Body absorbed the embryo

[AMS19]

Hi. I found out yesterday at a private scan I had lost the baby. I was 9+5 but all they found was an empty sac measuring 8+6, so 6 days behind. What is strange is I have had 2 scans previously, one at 5+2 which should a yolk measuring 4-5 weeks, and one at 6+6 which showed an embryo with a heartbeat measuring 6 weeks (so again...6days behind). Therefore the sac has continued to grow at the same speed, about 6 days behind, but baby has disappeared. I havent had any spotting since my last scan with the heartbeat, so appears my body has absorbed the embryo. Anyone experienced anything like this? Probably not from the googling I've done. Seems very rare.

I'm hoping to start medical management in the next day or two, just waiting to hear from EPU.

This was my first pregnancy so am clearly feeling deflated. And the fact my body absorbed it is making me worry something is wrong with me too ☹

I’m sorry you are going through this
This may not apply to you op, but it definitely happens in mice (I did my dissertation on it). Weather it happens across all mammals 🤷🏻‍♀️?
Was there a reason for so many early scans?

Whether

Thanks @IHateCoronavirus (great username btw). First scan was for left-sided pain (was the corpus lupus causing pain) and second was for spotting. But as I say, no spotting or bleeding post the 2nd scan where a heartbeat was seen. So there definitely was an embryo and there definitely isn't now, and it definitely hasn't come out of me...😒

I thought this was pretty common? When one twin dies in utero early on, isn't it absorbed while the pregnancy continues for the other? Presumably the same mechanism can work for single pregnancies.

@FestiveStuffing you are right on twins, very common. But it is the other twin that absorbs the embryo not the mum. From all the research I've done appears to be very uncommon / pretty much unheard of in single pregnancies

I am so sorry for your loss.

I had a similar situation for my second miscarriage. I had a private early scan for reassurance where a heartbeat was seen, then at my 12wk scan there was no sign of any embryo, just a small empty sac. The medical personnel performing the scan questioned the existence of the fetus in the first place, but obviously I’d seen the heartbeat just weeks before. I wasn’t given the option of medical management as it was deemed unnecessary, and ended up having a pretty horrific miscarriage a week or so later where I had to be admitted to hospital. At the time I remember almost being glad, like it was recognition that my baby had actually existed...

On reflection I quite like the idea that my body absorbed the embryo, I find it quite comforting that the baby remained a part of me and that my body wasn’t willing to give the baby up.

Please don’t worry there is anything wrong with you. I was broken by my miscarriages, but it was third time lucky for me and I’m now a mum of two, so it’s entirely possible for you too.

I hope you get all the support you need to get you through this. x

@Imatina thank you so much for taking the time to respond and I'm so sorry for what you went through. I couldn't bare to wait for this to pass naturally so praying they will give me something, either medical management or surgery. Your story definitely gives me hope so thank you, right now being a mummy feels like it isnt meant for me (I realise this is one loss and people have it a lot worse). So happy you got your happy ending xx

I’m sorry you are having to deal with this especially at this time of year. When I was going through an ectopic someone mentioned they had this, they had a private scan at 7 weeks abs then the baby was gone at the 12 week scan, it sounds heartbreaking.

I hope they can offer you medical management so you don’t have to wait at home for this to pass. Make sure you ask them about support/therapy ❤️

Thanks so much @Chica1990 yes it is so hard to deal with. Especially at this time of year. I've decided to go down the surgery route next week. Not ideal waiting over Christmas but in a way comforting to know there is nothing there. I know that sounds weird but I'm not sure I could deal with it being in me but not alive. Where as knowing it is just an empty sac seems easier somehow. The person at the scan was confused how it was there with a heartbeat then gone, which sends your mind into overdrive. Makes me blame myself so much more that my body absorbed my baby! I'm quite traumatised by the though and worried now I have something wrong with me. But I'll need to work through that, will brush myself off after surgery, and try again! We had actually originally planned to try in December but started early. So maybe things were just meant to be Plan A

I'm really sorry about your eptopic. I hope you are okay?! Xx

It's more likely that given it would only have Been a few mm that rather than be absorbed it has just broken down/degraded and it's just so small it can be seen on the ultrasound now x

Yeah @ivfbeenbusy I hope so. It was 4mm at the scan with the heartbeat. So I'm assuming I walked out of the scan and maybe it wasn't long after that day! So sad to think I've spent the last 3 weeks thinking im pregnant and tracking the babies growth when it probably never grew from there!

This happened to me when I had my
Ectopic. It isn't common but isn't uncommon if you get what I mean, there's nothing wrong with you don't worry . So sorry about your loss op :-( xx

Thanks @XJerseyGirlX xx

This happened to me with my 1st miscarriage. No symptoms of anything being wrong but then a scan showed an empty sac measuring at 8wk+2 when I should have been 9wk+6. It makes you feel like the pregnancy wasn't real! That was back in August 2019. I've since had a natural miscarriage in October 2020. It's all very difficult at this time of year. Good luck hope you have success soon xx

This also happened to me me back in June. I went for a scan on what would've been 8w3d, but the bean only measured 6w4d and there was no heartbeat. I was told to come back a week later and when they scanned me there was no bean a smaller sac. I during that week wait I was hoping I didn't miscarry naturally, and I know it seems silly thinking about it now, but it didn't want to flush my baby down the toilet. So as another lady mentioned earlier, it was quite comforting knowing my body "absorbed" my baby, cause it makes me feel like they'll always be with me.

Hi, I had this very recently. Had a scan at 6+4/+5 all measuring fine with heartbeat. Miscarried at 10 weeks and there was just an empty sac. Sonographer said at the gestation I had the scan the embryo would've been about 5mm, so it stopped soon after that and either reabsorbed or was just too small to be noticeable when it broke down within the sac.