Updating my "empty sac at 5w6d" story. Ultrasound today at 11weeks.

[trying2bamom]

So happy for you. Glad there was a nice little baby in there for you.

 

[Isme]

Wow, what wonderful news! I'm so glad things worked out for you.

Regarding your midwife, she sounds pretty awful and insensitive. Are you able to find someone else?

Thanks! Unfortunately I was not able to find someone else. If I want to deliver at that particular facility, then she is my only option. At the second appointment I decided that I could stand her enough to continue care, since the alternative meant delivering in a hospital-- which terrifies me. I'm just telling myself that I don't need her to be my BFF, I simply need her to help me safely get my baby out. She seems fully qualified for that task, at least. I may end up hiring a doula, though, so that I have someone with a little compassion there while I deliver. lol

 

[Isme]

I was the same at my ten week scan.
I've had previous mc s and slight spotting this time.
Only started believing it then.
Its a nice feeling
Enjoy
Congrats xxx

So glad you got happy news too! It is the best feeling.

I forgot to include in my OP that I had some very light brown spotting between 5-6 weeks too. It just really seemed like I had the deck stacked against me, but there my baby was in spite of everything.

 

[fxmummyduck]

Great news! I'm just wondering did they date you're pregnancy from this scan? Just wondering if you were less than 5 weeks when they couldn't see a fetal pole in the sac x

They did date the pregnancy. (My ticker is off slightly.) I was measuring 11 weeks exactly at my scan on the 11th, and last month on April 4th my empty sac had measured exactly 5w6d. 5w6d matches up exactly with when I assumed I ovulated (and conceived, since we only did it once) but the 11week scan might mean that I'm one day behind that. Only maybe, though. Since it was only a difference of one day, the tech didn't think anything of it.

There is NO way I was less than 5 weeks at the time of the original scan. The dates simply wouldn't match up for that, as we only had sex 3 times that entire month. We DID once after AF, once the day after my positive OPK, and finally once after I'd already got my first positive squinter test. I am certain of when I conceived within a 24-hr range (since the egg can drop up to 48 hours after a positive OPK) and the ultrasound measurements of both the empty sac, and the actual baby, back up my calculations perfectly.

That's why I felt it was so important to share. I was absolutely between 5w5d and 5w6d and the only thing visble was an empty sac. There wasn't even a yolk visible, let alone a fetal pole or heartbeat. The lack of a visible yolk is what really bothered me, as I could hardly find any first-hand information of anyone not seeing it late in the 5th week-- even though the basic range to see it is supposed to be between the middle of the 5th week and the beginning of the 6th week. Seeing a fetal pole (with heartbeat) halfway through the 5th week is supposed to be extremely rare, and yet it seems like eveyone and their brother sees exactly that here on the internet-- which is not comforting to those of us in question about the viability our pregnancies. I wanted to offer my story to balance out all the other ones where people totally saw a yolk, fetal pole (smoking a tobacco pipe and playing a tambourine), complete with heartbeat at the beginning of the 5th week.

Thanks so much for sharing! Can definitely see why you're so sure of dates, I'm just really interested as I thought I was sure of my dates but was behind what I thought. Maybe I took a while to implant! This was a while ago with my ds though so I'm still learning so much!! Hope ttc the next I'm a bit more accurate lol!

Anyways I'm just so glad it all turned out great!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Excellent news

 

[Amethyst76]

Thank you for sharing... I went in for blood work after what I assumed to be implantation bleeding and my cycle being late would have been 40 days pregnant. My Dr did blood and a quick scan on an old ultrasound machine that she claimed to be "ancient and not very reliable". She didn't see anything, so has asked me to come back on the 25 in case I am not as far along as I thought, but I am fearing the worst. For did you get through those weeks of waiting? I feel like I have to prepare myself for the worst...

 

[Isme]

Thanks so much for sharing! Can definitely see why you're so sure of dates, I'm just really interested as I thought I was sure of my dates but was behind what I thought. Maybe I took a while to implant! This was a while ago with my ds though so I'm still learning so much!! Hope ttc the next I'm a bit more accurate lol!

Anyways I'm just so glad it all turned out great!

Thanks! I do think that if we'd DTD more, or if I hadn't gotten a squinter-positive when I did (either 9 or 10-dpo), then there might have been some room for error-- especially since women don't always ovulate within 48 hours of their positive OPK. But in my case, this just wouldn't add up any other way. That's why I was so worried after seeing an empty sac so late in the 5th week. I probably could have had a little more hope of I'd thought there was any way I was less pregnant than I was suppose to be. But nope. All of the dates line up exactly with my ultrasounds. There just wasn't anything visible other than the sac at the time of my first scan.

 

[Isme]

Thank you for sharing... I went in for blood work after what I assumed to be implantation bleeding and my cycle being late would have been 40 days pregnant. My Dr did blood and a quick scan on an old ultrasound machine that she claimed to be "ancient and not very reliable". She didn't see anything, so has asked me to come back on the 25 in case I am not as far along as I thought, but I am fearing the worst. For did you get through those weeks of waiting? I feel like I have to prepare myself for the worst...

I'm so sorry that you're dealing with that kind of uncertainty.
It is so frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time. Have you had a positive pregnancy test yet?

For myself, I'd love to say that I just had hope and it got me through... But that's not true. I did exactly what you're talking about. I prepared myself for the worst. I didn't let myself get attached to the idea that there was really a living baby in there. I tried to temper the excitement of the family and friends that knew... I told them that there was no guarantee that everything would work out. I sounded like a pregnant Eeyore for about 2 months... (I could not speak positively about the chance of a future baby because I was so terrified that any sort if hope would only increase my pain if this didn't turn out okay.) And that's how I got through it. It definitely wasn't fun, and I wouldn't recommend anyone waiting that long to figure out what's going on. I'll certainly never do it again.

 

[Amethyst76]

Thank you for sharing... I went in for blood work after what I assumed to be implantation bleeding and my cycle being late would have been 40 days pregnant. My Dr did blood and a quick scan on an old ultrasound machine that she claimed to be "ancient and not very reliable". She didn't see anything, so has asked me to come back on the 25 in case I am not as far along as I thought, but I am fearing the worst. For did you get through those weeks of waiting? I feel like I have to prepare myself for the worst...

I'm so sorry that you're dealing with that kind of uncertainty.
It is so frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time. Have you had a positive pregnancy test yet?

For myself, I'd love to say that I just had hope and it got me through... But that's not true. I did exactly what you're talking about. I prepared myself for the worst. I didn't let myself get attached to the idea that there was really a living baby in there. I tried to temper the excitement of the family and friends that knew... I told them that there was no guarantee that everything would work out. I sounded like a pregnant Eeyore for about 2 months... (I could not speak positively about the chance of a future baby because I was so terrified that any sort if hope would only increase my pain if this didn't turn out okay.) And that's how I got through it. It definitely wasn't fun, and I wouldn't recommend anyone waiting that long to figure out what's going on. I'll certainly never do it again.

Thanks for the reply. I did get a positive hpt a few days before I went to the Dr the first time. She does not seem concerned, just thinks it was to early. But I definitely went into Eeyore mode. Some people thought I wasn't excited, but I am so excited, just hard with the uncertainty ... And hard having so many pregnancy symptoms. I'm starting to learn what faith really is. It's so helpful that there are those who know first hand what I am going through and have overcome their hurdle. Thanks again for the kind words and sharing your journey. ((hugs))