Confused from early scans

[MrsS1984]

Hi all

Just wanting to share my story and see if anyone has any advice or similar situations to provide some help!

I've been to the EPU today fully prepared to have a scan that shows nothing and have D&C this afternoon because I went for an early scan at 6 weeks and they said pregnancy of unknown location and asked me to come back for bloods 48hrs later. I got these results just after Xmas and bloods had gone from 12k to 15k hcg so the consultant diagnosed a miscarriage over the phone and booked me in for today.

I've been today and the ultrasound showed a sac of 17mm but they couldn't see/hear anything else. They've asked me to wait another week which of course is the right thing to do if there's any chance but I just wasn't expecting this continued state of confusion to be the outcome.

I suffered a previous MC from blighted ovum only seen at 12 week scan last June so am naturally apprehensive and have had no previous successful pregnancies.

Is there any actual chance at 8 weeks (what I should be now) that this is viable and that they might see something next week?

Anybody had anything similar? I hate the waiting!!!

I'm so sorry that you're going through this. I had a similar experience. Scan and 7 weeks showing small embryo and no heartbeat then went back at 8 weeks fully expecting them to confirm a MMC and even had a surgical procedure pre-booked for the next day, like you. But at 8 weeks even though there had been no growth, they thought they could see a flicker of a heartbeat. So, I then had to go back again (this time at 10 weeks, due to Christmas), and again they weren't sure whether or not there was a feint heartbeat. I finally went back today (at 11 weeks) where they finally confirmed a MMC. Booked in for the surgical procedure next week now. Feels so long and drawn out, but they have to stick to their procedures. Like you I've had a previous MMC too and no successful pregnancies. I hope the next week passes ok for you while you wait for the next scan. Whilst I was fully expecting a MMC to be diagnosed today, it hit me harder than I thought, and I ended up in tears when the lovely midwife told me that I could self-refer to the EPU next time, and that I would be extra fertile after a miscarriage so that we should try again soon.

@Bubble77bee I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't think however much you think you've geared yourself up for the news you can quite prepare for someone telling you it for certain.

Our situations do sound very similar and I'm sorry there wasn't a more positive outcome after all the waiting too. Its interesting what they've said about TTC again - there's so much conflicting advice out there. I've already said of my other half how hard it'll be if this happens again but I guess we've just got to keep on thinking positive.

People around me seem to be falling pregnant so easily and it seems so unfair. I'm so happy for them obviously but at the same time you're thinking 'why me'!

Hi OP. I'm so sorry you're going through this. I am also just starting my week of waiting for a rescan after seeing a slowly growing embryo with no heartbeat.

Unfortunately my understanding is that they are required to scan twice if they can't identify an embryo or if the embryo is under a certain size, with no heartbeat or over a certain size with a potential heartbeat because although measurements and dates can point to a miscarriage with a very high degree of confidence, they can't conclusively diagnose in legal terms. That can only happen if they can observe consistently that growth is not happening properly or they see a heartbeat which eventually stops.

Hope that makes sense. I've spent the last 48hrs trying to understand it all myself and that's what I've found. It absolutely sucks and feels like a box ticking exercise but I suppose they do need to be super super cautious even if they are highly confident about what's happened. It's a buffer to decrease the margin of error. I do wish they would explain that better as I too left the hospital wondering/confused as to whether there was a shred of hope.

I'm expecting to be scanned on Thursday and have the operation on Friday. Despite having to go back, they did discuss the different forms of intervention (medical/surgical) in the same session as the first scan.

Totally know what you mean about seeing pregnancy everywhere. I feel like the only thing that will fill this gap for me is to try again. I go from acceptance one minute to feeling totally miserable about it the next, so can imagine how you might be feeling too.

Are you able to take a break from work this week if that applies to you? I'd already told mine after my initial diagnosis (before scan yesterday) as I expected to be having the operation soon too. Have decided not to go back this week and to be as kind to myself as possible - going to get my hair done, go on a long walk with a friend, see some family etc. Hope you can do something similar if it would help