tests in early pregnancy bc they don't know what is going on and it gives a 'rationale' to the insurance companies for whatever they need to do. Thinking good thoughts for you!!!

H4aPartyof5

@LinziLoo09, I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.  FX that everything turns out to be alright when you see your OB next week.

PharmDMom

So so so sorry you've had to deal with all this... And away from home too. That's even worse. I agree that ER docs/nurses may not be the best to evaluate your situation and I hope that they are wrong about the baby not looking quite right. I mean it's so early- it doesn't "look" like much anyways!! I hope that you can try to hang in there until Monday without losing too much sleep and tears. I know I would be a wreck though- please know that it's ok to be upset/mad/emotional. Take care of yourself and please keep us updated. 

R0824H

I'm so sorry @LinziLoo09 I know it's hard but keep positive! This sounds like almost the exact thing I had earlier last week, a quick 'gush' of bright red blood followed by brown spotting for about a day. They never mentioned my hcg levels but the ER doc I saw assured me that seeing the HB was the most important thing at the moment. And later at my GP appointment that day she said she heard the blood flow to the placenta with the Doppler and that was also a good sign. My one girlfriend I talked to about it said her OB mentioned a reason for bright red blood could be when the placenta starts growing and slowly taking over, a blood vessel can sometimes pop and you get a little bit of bleeding. I know remaining hopeful and positive can be extremely hard because you don't want to set yourself up for heartbreak, but we're here for you and we're all thinking positive for you!

temmetime

Prayers sent your way!! I hope this week brings good news for you. I'm so sorry you're going through this. Keep your chin up!

queenklau

@LinziLoo09, I am so sorry this happened to you. FX that it's nothing but a scary memory and for a sticky bean! Keep up us updated. Thinking of you guys.

Amdogger82

Thinking of you @LinziLoo09 we had a similar scare too and the waiting is the worst. Keeping you in my thoughts and sending positive thoughts. 

Kacie209

*hugs to you* during this time.

trackgirl08

My thoughts are with you and your family! Hope you can get in to see your doctor tomorrow. ER doctors sometimes do not know what they are talking about, so it will be good to see a specialist!

lyndam1

I'm sorry you're going through this! As tough as it is, hang in there and try to be positive!