No nonsense, honest thoughts on early scan: 6wks 5 days by my dates, 5 wks 4 days by scan. Tell me, I can take it.

[working9while5]

Had an early scan today as going out of the country and just wanted to know it wouldn't be ectopic (fear of this abroad/not speaking language etc as happened to a close friend).

• LMP was 6th September
• Short cycle of 24-25 days.
• Unprotected sex only once this month - 17th.
• No smiley face on OPK on 18th, 19th, 20th or 21st (so didn't bother!!)
• BFN on the 27th, forgot about it
• BFP on Clearblue digital 1-2 weeks at CD 27 (two days overdue)
• Clearblue digital said 3+ following week

I think I must have ov'd on the 18th, realistically (forgot OPK on the 16th/17th as hadn't bought pack!) so I should be

I randomly did OPKs on the 19th, 20th and 21st and no smiley faces. I got a first response negative on the 27th at 10 days days post the day we had sex (got a positive at this time on last pregnancy) so thought no more of it.

Period didn't come on the 30th, so took a Clearblue test on the 2nd or 3rd and got a positive and 1-2 weeks pregnant. I took the test again a week later at what I thought would be under five weeks and got a 3+ (ten days ago now).

• Scan today was abdominal, not transvaginal. I am overweight (BMI of 25)
• Heartbeat was 115bpm.
• Crown Rump Length was 4.6mm - measuring 5 weeks 4 days

I know no one can tell me that it WILL be okay, what will be will be, but should I just be expecting to miscarry? Or could it be okay? Am I deluding myself thinking it will?

Please just give me facts if you have them, MN! Thanks a million.

You are pregnant! Congratulations. You are not overweight - your BMI is normal. If it is picking up on an abdominal at 5 +4 its obviously clear enough or they would have done a TV. Enjoy your pregnancy, the dates will probably level out by 12 weeks.

Your scan sounds excellent. The measurement is close to 6 weeks. I had 5.6mm at 6+4. They dated me at 6+1 but my dates turned out to be right in the end. Scans this early can be notoriously inaccurate at dating especially if they are abdominal. But they have found a real live baby with a good strong heartbeat so you don't want to be worrying too much about miscarrying right now. It has a very much odds on chance of being ok. The probability is that your scan is a couple of days behind and also your ovulation was a few days late.

Are you getting another scan at 8-9 weeks? That is the most reassuring time for early scans.

Thanks. It is hard for me to make sense of it because of the fact we only had the opportunity to conceive once at CD13 which is late enough in a 24/25 day cycle, if the egg didn't fertilise til, say, CD17 or 18, then wouldn't there be a problem with there not being enough lining built up to support it?

But I guess I will take heart in the fact that yes, the dating might be wrong. Thinking back once the shock died down, I had an abdominal scan on my ds (some bleeding) and they actually couldn't measure abdominally, could really only see the sack, so they went for a transvaginal. On the transvaginal they saw him clear as day and perfect for dates. So perhaps it is nothing more than that. I am getting conflicting reports from reading online on the hb. The sonographer said it was consistent with a 5wk 4 day pregnancy but everything seems to say that at that stage it is only barely there e.g. 85-90.

So positive signs and signs I can't work out.

KatandKit I am going to try to be brave and hold out the full month, scan again on 17th. My head keeps saying "come on now, if you are spending money it needs to be on something actually reassuring and odds will be much better at that stage or even later" but my heart says "do it sooner, do it sooner, if it's over it's over and you need to get on with it".

Patience is NOT my forte, neither is dealing with uncertainty. Oh well. Tis life.

I'm glad you got a strong heartbeat. That's a really good sign and miscarriage risk drops significantly once a strong heartbeat is found.

Since you asked for no-nonsense responses too, I was measuring a week behind when I had a transvaginal scan at what I thought was 6+5. I had the scan because of quite heavy, period-ish bleeding. They found a heartbeat (can't remember what the bpm was but think it wasn't as fast as your bean's). I also have similar short cycles and tend to ovulate around day 11, so they did say that my dates weren't exact. But I knew it was bad (because of when I'd had the BFP I knew my dates couldn't have been that far out). And of course the bleeding was v worrying. I ended up miscarrying a few days later.

But, people are right that such early scans can be unreliable particularly if they're using an abdo scanner. I've been told it's best to use a TV scan up to 7 weeks, or even later if necessary, to get a good view of the bubs (a good view). In my current pregnancy, I had a private scan at 7 + 1 exactly - she used the abdo scanner and muttered something about me measuring 6+3, at which my heart sank due to my recent miscarriage and I was bracing myself for bad news - lo and behold, she switched to TV scan and the bean was measured as bang on for dates.

The heartbeat is a very positive sign, so try to hold onto that as you wait for the next scan (am sure it will still feel like time is passing too slowly). I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your baby.

Thanks Flip. I am sorry you experienced a miscarriage.

I think the major moral of the story is that early scans are a pile of poo no matter what, because once you see that heartbeat or look for one and don't see it it is harder not to feel sad about what happens next and there's no need. I understand why I decided to do it, and if I do miscarry when I am on holidays next week, at least I know there is nothing ectopic or seriously untoward that might endanger me.

However, I am cross now having read more that I paid £80 for them to do an abdominal scan because it would be unlikely I think to see a hb at 5 weeks 4 days in this situation and it could have done with the clarity a TV scan would have allowed. So it may be that all this worry is just pointless and could have been avoided. Though I am more or less kicking myself either ay because actually I could have gone in there yesterday and seen a strong heartbeat and still had a m/c at 7 weeks, 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 10 weeks etc etc. There's just no guarantee ever, but particularly not in the first trimester. And now I am full of worry and for what? It's all psychological. I am thinking "ooh maybe it is slow growing because there is a chromosomal issue" or thinking it slowed at 5 weeks 4 days because of a neural tube defect or that massive stress I had with my manager. Which is all fruitless anxiety and worry which will make not one whit of difference to the outcome either way! I guess in pregnancy you just have to hope, always, for the best but be aware of the possibilities of other outcomes.

If I were you I'ld also be pissed off that they didn't switch to a TV scan straight away - surely the point of private scans is to be as reassuring as possible? Certainly with this pregnancy I needed all the reassurance I could get and would have been sent away worrying needlessly if she hadn't switched to a TV scan when I had my 7 week scan.

I agree that there's no guarantee ever, but according to the Miscarriage Association (who recommend on their site a TV if the pregnancy is less than 10 weeks), if you see a heartbeat at 6 weeks of pregnancy, the chances of the pregnancy continuing are 78%. A heartbeat at 8 weeks increases the chance of a continuing pregnancy to 98% and at 10 weeks that goes up to 99.4%. The odds are in favour of this being an utterly normal, healthy pregnancy, though I know from experience how worrying this is.

Thanks for this response. I am going to try to feel as reassured as possible, focus on thinking it is probably just crappy scan measurements and be positive between now and next scan, perhaps just steeling myself for bad news when I go in for the ultrasound.