5 week scan

[Talia12]

Hi everyone.
I went to a&e (ER) today as my cramps had become very painful and I had a tiny amount of spotting. All the doctors were concerned about, understandably, was checking to see if the pregnancy was ectopic. They found that it is intrauterine but they saw a gestational sac only, and it was empty.
They didn't say "don't worry that's fine", three different doctors/sonographers said, sometimes by now they can see something, sometimes they can't. So I'm really worried. My test lines are dark but I'm scared I've lost the baby - my follow up scan isn't for nearly three weeks. Is it normal to see a completely empty sac at 5 weeks? The sonographer said it was "small" - she didn't say a measurement so I don't know if she meant, the baby is small and that's why we can't see it, or the sac looked small for my dates.
I really couldn't be behind my dates as I found out at only 8DPO, so it couldn't have fertilised any later and still given me a BFP.

 

[LoraLoo]

At 5.5 weeks with my daughter it was just an empty sac. If you're sure of your dates please try not to worry, that's exactly all you'd expect to see at 5 weeks x

 

[Talia12]

Thank you. I'm trying not to worry. At 5+5 with my son we saw him and his little heartbeat, so that's scaring me too that only 5 days before that point, there's nothing visible in the sac at all

 

[Weebles]

At that stage it was only a matter of a couple days and I went from having an empty sac to a baby with a heartbeat. (5.5w-6w1d) Sooooo much happens in such a teeny amount of time. To think, it all started with two microscopic cells! My sac was small too, I implanted late.

 

[Talia12]

Thank you, that reassures me. I wish the doctors had been more reassuring. I also wish this wait wasn't happening over Christmas and new year I just hope that I could like pp go from empty sac to baby with heartbeat within a few days

 

[crazylilth1ng]

At bang on 5 weeks it's not even guaranteed that you will see the sac, some ladies with healthy pregnancies see nothing at that point. This early things can change greatly in a matter of days. Are you exactly 5 weeks?

For example, I had a scan show a sac, yolk, pole and heartbeat at 5+3 with one of my children, this time at 5+5 I only had a sac and a yolk. With my last baby I had a scan at 6+2 and they said literally if I had gone in the day before we wouldn't have seen the baby.

I wouldn't worry at this stage. Will things work out? I don't know... But what was seen on your scan was normal for 5 weeks. I know it stinks waiting. When I had the scan at 5+5 this time and no baby was seen I had to wait 12 days to find out what was going on... But I told myself not to worry as things are so different for individual women at that stage. Good luck!

 

[Weebles]

They think they are being reassuring when they say sometimes they see something and sometimes they don't, I heard the same thing. All I could do was worry, I wanted to be one of the ones where they could see something, that would be reassuring! It really is normal but I think it helps to know why. A few days makes a huge difference in what can be seen so early on and there are so many teeny little variables.. Like ovulation, conception, and then implantation. No two pregnancies are alike! All those things are the reasons for why "sometimes they see something and sometimes they don't."

 

[LoraLoo]

They wouldn't even confirm to me that mine was a gestational sac- they said it could have been a cyst! Not reassurung at all but I guess they see so many people, and many of who don't know their dates accurately, that they dont want to give false hope, bit honestly, everything you saw is exactly what you would expect to see x

 

[OhHappyZ]

I know it's impossible, but try not to worry. I went in earlier this week (at 6 weeks 2 days), and all they saw was a sac, she said that because of my longer cycles (32 days) and my short lp (11 days) that I'm not as far as lmp states. So I'm now 5 weeks 3 days.

Hope all goes well for both of us. When is your followup? Mine is next Thursday.

 

[Talia12]

Thanks everyone, I'll really try not to worry.
The thing is I can't be behind on my dates, I found out at 8DPO with a faint positive so if I was any less than 5 weeks now, I would have found out at 7DPO or less which is pretty much impossible! So I'm hoping that it's just like, a day's difference, and if I had a scan tomorrow I'd see the yolk sac.
My next scan is not till the 9th Jan!!!!! It's 18 days away, I don't know how I'm going to get through it. To be honest, I will keep taking tests and see if the CB weeks indicator stays where it should be or if lines get lighter (at the moment they are very strong). I know it seems pointless but I can't just sit around for nearly three weeks with absolutely no idea if the baby is ok. At least if I keep testing and everything seems normal there, I'll be reassured, and if it doesn't then I'll know.

 

[LoraLoo]

Honestly. Ive been sure if my dates with last few babes. They've still been out on occasions with my due dates.

Im the biggest worrier in the world so maybe a tad hypocritical, but try your best not to worry. Everything looked fine at your last scan, they'd have said otherwise x

 

[mara16jade]

I did IVF so know the exact date of conception. At exactly 5w2d they saw nothing. Not even a sac! Everyone pretty much freaked out thinking it was ectopic. DH and I were so scared. I had another scan at 5w4d and they found the sac and yolk sac, and at 5w6d they found the heartbeat. Talk about a rollercoaster!

A few days off of what you think you are as far as gestational age can make a HUGE difference. Don't worry.

 

[Talia12]

Thank you so much! I'm trying my best to feel reassured. I'm going to just go ahead being happy and excited as best I can. If I really can't stick the three week wait, I will just pay for a private scan. I realised that I've already spent the £80 it costs on pregnancy tests over the last few weeks...! I hope to be able to update you all in three weeks with some good news about my bean

 

[DobbyForever]

My gyn says sac measurements under 6 weeks are unreliable because being a fraction of a cm off with measurements changes the reading by days. I went in at 5w5d and only had a sac and yolk with a sac measuring 3 days behind. A week later I had a baby with a perfect heartbeat and measuring right one. Try not to worry (easier said than done) but really give it a week or two and things will progress

 

[glong88]

At 5 weeks 3 days I only had a sac. At 7 weeks 3 days I saw baby. I'm now 32 weeks