Am I miscarrying

missmossy11 · July 2018

I dont know if this is the right place to post this so I'm sorry if it isnt.

I started my period july 21 and ended on the 28th. Two days later (30th) we had sex and 12 days after (7/12) that I got a positive pregnancy test. It was an old test so I bought first response and got a positive result. Faint but not too faint. The following morning I took another and it was still faint but positive.

I'm not sure to start my period until this weekend but I have a lot of anxiety and I took a test again yesterday and it was positive but extremely faint. The same happened today. I'm not bleeding or having excessive cramping.

Am I having a miscarriage? My first pregnancy I'm pretty sure the lines got darker as time goes on. If it's a chemical pregnancy would I start bleeding?

I know I should get my blood tested but I don't have insurance and my doctor wont even see me for pregnancy unless I put $1000 deposit down.. ridiculous.

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with the lines getting fainter but without bleeding or cramps?
TIA

dpjennifer · July 2018

I'd be highly concerned if I were you. First of all, are you 100% positive that you had an actual period July 21-28? If so, it is completely impossible to ovulate and be PG 14 days later. If anything, you should be ovulating right now. Although, I guess I shouldn't say "completely" impossible. But if you have a cycle that's 14 days long, you REALLY need to go to an OB-GYN and figure that out, as it could point to serious health complications and issues.
It's possible that you actually MC July 21-28 and the tests are picking up residual HCG from that PG... which is bad and possible you need pills or maybe are experiencing an ectopic PG. These situations are NOT good.
Also, you really need to get insurance. But that's a whole 'nother issue. Regardless, you need to consider if you'd rather spend $1000 to figure out what is happening with your body, or if you'd rather chance death with an Ectopic, MC that won't end, etc.
Finally, after you figure this all out I'd HIGHLY encourage you to buy a basal body thermometer and a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility. This book will GREATLY help you learn about your body, your cycles, and PG. Also, the less than $10 thermometer will help you figure out YOUR cycles and allow you to determine what your body is doing, to alleviate stressful situations like this in the future.

kathrenne · July 2018

Dpjennifer, please take a deep breath. Most of what you just said is not reasonable at all.

Onepea, I'm going to look at your post from the perspective of having had 15 losses, including ectopic, and soooooo much testing.

First, I get that the last poster may have just scared to crap out of you, but just take a deep breath and hear me out okay?

First of all, if I am reading your post right, your cycle is about 30 days and not 14. If you started your period on June 21st (you said July, but that's obviously not right) and you are supposed to get your period this weekend, that is a *completely normal cycle length*. Now, timing wise, you would normally ovulate two weeks before you period is due which, assuming it's due on the 21st, you'd have a 30 day cycle and under normal circumstances, you'd ovulate on the 7th. If, however, you have an average 28 day cycle, you'd ovulate on the 5th. If you had sex the 30th, and knowing sperm can survive a few days, if you got pregnant it's because you either ovulated early or mistimed your cycle, and either is possible.

In terms of the positive tests, are you reading it before 10 minutes? Anything past that might give you a false positive.

I would not worry too much about the line being faint before you period is due. A good pregnancy sees an hcg beta quant double about every 48 hours; when it's this early, it takes a bit for numbers to be detectable. For example, if you have a quant of 1, two days later it would be two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, then 32. Since most early detection tests cite a 20 quant sensitivity, that means it could take up to 10 days to get a positive. You can still get positive before that even with a lower quant though. The lowest hcg quant I ever had on an at home test was 5. Additionally, you're testing your pre, so hydration affects concentration of the chemical. Try to take all of your tests with your first bathroom trip of the day.

I want to address what the first responder said here specifically: "It's possible that you actually MC July 21-28 and the tests are picking up residual HCG from that PG... which is bad and possible you need pills or maybe are experiencing an ectopic PG."

If you know that June 21-28 was a normal cycle and you are not experiencing any other symptoms, *do not freak out about this*. The situation is not "bad," you do not "need pills," and in the absence of pain, it is very likely not "ectopic." One in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. If you are not experiencing pain and you are not bleeding, and your next period isn't even due yet, there isn't anything an OB would do to actually treat you. At best, the would do a blood draw to get the numbers, then another 48 hours later to look at the numbers again. Then, even if the numbers weren't good, in the absence of pain and bleeding, they'd send you home to wait to actually miscarry, then *maybe* if you have had more than one loss and if they are a cautious OB, they'd check your blood until your numbers were at 0. What dpjennifer is describing is an unviable pregnancy that does not fully terminate on it's own (a common sign of ectopic pregnancy is a fluctuating hcg quant, but if it were an old ectopic, you'd be in pain).

So, long story short, I won't say you aren't miscarrying because miscarrying is, again, incredibly common. What I am saying, however, is you need to be a bit more patient. Take a pregnancy test when you actually miss your period because before that, a doctor is not going to diagnose a miscarriage without seeing the numbers, and they aren't going to run numbers unless you have a history of loss or a missed period. I'd recommend in the future to just wait until you miss a period to take the test. Otherwise, a positive result may just be a chemical pregnancy, which is a loss, but isn't viable and probably won't even set your next period back because hcg just is that high with those. Most women with a chemical pregnancy didn't even know they were pregnant because they usually don't test that early.

Take a deep breath. You're okay right now. Don't needlessly stress yourself out.

missmossy11 · July 2018

Kathrenne, thank you so much for your detailed response. I appreciate you taking the time to type it out for me.

I did mistype, my period was from June 21 to 28th and was definitely a true period. I have a 28-30 day cycle, it varies. The only unprotected sex that I have had in the past 3 years was June 30th, 2 days after my period had ended so I am positive I was not pregnant before. And I am not concerned about an ectopic pregnancy as the first commenter was warning about. I do not have excessive pain, nor pain to one side, nor excessive bleeding. Though I admit, had i read it the day I posted this thread I probably would have freaked out a little!

I know I should have waited to test, I just got a feeling I was pregnant and immediately did it. I did test correctly, first morning urine, I held the test in the urine for the correct amount of time, and read the results during the appropriate window. Though next time I know to wait until I miss my period and to test then as I would have saved myself a lot of heartbreak had I done that this time..

After I wrote this I started to get cramps, followed by thick deep red blood. That went on through the night and into today. Around 5 this evening it has turned into bright red blood with cramping. I'm certain I've lost this pregnancy. I feel it the same way that i knew i was pregnant to begin with. It's extremely difficult. The pregnancy was a (wanted and welcomed) shock and the loss was a shock as well.

I'm still not sure if you are supposed to go to the doctor for this to be checked out but I don't think that I'm going to. Had I waited for a missed period before testing like you are supposed to I would have had this happen and assumed it was my period and that I wasn't pregnant. I'm not really sure what the right thing to do is. My plan was, if I felt I had "appropriate" amount of bleeding to take a pregnancy test in a week to make sure it was positive.. I dont know..

Again, thank you for responding with such detail! I really do appreciate it.

dpjennifer · July 2018

June 21-28, rather than July 21-28 changes EVERYTHING! Still, if you got PG having sex 2 days after that (June 30), and think you get PG this cycle, that means you had about a 20 day luteal phase, which is very long. Probably something you should look into if you are going to TTC.

Also, I realize this was an oops PG, even though a wanted one... but if you do consider TTC if the future, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get insurance before you do!!!! So much can happen and/or go wrong, and babies are expensive to care for.

missmossy11 · July 2018

Yes, thank you. I am not worried about my cycles, I have an odd one every now and then. This month was my odd was apparently. And as soon as I saw the positive I started looking at our insurance options. We do not plan on TTC for another year from now so we were unprepared and will not be for the next time around.

Thanks again!

dpjennifer · July 2018

@onepeaandoneinthepod Understood. We have a saying around here "you're regular until you're not" and it can be super stressful. I'd still definitely look into the Basal Body Thermometer and a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility (you can even borrow it from many libraries). It is immensely helpful when TTC!!!! Good luck when you are ready to start.

Am I miscarrying

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