Week 5 MC - I'm sure I was pregnant

[WhiteWolf]

I had a stillbirth at 32 weeks last year. We started TTC 2 cycles ago and I got on monday a positive (4 weeks), I then obviously dis about 4 or 5 more tests the following days. I had all the symptoms, boobs, sickness, etc. Friday I started to feel pain and started spotting. The pain increased throughout the day and the flow became heavier to, by the end of the day I knew it was all over. I cried all night of the thought of MC and the horrible pain. Today in a lot of pain still I decided to go to A&E just in case something was wrong. They saw me and the test came back negative and the nurse just told me 'is it possible it's your period?'. They didn't even want to do blood tests and dismissed me completely. I went home feeling super confused and heartbroken. I don't understand… I am still in a lot of pain and bleeding and I really don't feel like I am having my period. Can anybody tell me what it could have been? The pregnancy hormone couldn't have gone down so quickly, could it? I had to go back to my phone and check the photos I took of the pregnancy test as I felt completely deluded… But they were there, I was pregnant …

So sorry for your loss . Of course you were pregnant. You had the positive test to prove it. The hormone can go down quickly. I've had similar with very early miscarriages, where only a blood test confirmed a 'chemical' pregnancy, as it had been too early for a positive result with a POAS pregnancy test. I was very glad to have had some confirmation, to show I wasn't deluded, as I too, had suffered another recent miscarriage.

I hope you have happier news soon.

Thanks for your note MumsKnitter and sorry for your recent loss :(
I felt horrible when the nurse was looking at me while asking "couldn't this be your period…?" She called the gyne doctor on the phone and he sounded so dismissive and rushed to hang up, I could hear 'no, no blood test, just send her home'… :(
I am very confused and don't know how the hormone can drop so quickly. I thought once you're pregnant even if you mc it takes weeks to go back to normal.

HI WhiteWolf. I'm sorry that the hospital was so dismissive of you, especially given your history. Sorry for your losses.

You were definitely pregnant as an hpt will not show a positive unless there has been some degree of implantation. However it may not have lasted very long. I had a positive hpt on a Friday and by the following Weds, when I thought I was 5 weeks and should have had hcg of at least 400 it was only 44. 2 days later it had gone down to 41 and then 5 days after that it was right down to 3. So it dropped away almost completely within the space of a week. I think an hpt detects as little as hcg of 25 so I have no idea how high my hcg levels got before they started dropping.

The bleeding started for me the day after the hcg went down to 41, though it was never heavy (which I find a bit weird) and stopped after a day and a half.

Hope you are luckier next time - much of what I have read suggests that women may be more fertile after an early loss like this.

Hope you feel better soon.

WhiteWolf - so sorry you've had to go through this, particularly after what happened to you last year - life can be so very cruel at times. What you've described sounds like a chemical pregnancy (the name typically given to any loss before 6 weeks/ before you can see anything definitive on a scan). I had something similar at 4+5 last Summer, preceded by days of heavy cramping and a Clearblue digi test that never budged above 1-2 weeks. I got a BFN pretty much as soon as I started bleeding, so it is possible for your hcg levels to fall quite quickly.

Sorry you had such unsympathetic treatment at A&E. It is probably true that there is little they could have done to stop the bleeding etc., but that's no reason for dismissing the fact that you were pregnant. I'm sure I've also heard that hospital pregnancy tests don't tend to be that sensitive.

Thinking of you. Sending enormous virtual hugs. I really hope you get your rainbow baby soon.

Whitewolf I'm so sorry for what you have been through. You were most definitely pregnant and have suffered an early miscarriage.

I had a very similar experience to you just a few weeks ago. I was just over 5 weeks, having tested positive three times over the previous 9 days. I started bleeding heavily and went to A&E around 36 hours later. I didn't do another home test as I knew that it may still show as positive and I didn't want to build my hopes up. The hospital's urine test came back negative though and they were very sceptical which made me feel really sad, to not have the pregnancy acknowledged. They did however do a blood test and this came back very low (around 7 I think ). So the levels can drop very quickly. I think this is more likely to happen if the miscarriage is early and your body manages it naturally.

I can ony imagine how you must be feeling right now. I really hope your rainbow baby comes soon. xxx

Thank you so much for your support and sorry it has happened to you ladies too. I went to the GP a few days after A&E and the doctor said there was nothing to do, nothing to check. I left feeling so helpless, I know this is common but I just really wanted to check that everything was fine to try again. I feel a lot better now, a lot calmer and ready to try again.

How long did it take for you to stop bleeding? I know they say everybody's different but it just feels weird. It's so unsettling.