Possible blighted ovum - but diagnosis made on wrong information - what do I do?

[NoNickname]

I went for a scan yesterday, at 7 weeks, to be told I had a blighted ovum, and a sac that hadn't grown in size since my previous scan at 5 weeks. I saw the gynae SHO and went through the motions to arrange an ERPC for Monday.

However, on later reading the report I am supposed to pass to my GP, it says that the sac was 16mm in size. Two weeks ago it 8mm. So the diagnosis was made on the wrong information.

I realise that at 7 weeks there should be a foetal pole, which they could not see. But I have read in the past about similar situations where someone went back two weeks later and there was a 9 week embryo with a HB!

I therefore don't feel comfortable going through the ERPC. I didn't particularly want to anyway, but was a little pressured into it. The SHO even said that the risk of not having an ERPC was that the pg might become infected, which I really did not believe in the slightest (tell me if I'm wrong though). I would really prefer to mc natrally if possible (but I am going on holiday in 3 weeks, so it's a bit of a daunting prospect).

All this leaves me with some questions:

• is a doubling in size of the sac a good sign? Might this be a viable pg after all or am I just clutching at straws?

• should I go to my GP and ask for blood tests to check hCG - and/or changes in levels over a few days?

I am coming at this from a medical perspective rather than an emotional one, and really want to understand things in greater detail, so if anyone can help, I'd be grateful.

Um - not sure - doubling of sac can happen even if you've miscarried. Happened to me, though I had a partial molar pregnancy. I would go to GP and talk it over, and call hosp as well, if you want to double-check. Get a consultant's opinion, rather than just SHO. I think there can be a risk of infection if there's dead tissue in your uterus (sorry if that is a bit blunt - there's no great way to put this), but you should have a chance to m/c naturally, and shouldn't be pressured into an ERPC unnecessarily. We waited until the last minute, and had one 2 days before holiday! So sorry you're having to go through this.

Sorry to hear this NoNikname, Discuss with your Gp - don't be pressured into an ERPC.

I recently miscarried due to blighted ovum at 9 weeks and I think sac was about the same size so had stopped some time before.

I went for the natural miscarriage and it was fairly trouble free and bleeding lasted about a week.(Manageable with nurofen plus etc) So you do have time to wait and see if that is your choice.

You could book the ERPC for a week before your holiday if nothing has happened.

You need to feel comfortable with your decision.

Thank you. I have definitely decided not to go through with the ERPC, and will talk to my GP next week. I had a blighted ovum 2.5 years ago, and that time he advised against going anywhere near a hospital if I didn't need to, and I started to miscarry the next day, so I think he'll probably say the same again.

Yes, it was an internal scan.

Have to say, nonickname, that if nothing does happen, I had 2 ERPC's lately (because it was a molar pregnancy) and found them much less stressful than I'd thought - was very nervous first time, positively chilled the next. Hope it doesn't come to that, but thought you might like to hear my experience just in case it does.

Boobs have dramatically deflated today and I have some very light brown spotting, so I'm certain I'm going to mc in the next day or two. The gynae SHO said I should go to A&E if I bleed red blood, but I didn't ask her why. I don't think I will go - there isn't any problem with not going is there? Surely, I'll just miscarry naturally. Obviously if it's very severe pain or I have a fever I will go, but otherwise I don't need to, do I?

I can't see why you would need to go, unless as you say - extreme pain and fever.

I didn't go, stayed near home for a few days - seemed to get going about 4 days after initial spotting and stopped after about a week. (and I kind of expected that after reading other peoples experiences).

I just stocked up with strong painkillers and they worked (although I was used to bad period pains previously that wouldn't shift with painkillers)

I may be wrong, but I think perhaps a blighted ovum is not as bad to miscarry, as I didn't have any of the contractions etc that some poor women on here have described.

Just take it easy for a few days as it is quite draining and that is the physical side.

sorry just re-read it happened to you previously....obviously you know what to expect.

jazz

Thanks jazzandh - I just can't see what they would even do in A&E - apart from tell me to go home again!

mine doubled in size, but no feotal pole.

i had a medically managed mc after this.
have to say that the one i had in march was my 2nd.
my first, like you i wanted to wait till it happened naturally. i knew at 7 weeks, didnt mc till 13 weeks. was awful.
so i chose to have the tabs and the pesseries, twas over in 24 hours.
was probably the most unpleasant experience of my life though.

in my experience, the brown spoting started for a day then stopped.
started about a week later then 24 hours later it was over.
thats what is horrid, it is all so unpredictable and so awful...the waiting etc.
I did go to a&e but because the pain was too much and i ahd never seen so much blood!

to be honest, i dont think that the internal scan can be that misleading, i knew, i just knew and the scan confirmed for me.
I think that you probably do too.
Symptoms diminshed pretty quickly, boobs back to normal, no more nausea etc.

I had a blighted ovum 17 years ago. At the time, the standard procedure was to do an ERPC - I wasn't even allowed home after the scan (it was for my own good).

I was scanned at 12 weeks after LMP, and they said the sac was 10 weeks. I had bleeding which was what prompted the scanning. This does suggest that the sac grows up to this point, so no surprise that a 7 week sac is larger than a 5 week sac.

I gather than in recent years, the management of blighted ovum is to let nature take its course, unless the bleeding goes on for weeks and weeks. I certainly don't see any harm in holding off an ERPC for a couple of weeks.

They gave me the pessary tablets for the ERPC - I am supposed to insert them an hour before arriving at the hospital. But as I'm not going for the ERPC now, perhaps I'll discuss whether or not to use them with my GP. I couldn't face waiting many more weeks like you did deanychip. I just want it over as soon as possible.

I had a blighted ovum and m/c naturally. Originally they said ERPC but I blubbed so they let me go naturally. I had several scans to check everything had gone.

Are you bleeding already? I was. I think if it's missed then it can become necessary to do the ERPC because of the risk of infection. If you were bleeding already then it should be pretty straighforward to let it go naturally.

I'm not bleeding yet - and I wasn't at the scan when the mmc was diagnosed. But I have started to spot yesterday - very slightly, just tiny amounts of brown.

Please phone and tell the ward if you're not going in. I perfectly understand your reasons, but there is a fair amount of admin involved in admitting and discharging someone, and they do some of it in advance. You will save some poor nurse/ midwife the effort, and the surgeon the uncertainty about whether you are going to roll up at the end of the list and still expect to be done (it happens!).

I think the growth of the sac and hcg levels increase even if there is no baby. On a very simplistic level, I think that one set of cells go on to develop into the baby, and another set into the sac, and another into the placenta. The non-baby ones continue to do their job, which is why you have pregnancy symptoms even when there is no baby.

ISTR (from when I went through this), that the bleeding starts around the time that the chorionic villus is changing into placenta.

The bleeding that you are having is consistent with the ultrasounds. Brown blood is not unusual. I had alternating brown and red (not bright) mixed with mucous.

Sorry to hear that you are losing your pregnancy.

tissy - I completely agree - I tried to phone yesterday, but everything to do with day surgery, EPAU, etc. is closed until 7.45 tomorrow (I'm due there at 7!!)

SqueakyPop - are you saying that the blood is possibly a result of the transvaginal scan? Or that it is what is to be expected knowing the scan results?

BTW, am completely reconciled now to the knowledge that this pg is not viable. I was clutching at straws initially I think - which I can tell strongly from my OP - but I now realise and accept that I will mc.

I think that most blighted ova are suspected by bleeding. It is unusual to be scanned so early. If the scan has detected a blighted ovum, then bleeding is inevitable.