Ivf - first scan empty gestational sac

[West8690]

Hi, I'm feeling at a complete loss and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or can offer any insight, good or bad.
I went for my initial scan yesterday and the consultant said they only saw a gestational sac, no yolk sac or foetal pole. I should have been 7w + 1 but was also told the sac was measuring about 5.5w. They said it was unlikely the pregnancy would progress and I had hcg done, repeating them tomorrow.
However, When I got my initial hcg done after the 2WW they came back low and it took an additional 5 days to get over the 200 mark, so I don't know if that could have set things back.
I'm just wondering if anyone has been through anything like this and if I should just admit defeat and give up hope or hold on. I feel empty and emotionally drained.

Currently going through something similar.

I had a scan at the EPU last week due to one sided pain and all they found was an empty sac. I had a scan at the ivf clinic yesterday and they found a small fetal pole with a slow heartbeat. I think I’m measuring too far behind for things to be ok. I’m back to the EPU tomorrow.

My Hcg levels were low initially too. 13dp5dt- 155, 15dp5dt-290, 17dp5dt- 580. No one was concerned about the levels he had ether were (near) doubling.

Sorry you’re going through this too, it’s really shit.

Apologies for the typos at the end! I’m on my phone!

It should have said- no one was concerned about my levels as they were (near) doubling.

It's really horrible waiting isn't it. I'm just so frustrated and keep switching between wanting to be hopeful, feeling useless and angry and then just crying.

My bloods started really low. I had hbc 33 12dp5dt, 88 14dp5dt and 335 17dp5dt so they were more than happy with them. I went for my second set of bloods today and they didn't give me numbers but said they hadn't quite doubled (but there had only been 40 hours between tests) but they were still high. Have to keep going with meds and wait 12 days for another scan to find out - it's hell!!!!

The fact they found a heartbeat is good, how far are you now? I'll keep everything crossed for you xxx

Another IVF pregnancy here, with slow rising HCG levels at first. They seemed to pick up though- the clinic was really pleased as they were more than doubling and I was relieved when I got a 3+ on clear blue digital.

However, I started spotting lightly and decided to get a private scan (6 weeks 4 days) because I’m not due to get my scan at the ivf clinic until 8 weeks… and wanted to see if there was a heartbeat.

It was an internal ultrasound so I was hoping to see a heart beat (we saw a perfect heartbeat at this stage last time).

They found a gestational sac but said it wasn’t as round as they would like (apparently it was a bit ‘long’ rather than round) and no yolk sac or foetal pole in there. Obviously no heartbeat.)

It’s really hard waiting for answers and clarification. We have assumed I’m losing the pregnancy.

Have either of you had any answers? Wishing you both well.

It's a horrible waiting process. I find out on Monday. It's been a ridiculously long 10 days and I feel like the next 2 are just going to be the worst. I've been feeling sick all day every day, vomiting every night and had terrible gas but they said that either was I'll still get all pregnancy symptoms.
I was told that they changed initial ivf scans to at least 7 weeks because at 6 weeks they were still seeing empty sacs fairly often. When's your next scan? Try not to lose all hope. Is this your first round?
Sending lots of love xxx

It’s so draining isn’t it… It’s been such a rollercoaster. I’ll keep everything crossed for you for Monday. It’s so hard to know what are pregnancy symptoms and what are the result of taking all the ivf hormones.

It’s the not knowing that’s driving me mad. I just want to know whether to hope or whether to begin the process of letting go.

I just read this:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5024905/

Which makes me question everything again!

I don’t know if it’s helpful to share it or not because it looks like it was published a while ago (so maybe things have changed) but it suggests that people in our situation shouldn’t be told they are definitely having or about to have a miscarriage because the guidance in place at the time they wrote the article is based upon unreliable data.

But the fact I’m bleeding isn’t exactly ideal. So I’m not sure it applies to me.

re: rounds and pregnancies. We have one 21 month old (21 months tomorrow) conceived via ivf, and this is our first round for this pregnancy.

We had a really bad mistake made on a scan in my last pregnancy (we were told that our baby had 8cm fluid compressing one side of his brain in the third trimester) we were told he was critically injured… the sonographer was tearful and we were in pieces. They didn’t know if it was fluid or blood. We thought he was either dying in my womb or was at best going to be severely brain damaged. I convinced myself it was my fault because I’d played fruit ninja too enthusiastically on VR headset.

Turns out he was perfectly fine. Literally nothing wrong. Not even a tiny cyst. No fluid of any description. Nobody could work out what happened. They called it an ‘artefact’ I think. So many clinicians were scanning me in the following weeks trying to recreate the same imagery that the sonographer had captured but nobody could. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

So you can appreciate I’m now finding it hard not to imagine that the sonographer has just accidentally missed the sac and heartbeat, however silly that sounds and even though it’s incredibly unlikely- my experience proves it’s not 100% impossible.

I will be thinking of you and hoping things have an unexpectedly good outcome. Would be good to hear how you get on if you want to share. Speaking to other people in the same situation is keeping me slightly more sane.

P.s I’m showing as ‘pregnant 3+’ on clear blue digital right now. But I was told at this stage the HCG levels are almost irrelevant to the health of the pregnancy and a standard tests to check for failing pregnancy won’t be relevant to me because I’m taking lots of hormones that would give false results. So I guess it really is a waiting game.

Thinking of you, and everyone in this situation. Statistically some of us, even if only a few, should get good news. Keeping fingers crossed for all of us x

It's so difficult isn't it. This is our second round of ivf, we have a 16 month old and this is the first try for number 2 with a frozen embryo. I've read lots of conflicting arguments about frozen embryos taking longer to implant because of thawing but I feel like it doesn't really matter how much I read because I can always find arguments for both sides. I'm also on double dosage of meds this round as my issue is I have no progesterone so it means there is literally nothing to hold a pregnancy once/if it implants, but that obviously leads to stronger symptoms. It's a minefield.
If it helps, when I was pregnant last time I had a huge bleed at about 5 weeks, to the point where I thought I was haemorrhaging and was convinced that it was all over. She's here and healthy as anything.
I'm here if you just need to talk xxx

Wishing you guys so much luck.

I went back to the EPU on Thursday but sadly the heartbeat has stopped. This happened with our last fresh transfer too. Awful!

I’m booked in for a d&c on Monday.

I'm so sorry for your loss, I can't imagine what you're going through. I hope Monday is as painless as it possibly can be xxx

Similar happened to me. Small sac measuring behind. Doc told me it was fifty fifty. I miscarried naturally a couple of days later.

As for frozen embryos taking longer to implant I don't know, this is the first time I hear that might be the case. But even if that were the case I'd say a 1.5wk discrepancy remains significant.

Sorry, I wish I could say something more hopeful, but it's not looking good. Still, I've read miracle stories on here so fingers crossed for you.

I can completely relate, it’s a real minefield and such a tough wait, not knowing what’s what.

We have undergone a frozen embryo transfer too.

Yes, I know what you mean about reading stuff online and finding conflicting pieces of information, new research and people with really different experiences.

It’s hard not to hope. But so painful holding on without answers.

I’m so glad things worked out with your daughter, that must have been so scary. At the moment I’m not bleeding a large quantity but it really doesn’t feel right. Especially as the scan showed no yolk sac or fetal pole.

This morning I felt awful, really sick and exhausted. I feel a bit more normal now after a nap whilst our son had his nap.

Like you, I can’t work out what’s pregnancy and what’s the medication.

Same goes for you- I’m here if you want to chat. I’ll be thinking of you ahead of tomorrow. I hope you get good news x

Thank you for your message. I’m so sorry to read your news. Will be thinking of you tomorrow. Hope you are surrounded by loved ones and have whatever support you need and want x

Bad news here. No change since the last scan. Just been told to come off all meds and have to wait 10 days to see if things happen naturally xxx

Hey, I was wondering how you were doing. I’m so sorry. It’s completely devastating.

It’s not just the loss of your baby but all the relentless anxiety and uncertainly in the weeks leading up to the transfer, all the medication, the fragility of the whole process and the sense of helplessness that there are very few things we can do to influence the outcome.

It’s heartbreaking and on a practical level there are so many logistical aspects to take care of.

I was scanned at my clinic today and the gestational sac is still completely empty. I should have been 7 weeks tomorrow. We should be seeing a yolk sac and foetal pole now, potentially a heartbeat too. But there’s definitely nothing.

I feel so empty. I was hoping at least some of us would have miraculous good news.

It makes me feel very nervous about getting slow growing embryos and slow rising HCG levels in the future (if we are able to have another round).

What a rollercoaster.

I have to keep taking medication for a week and then get scanned again, purely because of protocol. But in reality there is nothing happening here. I’m still bleeding and I don’t have pregnancy symptoms like I did in my last pregnancy. No tender breasts etc. I think the nausea I feel (which is nowhere near as bad as it was in my last pregnancy) is just the progesterone I’m taking. So continuing all the medication feels really tough. But it’ll soon be over.

Sending so much love. Hope you are resting and are surrounded by support xxx I’m here if you want to talk xxx

@West8690 @amoobaa I’m so sorry for you both. I was really hoping I’d be the 1 in 3 and you guys would get good news.

The waiting is unbearable, the whole process is just terrible. I had a d and c yesterday and horrendously, that was the easy part of it all.

Sending you both so much love and strength to get you through the coming weeks. Xx

Thank you ladies. I dont honestly know how I feel, it just comes in waves. Telling people is horrible. Saying it out loud is so painful. We don't have any embryos left either so now my head is swimming with thoughts of how long we have to wait and how long things will take. It's such a shitty life sometimes xxx

It seems like we have all been through a very similar process ☹️

@West8690 we also have no embryos left and are in the same mindset- wondering what next and are waiting to find out how long we have to wait to start again. We plan on another round… it’s scary because we have only got one embryo out of each round (one that worked, who is now 22 months). Then next round we only got one. (Who I’m currently miscarrying) and I wonder, what will happen next? Will we get more, none, the same? The process is so intense.

And as you guys know, there are so so so so many hoops you jump through before you get all the way to this stage… so it’s not just a simple ‘oh well, let’s try again’. It feels like you’re whole life is being dragged backwards through thousands of prickly hedges. All the while, there is this crushing feeling that you were so close to things working out and each time you tell someone (which for me wasn’t always a choice but a necessity- because I had to inform work in order to access the leave entitlement provided specifically for ivf treatment), you feel crushed all over again.

I’ll hang out here a bit if anyone wants to share picking up the pieces or share the process moving forwards.

Sending love and strength. Maybe we will look back at this post in years to come and smile, because it all works out in the end? Xx

Are you still on free rounds or do you have to pay now?
That's another layer to add to it, the financial stress. Before this we said that if this embryo didn't work we wouldn't go again but I can't imagine not trying. But we had to pay for the last round and any going forward which makes me so angry as it's a postcode lottery. Up north you get 3 rounds free, but once one round is successful you have to pay. Elsewhere in the country you get 3 free regardless.
I'm also in the mindset that I just want to go as soon as we can but my husband is unsure. I just feel like right now I have the drive to keep going and I'll lose my nerve if we wait, but also that going ahead gives me something to focus on other than this (which I know is probably not the healthiest thing but it's helping me cope) xxx

So sorry you didn't hear good news.
I totally understand how you feel about trying again immediately because I felt the same when I miscarried. Besides, I don't know how old you are, but it's usually best to crack on without wasting time, when IVF is concerned (unless you're 25 but that's rarely the case in ivf land).

The costs are eye-wateringly depressing aren't they ?

If you only get one egg per cycle would it make sense to try IUI instead of IVF ? Or do you need ICSI/IMSI ?

Sorry just realized you are not the poster who said they only got one per cycle, my bad.

Yes, I want to try again immediately too. I have the same feeling of wanting to stay focussed and keep the momentum.

We are paying for our rounds, so so expensive!

re: IUI, we can’t- we have to have ICSI. We just need a blastocyst that will grow. I imagine this one will be called a blighted ovum ☹️

How long did you have to wait between your last rounds? You're such a warrior doing it again.
We didn't have any option other than IVF. I have PCOS and don't ovulate and my womb lining doesn't build up. It's frustrating, everything is there just nothing speaks to each other.

There was a really long gap between this round and the last round (because the last one resulted in our 22 month old) but I’ve read that if you want to start another round asap, the minimum time you have to wait is 4-6 weeks. I think you ideally have a full period before you start all the medication again and start a new round. But honestly I’m unsure and will be asking lots of questions at my appointment next week, 6th December.

I need to stop reading stuff online, because I have stopped bleeding and whilst I previously assumed this to be a blighted ovum and assumed that to be the only rational explanation (because I cannot have got my dates wrong as it was ivf)… I found a website that gives lots of examples of women who had ivf and were misdiagnosed with miscarriage and blighted ovum… when they actually had a viable pregnancy. It just needed more time. And it talks about women much further along that me.

I was looking for validation that my assumption (that I had a blighted ovum) was absolutely indisputable and that I could completely let go and feel some closure.

But instead I found of load of info that really put doubt in my mind. I guess I’ll get complete closure on Tuesday.

Hope you and all of us in this situation is getting answers and closure… and hope for the future xx

Just in case this is of interest to anyone now or in the future… this is the website I mentioned.

discover.hubpages.com/health/IVFMisdiagnosedMiscarriage