6 weeks 4 days, heartbeat 'low end of normal'

[WantsALittle1]

Had an ultrasound today at 6+4 and baby was measuring 6+5. Heartbeat was 123 bpm. Initially my OB said congrats, baby was there with a heartbeat, but then she had a 'however...'

She said that 123 bpm is on the 'low end of normal' and so she feels a follow-up ultrasound in 2 weeks is necessary to see if the heartbeat has sped up, and she also said because of the heartbeat, she wanted to be sure that I was doing first trimester blood screening/NT scan.

She's got me a bit scared--the internet says that anything above 120 is considered normal for 6-7 weeks, so I'm wondering why she was concerned about it being 'low end of normal,' so concerned in fact that she is implying that there might be a chromosomal issue?

 

[laila 44]

I wouldn't worry. My first dd I remember going in for ultrasound at 6 weeks exactly and hb was 112! Ob wasn't concerned at all and said all that matters is that it's beating. Now my third, I asked my OB at 7 weeks if he could tell me how many Bpm and he said he doesn't do that before 10 weeks as its too many sound waves on baby and it's not good. Your baby's hb sounds fine at 123!

 

[katsbump]

Mine was 97 at 5'6, went up to something in the 120s a week later and then at 9 weeks was 175, I think. Try not to worry, that sounds fine. It's early. I strongly recommend you don't google it because I got all sorts of conflicting information and stressed myself out for nothing.

 

[AndreZZ]

That heart rate sounds totally normal to me...I don't really know why your doctor is concerned tbh.

 

[minties]

I has an US with Sophie at 6+3 and her heart rate was 108. I was also told it was low, but she's just turned 3 and healthy as can be

 

[ashleyg]

That sounds normal to me. My u/s at 6 weeks showed a heartrate of 120 and the tech said it was perfect.

 

[WantsALittle1]

Thanks everyone for replying.

Minties, how was your DD measuring gestation wise--on track, behind, or ahead? My OB kept asking me if I had my LMP correct because the CRL size was ahead of my LMP gestation date.

 

[MrsAmk]

That is a very GOOD heart rate. Some damn doctors, seriously sometimes I wonder how they got through med school....

 

[WantsALittle1]

Right, Mrs Amk?!

Everything I read (journal articles etc) said that for 6.3-7 weeks, pregnancy success rate plateaus at 120 bpm. So in other words, from 100bpm - 120 bpm, the success rate for the pregnancy gets better and better with increasing beats per minute observed. But at 120 bpm, the success rate plateaus, meaning that for 6.3-7 weeks, there is no benefit to baby's heartrate being 140 vs it being 120--they have the same risk of miscarriage. Why didn't my OB mention THAT to me, ya know?

What scared me the most was her hinting at chromosomal issues. Now I'm totally freaked out and I have to just sit and wait for 6 weeks to find out if my baby has standard chromosomes.

 

[MrsAmk]

Right, Mrs Amk?!

Everything I read (journal articles etc) said that for 6.3-7 weeks, pregnancy success rate plateaus at 120 bpm. So in other words, from 100bpm - 120 bpm, the success rate for the pregnancy gets better and better with increasing beats per minute observed. But at 120 bpm, the success rate plateaus, meaning that for 6.3-7 weeks, there is no benefit to baby's heartrate being 140 vs it being 120--they have the same risk of miscarriage. Why didn't my OB mention THAT to me, ya know?

What scared me the most was her hinting at chromosomal issues. Now I'm totally freaked out and I have to just sit and wait for 6 weeks to find out if my baby has standard chromosomes.

Please DONT worry. She's already displayed her idiocy NO reason to be scared of that. NONE.

 

[morgan89]

https://www.countdownmypregnancy.com/pregnancy/heartbeat.php


Check out this link, it gave me lots of reassurance when I had my scan at 6 weeks 1 day and the heart rate was only 108 bpm. The ultrasound tech wouldn't tell me whether that was good or bad so of course I worried. But after some research I found out that I was right in the middle of "normal".

Deep breaths and try not to stress over one poor tech.

 

[SCgirl]

You should be good. The heart is just starting to beat at 6w! At 6w1d, DS was at 106bpm, and they said nothing about it being slow. I freaked out on my own after reading other posts. By 8w it had sped up, and was almost never below 160 the rest of the pregnancy! He's fussing in his crib right now

 

[minties]

Thanks everyone for replying.

Minties, how was your DD measuring gestation wise--on track, behind, or ahead? My OB kept asking me if I had my LMP correct because the CRL size was ahead of my LMP gestation date.

She measured 3 days behind, but the man who scanned me only did an abdominal scan and I was super morbidly obese. He said that could have made it harder to measure the CRL. The mean sac diameter was spot on for 6+3.

Edit: she measured a litte behind in early scans, but was a couple of weeks ahead by 3rd tri.

 

[chelsealynnb]

I had an ultrasound done at 6+4 last week and the heart rate was 114, which they said was fine. Had another at 7+4 and heart rate is now 144, everything looking great.

 

[Bellieboobah]

I think that's a great heart rate! My now 14 month olds heart rate was 105 at 6w 3d!

 

[winterbabies3]

Ugh, some doctors!! This is actually a very good and normal heartbeat!! Congratulations!!

 

[minties]

I happened to be going through my old pregnancy notes, and Sophie's heart rate was only 108bpm at 7+3, not 6+3. And she measured at 7+1 at that scan. She has a fast heart now so I dunno why it was so slow then!

 

[WantsALittle1]

Okay that is super reassuring minties, thank you. I had an appointment with the NP today and asked her why the OB seemed concerned about the heartrate.

She gave me this look like, "huh....?" She said 123 was completely normal, doesn't worry her one bit, and that the OB might have just been thrown off because I got my scan earlier than most women do.

 

[WantsALittle1]

Just wanted to update. Just got back from my follow-up scan. Baby was measuring right on track (to the day), and heartbeat has gone up to 175 bpm. Doctor was very happy, said everything looked great! Thanks everyone for your support

 

[minties]

Awww, baby is SO CUTE! What a happy update, I'm really pleased for you.