6 wks- no detected pregnancy on ultrasound, normal hcg

[bee lady]

I'm 35 with my second pregnancy. We have been trying for 4 years now. I have been lurking and have learned so much here but now I need a little help. I'm supposed to be 6 weeks (don't know exact ovulation) last cycle was chemical and ended within 4 days. I have had 2 misscarrige before 6 weeks and 2 chemicals. We are hopeful for this pregnancy but we went for an ultrasound on Wednesday and dr. Could not find gets. Sac., baby or anything. What he did find is a Thule d uterus consistent with a pregnancy and no sings of a pregnancy outside of the uterus. He sent me for a blood draw today. Below I will include all my blood draws and they have been increasing at expected rate. But when I spoke to the dr today he wants us to go in on sat. For another blood draw and another ultrasound. He basically told us we "need to make a decision" basically he is saying the pregnancy is not viable. He agreed it could be earlier then We thought but with the blood draw he said it's consistent with a 6 week pregnancy. We are worried but we also decided we are going to wait and see. If they don't find a pregnancy outside of the uterus, no bleeding/spotting, no pain then we will just want to wait. Does any one have any ideas or experience?

Oh** I'm on baby aspirin and progesterone suppository 3x day

HCG Nov 3 -"less then 2"
Hcg Nov. 8 -9.5
Hcg Nov. 10 -24
Hcg Nov. 14 -134
Hcg Nov. 17 -429
Digital urine test Nov. 23 2-3 wks pregnant (consistent with 4-5weeks)
Nov. 26 ultrasound in question
Hcg Nov. 27-3,700

**sad and confused ***

 

[greats]

From what I've read, if your hcg levels are that high and they don't see a gestational sac it could mean possibly multiples. Don't quote me on it, I just remember reading something about it. Your hcg could be high bc of twins but bc you're still early it's probably too early to see anything. I would request another us in a week. A week could change everything.

 

[smoore]

I would wait and see. I know technically at 6 weeks you should have seen *something*. However, my oldest sister did have an experience where they couldn't see anything. Then checked again and couldn't see anything. They had scheduled a d&c I guess for lining and such? They checked one last time and all of the sudden there was a heartbeat! My nephew is now 14, so older technology, but you never know! I wouldn't give up right away.

 

[bee lady]

The dr. Was worried in the begining because of low hcg. For twins the hcg would be high. I'm a little on the lower side but doubling correctly. The problem is we don't know when I ovulated. I have another ultrasound scheduled for this comming sat (in 2 days) but they are already telling us they won't find anything and we will have to make a decision to terminate the pregnancy. They are using "state of the art technology" and said even if the uterus is tipped they should see a gestational sac.....

 

[smoore]

I agree at 6 weeks they should see something, but if the dates are off at all then you could be just not seeing something yet. When was your last u/s? I would want them to wait at least a week from last u/s to give some growth time.

 

[Scout]

I would definitely wait it out. Since you last cycle was a chemical it could have really pushed your ovulation out, and you could just be too early to see anything. And hcg can't really tell you how far along you are; at least not always. I had my hcg done at 4w6d and it was over 18,000 which would have put me in the 6 weeks range, but I was actually 4w6d and a scan the following week confirmed it. Good luck.

 

[bee lady]

October 8 was the begging of this cycle or the end of my chemical. My hcg went down to 2 by the 15th of October. We were trying to calculate when I ovulated (we were not expecting this so we were not charting) to the best of my symptoms we expect I ovulated between October. 28 & 31
Like I said the doctor wants us "to make a decision" this sat. We had the first ultrasound on Wednesday (3 days difference) I'm hopping there is something to be seen or I'm going to go hide instead of "doing something"

 

[Spudtastic]

I'd be really annoyed with a doctor forcing a decision. I would want to wait it out. I have slow developing embryos and late ovulation and may not have seen anything. At least if you wait it out and nothing happens then you know for sure.
I feel for you being in this position and send hugs your way.
Please don't feel forced to make any decisions you feel uncomfortable with.

 

[Luckybug]

I would definitely put my foot down and wait until at least 8 weeks. You could have ovulated late and implanted late, so you could be very early still, 4/5 weeks instead of 6.

I don't know why he's in such a hurry. Take control of your health, two more weeks in the long run will not make that much of a difference if it's not viable, but it will if it is.

 

[vs011]

Can you go to another doctor or get a 2nd opinion? Something isn't adding up here. Imo I wouldn't do anything in your seat yet. I'd let nature do its thing if it wasn't viable. But it doesn't sound like he has sound evidence yet. Don't let him force you!

 

[smoore]

The doctor can't force you to make a decision. They may not be happy with you wanting to wait for some reason. I don't know why they are in a rush either.

Even if they don't want to do another scan in a week, they could continue to do some blood work to see if hcg is continuing to go up.

 

[bee lady]

Thank you everyone for your response. We don't know when I ovulated but we do know when I implanted (I'm weird that way and knew something was up) so we know I implanted 4 weeks ago and so I could just be 5 weeks. I don't know how long it takes to start producing hcg but on Monday it was less then 2 and by that sat. It was 9.5. So that meen's I implanted that week. If we follow the double every 48 hrs then Tuesday or wendsday we could say I implanted. Although I felt it Monday. I'm talking about the week of November 3rd.
Now according to the dr. When hcg gets above 2,000 we see thegestational sac. He could not find anything. That's the science he is basing this whole thing on. Yesterday I was just below 4,000 hcg. By sat I should be about 6,000 or so hcg (I don't know when it starts to slow down and stop doubling) that's why he is saying if they don't find something then I need to make a decision. Based on the numbers of hcg. I just hope it's hiding and we will see our baby tomorrow. But my husband and I both agree if they don't find anything our decision will be a no decision and continue with the pregnancy. I have been going to a fertility specialist and I'm under his care. But I can always go to my regular obgyn for help too.
Does anyone know about hcg thresholds and when pregnancys are actually seen? I'm just hopping the baby is hiding in me.

He said that I could have the product of a pregnancy that is attached but no baby and it will not continue to develop. I just don't understand why the hcg will continue to rise if the pregnancy is not developing. In my mind the hcg would stop rising.
Any more thoughts? I will keep everyone posted about what develops...

 

[Luckybug]

I'm not a doctor, and it's hard to not put all your trust in them as well, however sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they're right, but would you regret if you didn't at least wait a few more days?

 

[JumpingIn]

Oh my goodness, if you could be 5 weeks please don't "do something" yet, this could just be a regular baby doing regular baby things and not being visible yet. Seriously, what on earth is the rush? To put it bluntly, if this isn't a viable pregnancy (but is definitely not ectopic) and you leave it another week or 2, it wont kill you. If it is a viable pregnancy and you act as if it isn't, what a waste that would be!

Your hcg looks normal and you don't know exactly when you ovulated. I'd be rushing for a second opinion.

 

[bee lady]

Thank you Jumpingin, it means a lot that you took the time to look at my hcg. I though it was normal too. I was abel to push my dr visit off until Monday but I'm in no rush to terminate this pregnancy. I have been waiting 4 years now. The dr. Looked at my tubes and said he cannot find a pregnancy outside of the uterus. But when we did the blood draw he was completely expecting it to be going down not up. In everything I read I don't think my HCG would be going up anyway if it was etopic. I am taking pregesterone and I thought perhaps if I had a missed misscarrige the suppository would prevent the continuation of a misscarige but everything I have read says it won't prevent a misscarrige so I don't have to worry about that. And even if I had just the product of a pregnancy like the placenta and no baby I don't think the HCG would continue to rise at a normal rate. Correct me if I'm wrong. The bad news is I have to wait till Monday now to get another peak to see if I can see a pregnancy.

 

[melfy77]

Your doctor is an idiot.Period. HCG levels are only a guideline as to when and what you should see on an U/S.

My 2nd MC my hcg level was 687 at 6 weeks (really low and not doubling) with a 3mm embryo and heartbeat (miscarried 5 days later and was expecting it). With DD2 my hcg level was 29 000 at 4w5d, which is really high (saw sac and fetal pole so was actually closer to 6 weeks).

I would not even think about doing something other than waiting. Your levels are increasing like they should, and you're still really early in your pregnancy. When is your next scan. I would wait at least 2 weeks to give enough time to your little bean to grow big enough

And I almost forgot: CONGRATS!!!!!!!

 

[traylee01]

also was it internal ultrasound or abdominal
my lady couldnt see anything cept sac abdominaly, but went internal and saw a bub and heartbeat was 5 weeks 6 days along.

i have had friends who said they didnt even get seen till 8 weeks internally (specially if slighly larger in body).

also a tipped uterus can make it harder i got told

 

[greats]

Thank you everyone for your response. We don't know when I ovulated but we do know when I implanted (I'm weird that way and knew something was up) so we know I implanted 4 weeks ago and so I could just be 5 weeks. I don't know how long it takes to start producing hcg but on Monday it was less then 2 and by that sat. It was 9.5. So that meen's I implanted that week. If we follow the double every 48 hrs then Tuesday or wendsday we could say I implanted. Although I felt it Monday. I'm talking about the week of November 3rd.
Now according to the dr. When hcg gets above 2,000 we see thegestational sac. He could not find anything. That's the science he is basing this whole thing on. Yesterday I was just below 4,000 hcg. By sat I should be about 6,000 or so hcg (I don't know when it starts to slow down and stop doubling) that's why he is saying if they don't find something then I need to make a decision. Based on the numbers of hcg. I just hope it's hiding and we will see our baby tomorrow. But my husband and I both agree if they don't find anything our decision will be a no decision and continue with the pregnancy. I have been going to a fertility specialist and I'm under his care. But I can always go to my regular obgyn for help too.
Does anyone know about hcg thresholds and when pregnancys are actually seen? I'm just hopping the baby is hiding in me.

He said that I could have the product of a pregnancy that is attached but no baby and it will not continue to develop. I just don't understand why the hcg will continue to rise if the pregnancy is not developing. In my mind the hcg would stop rising.
Any more thoughts? I will keep everyone posted about what develops...

I'll be stalking this to see your updates!!!

 

[nilllabean26]

Thank you Jumpingin, it means a lot that you took the time to look at my hcg. I though it was normal too. I was abel to push my dr visit off until Monday but I'm in no rush to terminate this pregnancy. I have been waiting 4 years now. The dr. Looked at my tubes and said he cannot find a pregnancy outside of the uterus. But when we did the blood draw he was completely expecting it to be going down not up. In everything I read I don't think my HCG would be going up anyway if it was etopic. I am taking pregesterone and I thought perhaps if I had a missed misscarrige the suppository would prevent the continuation of a misscarige but everything I have read says it won't prevent a misscarrige so I don't have to worry about that. And even if I had just the product of a pregnancy like the placenta and no baby I don't think the HCG would continue to rise at a normal rate. Correct me if I'm wrong. The bad news is I have to wait till Monday now to get another peak to see if I can see a pregnancy.

Next time If I ever have the opportunity to be pregnant again, I am not going to get my hcg levels checked every three days. Even when my numbers were rising, they told me it was low and abnormal and to prepare for a miscarriage. I don't trust these nurses and techs or er dr's who don't know what they r talking about.
I hope everything works out well for u and it's a viable pregnancy. Do ur best to try and stay calm and patient. I think ur numbers did look good so take care of urself and try to wait it out until u think u would be able to see something. Gl

 

[bee lady]

Thank you everyone. Thankfully I'm not a worrier but I like to be informed. My husband and I are both to let nature take its course. The dr. Wants 2 blood samples on Monday. One is the HCG levels and I don't yet know what the other is. I just know they can't do the test at their clinic.i have been trying to reach the dr. So I can read about it and understand what he is thinking. I will keep everyone posted.