1st Trimester

Should they be able to see a heartbeat at 7w2d?

I needed to reschedule my first prenatal appointment from 7w5d to 7w2d. The clinical assistant gave me a hard time and said it's possible I may not see anything. I pushed back because from everything I've read, if there's no heartbeat at 7w then it's not viable. I temped, so I know my O date. I'm perhaps thinking she is speaking about women who don't know exactly when they O'ed? Or am I wrong about the 7 week mark?


Re: Should they be able to see a heartbeat at 7w2d?

  • I’ve heard the second half of week 7 into week 8. I think at 7w2d she may just be concerned that it isn’t detectable and doesn’t want to scare you unnecessarily if they can’t pick it up yet.  This is what she does for a living so I would trust what she says over google. My OB won’t see me until week 8.
  • At my clinic we tell all patients prior to 8 weeks there is a chance you won't see fhr.
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  • The thing here is to remember all of the people they deal with who are just straight up idiots. Then remember all the people they deal with who are simply innocently ignorant. Really, dealing with people who temped and do have a good understanding of how it works are the exception to the rule. I mean, just peruse some of the other pregnancy sites for a minute. 

    So, I’m sure their policy is to tell people to temper their expectations and to try to push that first ultrasound to a date where even people who ovulated much later than the assumed CD 14 would be able to have a good, unambiguous ultrasound. Waiting for a first ultrasound sucks but I’m sure it is FAR superior to getting a first one in that “it might just be too early” stage and having to wait a week or two to come back to see if there was appropriate growth. That has got to be hell.

    To answer your original question, for a true 7w2d pregnancy, you should certainly be able to see a heartbeat. My RE’s office does first ultrasound at 7w but that’s because they ran the ovulation so they know for sure without relying on info from the patient.

     *TW* if I did go in at 7w2d with an ovulation date from temping and didn’t have a HB, I, personally, would do the come back in a week to see if there was growth. You don’t want to make any permanent decisions until you feel 100% certain and at as much peace as possible. To me, that’s still early enough I’d wonder if maybe my temps were off and I would need that extra data to fall back on when I tried to second guess. 
        
    Me: 34 DH: 38
    Married: June 2011
    TTC since Feb 2016
    BFP#1: 7/7/16 MMC: 8/16/16 
    BFP#2: 5/8/17 - CP
    BFP#3: 6/27/17 EDD: 3/10/18
  • @kiki75 I'm kind of already in that hell because I was having what felt like ovarian pain at 5w4d, but they wanted me to come in anyway. No yolk sac to be seen, but the doctor said he wasn't concerned. I ended up emailing him and he said they should be able to see a heartbeat after 7 weeks, so going to go with that. Thanks.



  • I'm really sorry you're in limbo @sorarose I hope the time between now and then passes really quickly.
        
    Me: 34 DH: 38
    Married: June 2011
    TTC since Feb 2016
    BFP#1: 7/7/16 MMC: 8/16/16 
    BFP#2: 5/8/17 - CP
    BFP#3: 6/27/17 EDD: 3/10/18
  • I’m my experience you can see the heartbeat at 6 weeks as long as you are doing a transvaginal ultrasound. I just found twins that were 6w2d and I could see the heartbeat transabdominally but couldn’t measure an accurate heart rate. The heart starts beating at 6 weeks. 
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