Is this always this difficult to figure out? (I'm the husband)

[GFGuy]

I had been posting on the TTC forums and decided to jump over here now. I guess I've been so confused through this that I wasn't believing we are in the 1st trimester so I've been writing over there but I just realized tonight that I'm probably annoying TTC people if me and wifey are past that part.

Ill apologize in advance for the lack of verbiage and knowledge on pregnancy. This is our first time trying.

In a nutshell, we tried 5 times in 8 days all around when we thought ovulation was (should have been July 4th) According to start date of the beginning of last MP, she should be 6 weeks, 5 days... (the pregnancy test didn't come in positive until 5 days after the supposed missed period. We actually were so sure it was negative at that point that she allowed herself to drink and have a fun weekend then...surprise! BFP on hubby's birthday!) The doc and others on here have mentioned that she most likely ovulated later than expected, but the last time we DTD before the BFP was July 6th!


Anyway, today was the first ultrasound. The tech said the sac (which looked like an empty bubble) diameters look as if the baby is 5 weeks, 1 day old. This is where all the concerns, questions and the come from...


After seeing the seemingly empty sac at todays ultrasound, the doc said to come back in two weeks for another ultrasound. She said it's probably too early and in 2 weeks we will be able to see more.

Positive news was she had blood work done again and she is now at 14,000 HCG, which is the only thing that seems to be right on track when it's compared to her first blood test she had 2 days after the first BFP (64, 13 days ago>102, 12 days ago>1,000 7 days ago>14,000 today) but not on track with her O day. Her doctor actually said that hcg should be 100 by the missed period. In my eyes, that was telling us that if she was at 64 hcg at then 7 days past AF's scheduled arrival date, something is not right..

Doc isn't giving me the assurance I want that this is normal. I know it's too early to tell, and that she is busy/ does this all the time but I just want to hear "Yes, it is normal to have an ultrasound showing a sac that looks as if she is 5 weeks 1 day pregnant, even though the closest date the baby could have been conceived was 30 days ago....

Has any experienced this? We are very excited, but it just seems like things should be further along. Thankfully the hcg numbers are climbing at a normal rate but why did it all start late? Is it normal for doctors to just give safe answers to everything and pretty much ignore the blatant concerns and confusion from first timers?

We are telling the first set of parents this week. It would be so great to feel more positive about where we are before telling them... I want to be and stop being

Thank you

Ps: is it weird that a guy is on here?

 

[swampmaiden]

Id agree with u/s tech... 5w1d is really early.. most places wont even run an u/s until you are at least 6 weeks.. usually 8 weeks for most women. As long as her levels are good and she isnt spotting, you guys should just try to wait until the next scan. I know, not much help, but those early weeks of waiting to finally see something on a scan can be pretty nerve racking. Wishing you and the wife the best!
And no, its not weird that a guy is on here, you arent the first lol

 

[linz1988]

Wow didnt realise you was a guy, u explained that really well (no offence) its lot weird at all its great to see that a man cares so much and takes his time to ask questions when hes unsure'

I havent been through what your saying but ive seen alot of positive posts were people have! My scan meassured 5 days off and like u im sure of my days! They do say sperm can live in the body for 5-7 days so maybe thats what happened' the fact that your hcg levels are rising is good! Id rely on hcg more than a scan!

You could go and get a scan see the heart beat and next day it stops

But with hcg if something's wrong it wont rise

 

[RaspberryK]

It's not unheard of to measure a few days or even weeks out at that stage.
Everything's so small, fetal poles etc can be easily missed.
Also your wife could have ovulated latw, and your swimmers could've stuck around up to 5 days.
The lare bfp corresponds with that too.
Unfortunately the only thing to do is to wait and see, good luck.
Xx

 

[Eidson23]

It is only slightly weird seeing a man on here! but that's a GOOD thing.

It is definitely not unheard of for the u/s to be off by some days. Like the other's said 5w+1d is VERY early. And just so you know, sperm can live inside the female body for up to 5 days! So even if the last time you dtd, she could have ovulated 5 days later and became pregnant.

I feel like it's not time to worry just yet. Good luck to you and your wife!

 

[Okela]

It's nice that you're so involved! I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet. Like others said, it's still verrry early, and her HCG levels are just fine. And yes, the first stages are always this difficult I've been having a ton of symptoms (currently 5 weeks) and I still need to get adjusted to the idea that there's a baby in there again. Even though I've been pregnant before, it feels brand new!

 

[auraobie]

This could have been me: My HCG levels were at 16,000 5w1d and yet u/s showed very little. I went back 5 days later and there was a baby with a little flickering heart

That flickering little fetus is now a boisterous and slightly crazy two year old little girl sitting right beside me

Try not to worry too much. i think early scans can be more worrying than reassuring most of the time.

 

[ssjad]

Agree with what everyone else said.
Just wanted to say hi... I was talking to you in ttc forum and got my bfp too... yay!
Don't stress too much. Relax and enjoy as much as possible.

 

[Laurans]

Hey GF guy, cool that you have yourself an understanding of everything! I have an amazing hubby but I don't think he knows what ovulation even is!!!

Just wanted to say that when I got pregnant the 2 nd time it was from trying 5 days before ovulation, it's amazing that the sperm can hang around, esp in our case as I supposedly have antisperm antibodies which means I kill off my hubbies sperm! Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that the dates can be different to what you expect and iv read about plenty of women seeing nothing at 5 weeks and going on to have healthy pregnancy.
I'm on a nervous wait until my first scan August 27th! I discussed it with doctor and we agreed to wait until 7 + 3 because I don't want the stress of doing it too early and not seeing heartbeat!
Also things like a tilted uterus (which I have) can make it more difficult to see things!
Good luck!!!!
Laura

 

[Kalabear]

It's nice to see a man so involved!!

Just thought I'd share that 4 days after my missed period in my last pregnancy I had an hcg of 90. Very healthy pregnancy! Had an ultrasound around when your wife did and we saw the same thing! Everything sounds good!! Congratulations!!

 

[GFGuy]

Wow! all you ladies are my new best friends! Thanks so much for the awesome responses. I feel the best about all of this that I have since my birthday when we saw the BFP for the first time I told the story on the other thread but I'll summarize for anyone that wants to hear a cool story:

After 5 days of expecting AF and getting 5 BFN's and enjoying a weekend of "Well it didn't happen this time so lets enjoy some wine/beers/fun" it was my Birthday and wife was driving home to meet me at the house and we were going out to a sports bar for a BFB (Big Fat Burger) & beers (my fav thing to do on my bday) and we had all but moved on to expecting to try for the next month and I had a strange happy feeling that it wasn't over yet and when she came home I was standing in the driveway with my dog under my arm, a beer in one hand and our last pregnancy test in my other hand with a smile from ear to ear. She got out of the car and said "haha, you want me to take another test?" and I said "Yeah, why not? Might as well since it's our last one and we're about to go out and drink a bunch and eat bad" so she used the test, set it on the floor and ran upstairs to change for dinner and I stood over it and watched it blink..blink..blink.. for like 5 minutes and yelled upstairs "babe, I think it's broken" blink..blink..blink.. then I looked down and thought it said "no" but I also thought I saw a "+" next to it. So I bent down and sure enough it said "YES +"!!! ahhhhhhh!!! On her way downstairs I said with a straight face "Looks like we have something else to celebrate tonight!" Straight face turned into permanent grin for the next several hours

Needless to say, I flew solo on the beers that night!

Best birthday ever

 

[Kalabear]

Aw what a lovely story! I love hearing how people get their BFPs! Congratulations!

 

[misscyn]

Hi! I thought I'd also give my 2 cents (I like to calculate lol). What are you basing your estimation of ovulation day on? Were you using the ovulation prediction kits (OPK)? If not, you may very well be way off about when your wife ovulates. When I was tracking O with the OPKs, I would sometimes get a positive on day 18 or 19, even though my cycles were 29 days long.

Anyway, assuming her last period was around June 20th, you probably assumed her O was on July 4. But I think O was probably closer to July 8, because this is the only thing that would explain her late BFP.

What I think happened is that you dtd on July 6, and your sperm hung around for a couple of days until July 8, when your wife ovulated. Conception probably occured on July 8 or 9. A lot of women don't get a BFP until 12 or 13 days past ovulation. So if she got her BFP around July 22, this is the most plausible explanation.

Yesterday, your wife would have been barely 6 weeks pregnant, making it a little too early to see much on an ultrasound.

So basically, I think it all adds up quite nicely. Good luck!

 

[LadyHutch]

I have had a lot of early pregnancy experience.

If HCG is 14,000 at 5w1d, things are good. I also only saw empty sac at 5w0d with this pregnancy and now 15w today and just got harmony back....its a girl and healthy to boot.

My vast experience with MC is that at 5w mark, HCG is generally, in my case anyway, less than 2000. I can tell if my pregnancy is viable pretty quickly with just symptoms and low HCG. The only MC I had with higher HCG was 8000ish at 5w, and that one was slow rising and lost at 11w (growth stopped at 8w).

I think you can relax and enjoy =) Congrats.

 

[Feronia]

Hi! I thought I'd also give my 2 cents (I like to calculate lol). What are you basing your estimation of ovulation day on? Were you using the ovulation prediction kits (OPK)? If not, you may very well be way off about when your wife ovulates. When I was tracking O with the OPKs, I would sometimes get a positive on day 18 or 19, even though my cycles were 29 days long.

Anyway, assuming her last period was around June 20th, you probably assumed her O was on July 4. But I think O was probably closer to July 8, because this is the only thing that would explain her late BFP.

What I think happened is that you dtd on July 6, and your sperm hung around for a couple of days until July 8, when your wife ovulated. Conception probably occured on July 8 or 9. A lot of women don't get a BFP until 12 or 13 days past ovulation. So if she got her BFP around July 22, this is the most plausible explanation.

Yesterday, your wife would have been barely 6 weeks pregnant, making it a little too early to see much on an ultrasound.

So basically, I think it all adds up quite nicely. Good luck!

I totally agree with misscyn's predictions here. It makes the most sense based on everything you're saying

I've also been able to tell which of my pregnancies are healthy and which will end in miscarriage every time by HCG doubling times alone. With my 2 miscarriages, HCG levels were slow to rise and never got above about 200. With my healthy daughter, they almost quadrupled in 48 hours early on, and with this one (healthy so far at 12 weeks), they tripled early on!

When I was 6 weeks, the tech could barely, barely see a baby on the screen. I only had an ultrasound due to bleeding, too, otherwise I wouldn't have had one until 20 weeks. Sometimes all early ultrasounds do is stress you out when you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Just try to relax and let her gestate!

 

[IrishTwins]

I am measuring a week behind and I KNOW date of conception because I only had sex once.. So yes - it's pretty common or even typical..

 

[MrsKChicago]

There are a couple factors at play here. The other ladies have already covered sperm sticking around for several days. I'm gonna assume you're not totally familiar with the science here, so forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know, but once the sperm meets egg, baby still has to make its way to the uterus and implant itself in the uterine wall. This can happen as soon as 6 days after ovulation, averages around 8 (I think) and can take up to 12 days on the outside. Baby won't start putting out HCG until after it implants, and HCG isn't measurable until at least 2 days after implantation even with the best tests, so if your wife ovulated late, and implanted late, that's as much as 18 days between sex and baby starting to make HCG and really grow. And that late start means she wouldn't test positive til late, and baby would measure smaller than the average if you base it on an exactly perfect cycle length, ovulation date, and implantation time.

With that in mind, try not to worry about it. It's impossible not to worry at all even with a totally average pregnancy, but chances are everything is just fine.

 

[GFGuy]

Boy, forget TWW, this wait for the next ultra sound feels like 2 year wait... 8 days to go!!

 

[Kalabear]

Lol agreed!! The first trimester takes forever!!

 

[ssjad]

The whole first pregnancy takes forever!!