Intro - don't trust BFP at 7PO

carrieandr · May 2015

Hello everyone! I'm Carrie. I had a BFP in February that ended in a missed miscarriage. I had a d&c on 4/10, got a light AF on 5/15 and this was my first TTC cycle since.

It's Sunday, so I can't call the dr, and I wondered if anyone here could offer any insight or opinions on this. (I don't want to post about this on the TTC After a Loss or TTC After 35 boards yet. It's so hard to know the appropriate place for things.)

Based on bbt, cm and sex drive, I ovulated on 5/24 (CD10, as usual). My Clearblue Advanced opk started giving me high readings (flashing smiley) on 5/22. I got 7 days of high readings, testing once a day with FMU. On day 8 (Friday) I got a peak reading, but my temp went up .36 degrees that morning and has been up for 3 days now. Last night I was a bit nauseous and I read that opk's interpret hcg the same as an lh surge. But I really didn't think that explained it because if I did in fact ovulate on 5/24, I would have only been 5DPO when the opk misinterpreted hcg as a peak.

Long story short, I took a test this morning (7DPO) and it was a faint positive. Not a squinter. A clearly there faint positive. If it was just the super early BFP, maybe I could believe it, but it seems crazy to me that hcg could be detected by the opk at 5DPO. I'm worried that this could be lingering hcg from the miscarriage. It's been about 7 weeks since the d&c and about 10 weeks since my pregnancy symptoms started rapidly declining shortly before mmc was determined. A regular period would have been reassuring, but it was light.

I'm including my bbt chart. I was traveling in Peru from day 2-10, so the temps are all off, plus my thermometer battery died a couple of days before I returned. The temps from day 11 and beyond can be trusted.

Let me know if you have any thoughts about this. I'm also aware that finding out this early leaves plenty of time for a chemical pregnancy. The miscarriage has me second guessing everything. I knew I'd be worried about a miscarriage the second time around, but I didn't expect to get a BFP and not trust that it's accurate. I was all prepared to use the mantra "Today I am pregnant" to calm my fears, but it's more like "Today am I pregnant?"

Sorry so long! Thanks for reading!!

carrieandr · May 2015

Oh, and FF is saying I ovulated on Thursday 5/28, which just adds to the confusion.

PlainJane8350 · May 2015

Did you go to the doctor after your loss and have your hcg levels checked to make sure they were decreasing?

The ovulation sticks didn't work for me, instead some silly ovulation tracker app that I downloaded on my phone did!

carrieandr · May 2015

My doctor never tested hcg levels at any point during or after the pregnancy. When I call tomorrow, I'm going to see if they will check it a couple times to see if it is increasing.

Last time I got pregnant, they told me to take another pregnancy test after I missed a period and then call to make an appt. They may tell me that again. : /

carrieandr · May 2015

Ugh...just did some googling (bad idea, I know) and saw that testing positive for hcg at 5dpo could be a sign of an ectopic pregnancy. (I'm still not sure if that was what the opk was picking up on at 5dpo, or that I definitely ovulated on 5/24, or that I'm truly pregnant right now.)

I wish I could unread that. Bad google. Bad.

sepiatoned1 · June 2015

I say trust your temps. Even with the random temp anomalies they will still average out over a few more days. So even if your dr just tells you to wait and retest stay positive and keep temping. You got one BFP and your chart looks good up this point until you have something solid telling you otherwise your pregnant! Positive thinking will bring about positive things. Keeping you in my t/p. Keep us posted

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Never Google! J/K, I do it, too...but I shouldn't. Do you like your doctor? If so, then I'd ask to come in today and at least Wednesday (if not Friday, too) for hcg and progesterone levels. I didn't get that option my first time, but I was seeing a fertility specialist the second time (I was trying to investigate my first loss) and they offered that.

I've never had an epic pregnancy, but unless you're in pain I wouldn't even entertain that idea. They're supposed to be very painful!

carrieandr · June 2015

Thanks ladies! I googled again this morning (I know, I know) and found this: https://www.firstresponse.com/pregnancy-test-accuracy

Perhaps the tests were picking up hcg-h, which appears before implantation. I had a temp dip today (8DPO) which could be an implantation dip. And I haven't had any pain or fevers.

I'll definitely contact the dr today. I do like him.

I want to confirm this so badly so I can tell my parents!

carrieandr · June 2015

Below is the response from the nurse at my dr's office. : ( The dr just signed the bloodwork order, so hopefully the appt will be tomorrow.

"It's very unlikely that you have conceived since your period started 5/15 and you are already having a positive pregnancy test. Our urine tests in the office are no more accurate than yours at home. We should probably get a blood pregnancy level drawn at a lab. If it's positive then we would repeat in 48 hours to find out if it's going up or down. This would usually be too early for symptoms of an ectopic to present. The HCG levels would give us an idea if we were dealing with an ectopic because an ectopic will usually increase but not as much as a normal pregnancy."

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Do you know when you should start (your next period)?

Women don't always ovulate "on time," I have a shorter cycle and some women have longer. That may be why those sticks didn't work for me? So you could have ovulated sooner than "normal."

I know you're excited, but I don't think she gave you bad news. There's no reason to think that you have an etopic pregnancy, she was just mentioning it because you did. I wouldn't let that get you down!

You can always keep doing it every day right now just in case.

carrieandr · June 2015

I usually have a 26 day cycle and ovulate on day 10. I doubt I ovulated earlier than that. We didn't start BD until day 8 anyway, so I could only be off by 2 days at the most.

And to make things more bleak, I took another test this morning and the line is a squinter. It got lighter instead of darker after 2 days.

I'll let you know what happens after my blood test, but I have a feeling I'm not pregnant after all. I can't believe I could have leftover hcg for so long, and after a period, too.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

I'm sorry. They really should have tracked your levels, that's disappointing. But you said that you've had a period since your loss, correct?

carrieandr · June 2015

Yes, but it was lighter than usual. I thought that still counted, but maybe not.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

It definitely counts. Mine were crazy light after my D&C. You can ask them to do a "period check." My doctor had me call the day I started and they'd give me a date to come in to give blood to check my progesterone. From that, they could tell me whether or not I have ovulated. If I had, then they'd put me on progesterone for a week or so just in case.

I know it sounds silly, but you could add an ovulation app to your arsenal.

carrieandr · June 2015

I use Fertility Friend. That's what you're talking about, right?

carrieandr · June 2015

My hcg was 7. I'm guessing that means it was leftover, but I'm waiting to hear from the nurse about whether I need to retest in 48 hours.

Hopefully I'll have a real TTC cycle next time and I can come back to this board soon.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Ya, any app that allows you to input your cycle length and suggests fertile days. :P

Your hcg was 7 recently or after your loss?

rachrobertson · June 2015

Ah @CarrieandRoy sorry your hcg is taking so long to drop. Maybe your rainbow baby will come around st.patty's day. Appropriate for a rainbow baby IMO.

carrieandr · June 2015

@PlainJane8350, my hcg was 7 yesterday, 7.5 weeks after the d&c, 19 days into the second post-d&c cycle.

@rachrobertson, St. Patrick's Day would be perfect. My husband is from Ireland and my mother was born on St. Patrick's Day.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

The good news is that I hear you're super fertile after a pregnancy, regardless of the outcome of that pregnancy. My husband's mom was pregnant with him at her first follow-up after a loss, so it is possible! You could always get your progesterone checked after each cycle for piece of mind. Either way, have fun trying and I'm sure it'll happen soon. Sending positive thoughts your way!

carrieandr · June 2015

Thanks, @PlainJane8350. You're right -- maybe once the hcg is gone this will be easy. I got pregnant quickly the first time, so hopefully I will again.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

The same thing happened to me. Both times. Did they do any testing after your loss?

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Once it drops to 5 they're happy, 7 is almost there.

carrieandr · June 2015

No, they never tested my hcg during or after the loss. Tuesday was the first time. I had a second test done today, so I'll probably get the results tomorrow.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Sorry, I meant for other things. :P I tested both the slides from my D&C and my blood after my loss. I found out that I have MTHFR (or something like that). It's not what caused my loss, that baby had Trisomy 13, but it could have caused the loss of a healthy pregnancy due to brain/spinal malformations. Some women have clotting disorders, too. Just testing your blood can identify problems that you can fix if there is one, I take a rx folic acid now and I'm good.

carrieandr · June 2015

Ah! No, they didn't do any other testing. My doctor said if it happens again we can do tests. I do take folic acid (not rx) and I had general bloodwork done by my regular physician last August. My folic acid level was excellent and everything else was good, too.

My doctor is assuming it was chromosomal. The baby stopped growing at 6 weeks but still had a heartbeat for a couple of weeks after that.

PlainJane8350 · June 2015

Mine didn't want to do it either, I had to make them. My loss was chromosomal, but they found something that would have created problems in a healthy pregnancy. He's probably right, I just hate for anyone to have one at all much less two or three.

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