IVF baby measuring behind then caught up? Help

[Ashley25]

Hi Girls
I did a 5 day fresh transfer on June 20th. My HCG was rising great until 5w2d when it slowed a bit and doubled in almost 3 days.
1st ultrasound- measuring on track 5w6d heartbeat seen but too slow to measure
2nd ultrasound- baby measuring behind by 4 days. was 6w5d and measuring 6w1d but heartbeat was 126
3rd ultrasound (today- baby measuring on track 7w3d with 156 heart rate.

I thought I was miscarrying and was shocked to see it was on track. What could this mean ? Is this pregnancy doomed?? The doctor said to be cautiously optimistic but didn't sound super positive. Has anyone been in this situation? I am in limbo and so scared.

 

[EMSwife1124]

No personal experience with the exact situation but I do know that even the measurement being off by a millimeter could have made baby measure small.

My son’s heartbeat at 6&3 was 125 so yours was around the same for that timeframe.

Obviously there is no way to say nothing will go wrong but by your description, you sound on track with my pregnancy that ended with a healthy baby! I hope you get the same happy ending

 

[nikki_]

Sorry, no experience here either but honestly everything you're saying sounds normal. HCG is supposed to double every 48-72 hours (even longer when your HCG gets high), which yours did.

You saw baby's heartbeat super early and by the time you could count, the heartbeat was right on track for its age and has continued rising. Even though the baby's actual growth slowed for a couple days, that doesn't sound bad to me. I've heard so many stories of slow growth where the baby caught up to where it was supposed to be and stayed there. Sounds like yours has done just that!

I've realized sometimes doctors like to be overly-cautious in getting your hopes up, especially when it comes to higher risk pregnancies. They don't realize saying "cautiously optimistic" can actually make you overthink and worry more than what's really necessary. But your numbers sound promising to me Good luck

 

[Flueky88]

The scan might have been off a bit. It's hard getting accurate measurements in those early days. The earliest I've been scanned is 7 weeks so i can't quite relate. I think things sound great now.

 

[Ashley25]

Thanks !!! Could the slow growth in the beginning be a sign of anything bad to come? down syndrome? I'm in a panic of course

 

[MissMarpleFan]

According to the fetal heart rate chart I’ve used, your baby is now an overachiever, if anything.

https://goo.gl/images/Nydbcu

 

[JJordaan]

Hi hun. I cant relate to IVF but with our bub it measured alot smaller at our first scan than expected. 2 weeks or more. Then at our recent scan 3 weeks later, bub had caught up and had a serious growth spurt! Ob was pretty impressed. So i think u need not stress in my opinion. Iv heard so many stories of little bubs growing like a weed and crisis averted for many mums.

 

[Ashley25]

thanks everyone you all made me feel SO much better! heres hoping for good news at my next scan!

 

[Scout]

I don't know if you OB has this on his scan, but on my OB's scan machine out beside where the date comes up when they measure, it has a little +- 5, meaning the date can be off that much and it's normal. Also, they grow at different rates too. I was high risk with daughter and had a scan every 7 days from week 5 thru 15 and a lot of those times the baby didn't measure exactly 7 days ahead. Sometimes she was behind and sometimes ahead. What you posted above seems normal to me. Everything is right on track now and heartbeat looks good. I've never read anything about dates being out in the beginning meaning something will be wrong with baby. Good luck and congratualtions