Student doctor at early pregnancy insisted on dating pregnancy from conception?!?

[Pollyanna64]

So I had a little bleeding at 5+1 so had a scan at 6+1.... gestational sack was seen, yolk and a thickening which they think is baby but I have to go back in 2 weeks.
Everything looked a little smaller than I was expecting so I was a little sad.
I spoke to dr after and raised my concerns.... he said it looks like I’m more 4-5 weeks. I explained that I know exactly how far along I am as I know when I ovulated. I told him I ovulated 4 weeks ago therefore I am 6 weeks as they add two weeks (date from lmp). He went on to say that I am therefore 4 weeks and it’s calculated from conception?!
I said I was confused as I have always thought you add two weeks and that when you miss period you are already 4 weeks pregnant. This rude woman who was in the room as well started going on about how some women don’t know when they conceive and it could be anywhere in that 2 weeks, no idea what she was going on about but the dr then tried to explain periods to me like I was 11 years old as I think he was getting the impression I thought I’d gotten pregnant before even ovulating. They really didn’t understand what I was trying to say and really didn’t even seem willing to listen. It was sooooo strange. Any info you look at on nhs website, all the baby websites.... everything says you date from last period or two weeks before conception..... why were they saying different???

Has anyone else had this kind of experience where they dated it from conception?

It really was awful there.

Thank you for reading :)

you're right. he's wrong. its counted basically two weeks before conception (effectively from last period but that can be different for everyone).

Where was this? I wouldn't go back to a doctor that patronises me and doesn't know basic pregnancy stuff

It was the grange university hospital in Cwmbran, it was so awful there I was so confused with their attitude and lack of understanding. I really don’t want to go back. I even picked up a complaints form after the appointment. I’m thinking of calling my drs surgery and telling them what happened and asking if there is anywhere else I can go 😬 even a private scan would be better than going back there. I’d rather pay the £59 🙈

You're right, OP. But to an extent it doesn't matter, as your due date is set at your 12 week scan by measuring the baby using the ultrasound. Having said that, you might be given a scan date closer to your 14 week mark than your 12 week mark, which is annoying. Frustrating, and ridiculous that a doctor would get this wrong. I don't know how to rectify this, but hopefully others will.

They did the same to me, but honestly, don’t stress it. At this point, there’s so little in it, and when you ovulated doesn’t mean that’s when you implanted.

At 12 weeks, they’ll date you from the ultrasound, and that’ll be your due date. Mine is different to both my ovulation dates and my LMP.

I wouldn’t do a private scan at this stage either, it’s too early & they can be quite worrying, in my experience.

@dorothygaleandtoto thank you, I just spoke to midwife clinic and receptionist at drs surgery and they were both just as confused why they would think that. The midwife said that they won’t have any input with my dates and they will just go by lmp and not to worry. Thank goodness!

@TakeYourFinalPosition thank you you’re probably right, maybe it’s not a good idea just yet... maybe I will wait a little while, if I can 🙈 I mean, yesterday’s scan didn’t make me feel any better!

@Pollyanna64 I meant to say, and then forgot while trying to reassure you about dates…

I had a scan at 6+2 for bleeding. They couldn’t see a heartbeat, everything looked fine, but they were adamant that I couldn’t be 6+2. I track ovulation and ovulate like clockwork, so I knew I was. I had to wait until 8+2 to go for a scan and see if there was a heartbeat.., it felt like forever. I called every private scan place nearby to see if they’d scan me first… to their credit, they all said that I should wait.

The heartbeat was there at 8+2, all looked good, but smaller than my dates. At 12 weeks, they reset my due date to be in line with babies size, so it’s a week and 2 days after the date from ovulation, but I’m now 26 weeks and all is fine, baby is a good size, moving lots and healthy.

I had a private scan at 10 weeks as a “present” from a friend, for reassurance, but they measure things differently to the NHS and it worried me that the measurements were so out! And they couldn’t see much. I had another one at 16 weeks for my birthday, which was much better. Still slightly out from my NHS scan, in terms of measurement, but lovely to see baby moving and have all the organs pointed out, etc.

I hope everything works out well for you too

@TakeYourFinalPosition aw thank you that really is so helpful and reassuring to read! Sounds so similar! Hopefully everything will be fine and all just a little small. I think I might of had implantation kinda late ish, not sure if that would make a difference. Kinda dreading the next scan but gotta be done I guess 😬

I had a scan at what should have been 6 weeks but I was measuring around 5 weeks. Went back for a rescan at what was 7 weeks by their calculations but I was then measuring just over 8 weeks.

Everything is so small and they grow at such different rates in the early stages that it is incredibly difficult to get an accurate date, that's why they don't give you a due date until your 12 week scan. I was actually measuring a few more days ahead by the time I got to that. It also depends on the length of your cycles, when you implanted etc. It's really easy to be at least a few days off on your own estimation.

That said, the doctor was wrong and was rude and patronising in the way that he spoke to you! I'd ignore him and try not to worry. Those 2 weeks waiting for your rescan feel so long but it'll be worth the wait in the end and you might find that everything is measuring differently by then. Good luck

I saw a junior doctor late on in my pregnancy. Said I needed to be induced but didn’t know that induction after a c section is more dangerous and can only be done in certain ways. The consultant was not happy with her as there was a big notice inside my notes saying I should only be seen by the consultant due to complication.

Just make doubly sure they book your 12 week scan based on your LMP so you aren't at the wrong window of gestation but it sounds like you're all sorted anyway.

Was he European? In France for instance they date from conception.
But yes, not on for your apt…

Yes you’re right, he’s wrong. I would definitely make a complaint… it’s something pretty basic that a Dr should know.

I wouldnt complain it's not really important in that the dates are what the computer calculates.
Nhs insisted on changing my dates despite ivf!!
So dc2 due date was at least 4 days early. So then dc2 was 'late'
Dc2 is still very tall.
Ovulation trackers arent that accurate .
Ivf scans arent till 7w and obviously they know conception.

Do you think he was (clumsily) trying to say that the embryo looked more like 4-5 weeks in size and that you may have conceived later than you think? And that it's more accurate to date from size of the embryo because not every woman has a 4 week cycle?

@BelieveInRainbows thank you that’s reassuring, hopefully everything will be measuring okay when I have my next scan.

@Pissinthepottyplease that’s crazy. It’s scary how things can be done wrong.

@8dpwoah midwife assured me that they will date from last period so hopefully it will be okay 😃

@thebookworm1 no I don’t think he was, both of them were adamant and think both of them were from uk 😬

@HSHorror it was more the fact they were claiming pregnancies are dated from conception not that I looked earlier in pregnancy. Also I didn’t use ovulation tests, I just know from cm when I ovulate and only did it over those couple of days so know when I conceived.

@Reallybadidea no he wasn’t saying that. Well... I don’t know if everything was a little small even for 6+1 even if calculating it correctly so he might of been getting confused because of that. There was also comments about women not being sure when they conceived so maybe it was hinted at but basically...... he was saying pregnancy is calculated from conception. Now I don’t know if he is following the same measurements as gestation even tho he’s thinking from conception.... because he could be thinking ‘oh yeah for 4 weeks that looks about right’ not realising that I’m actually 6 weeks if calculated properly and measuring small.

Who knows. It was just really rubbish there. They aren’t going to be able to give people the correct information if they can’t even date things properly but maybe I should just rely on them to check heartbeat etc and then wait for 12 week scan for actual measurements....

I guess at the end of the day his weird way of dating stuff isn’t going to effect the outcome of this pregnancy so it’s probably best to just get over it 🙈 I’ll just go back in two weeks, see how that goes then go from there and not pay too much attention if they mention dating from conception again. I will keep in mind also that measurements can be all over the place early on :)