Only yolk sac seen at scan- should I give up hope?

[theblueflowers]

Hi all,

I'm hoping that by writing down my experience I can process my thoughts a little. I know I'm not going to get any answers but the idea of just waiting and seeing is going to drive me mad, especially over Christmas!

I am someone with wildly irregular cycles (average is 55 days according to Clue). We have been TTC for 10 months now. The pressure was getting too much for me, so we took a break in November. Hardly any sex, didn't track ovulation, wasn't surprised when period didn't come that month.

On the 5th December, I felt a little off, so on the off chance took a cheapie. Was shocked to see a second line!

Obviously because of my cycles and no tracking I have no idea when I ovulated, so no idea how far along I am.
Got in touch with the midwife who of course went by my lmp and put me way beyond what I thought I could be.

Because of the uncertainty, we decided to go for a scan yesterday morning. Again, going by my lmp I would have been 9+2 according to them. I explained my situation and had an internal scan. They couldn't find a heartbeat. Only a gestational sac (6mm) and a yolk sac. They dated me as 5+2. The talk of miscarriage came up, but they said it was likely that I was too early for a clear scan and to come back in two weeks. The thing is- my positive pregnancy test was two weeks ago, so surely I must be further along than that, and this is actually a miscarriage? Also, to be 4 weeks out just doesn't seem possible for a positive outcome.

I have attached a picture of the first positive I got- could it be that this result is actually from before 14dpo?

The worst thing about all of this is navigating Christmas and seeing family. It is unheard of for me to refuse a drink! I have also been married for two years so the talk about babies is always there. My husband seems to have accepted that we've lost it, he keeps offering me coffee and wine

First of all sorry to hear you are going through this. I went through something similar last year, my little boy is nearly 5 months old now and just went down for a nap.
So I did fertility treatment and was sure of my dates but to give you an overview of the timeline:

• got faint positive on FRER on 29th November which was 9dpo.
• had early scan on 15th December to rule out ectopic. Would have been 5&5 but they dated me less than 5 weeks. Only gestational sac and yolk sac seen.

Went back 8 days later at 6&6 and there was a heartbeat, I was still measuring about 6 days early by then but obviously I was sure of my dates. By my dating scan everything had caught up and I was actually measuring a few days ahead. Did they take you beta HCG levels? If not, ask that they do it and repeat again in 48 hours. I hope it all works out for you xx

Hi,
I’m so sorry to hear you’re worrying…especially over Christmas. I couldn’t just not reply.
I had a positive pregnancy test at 3week 4days and it was very dark. So yours could definitely be earlier than that. And if that’s the case, you dating 5weeks 2days would fit correctly. And that would mean a heartbeat wouldn’t have been seen anyway. If you only got such a light pregnancy test, I wouldn’t have expected you to be further along anyway.
I hope this eases your mind slightly x

I usually read these posts and see people clinging on and others telling them that it could be ok and they had a scan at 5 weeks that was similar but the dates don’t really add up and a miscarriage is most likely, however, in this case I do think this could just be the result of an early scan on a long cycle. That pregnancy test is like one of my firsts at around 9-10 dpo, which would actually put you at exactly 5+2 if you took your pregnancy test exactly 2 weeks prior to your scan. Measurements are a bit iffy at that stage, so you could be slightly further along too.

Your average period is 27 days longer than the standard dates which are used for working out pregnancy dates, so to be 4 weeks (28 days) less pregnant than you thought also would fit.

I really have my fingers crossed for you that this is a successful pregnancy and your scan was just a little early. I am sorry Christmas is in between, but the best advice I have is to stay distracted and so the holidays should help.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply- I appreciate it so much. @EmmaABC2 your experience of what your pregnancy test looked like is giving me a glimmer of hope. Tbh my irregular cycles are the only thing I'm hanging onto! I don't even have a ballpark for when I could have ovulated, not have I ever had a previous positive to compare to. I know HCG levels vary between people, but I have had a steady line of progression since that first positive.
I took a CB digital that first week and it said 1-2, with the week after 2-3. Im guessing this would also work with the dates they gave me? I'm very tempted to take another one in the hope I see a 3+
@BabyC21 no bloods taken. It was a private clinic so all they could offer was a rescan in 2 weeks. The whole point of doing this was to have a little confidence to tell close family. Not sure what to do now!

How many weeks did the midwife put you, did she book you a scan? I had a similar experience a few years ago horrid scan just before Christmas with follow up booked for 3rd jan I actually moved it from the 2nd as I had no feelings of hope and wanted to go back into work to tell my boss what was going on rather than just not come in and phone. I only told those I knew would be there for me either way. But it all turned out fine, he was there with his fluttering heartbeat. Fingers crossed for you x

Thank you @pinkcattydude, I have only had a booking appointment over the phone, which was on Monday and she put me as 9+2, but this was only based off my lmp which was 16th October. I did tell her about my wacky cycles (I've only had one 30 day cycle in 2 years!) but she just said that the dates will be confirmed at the dating scan which is due to take place at the end of January. They seem swamped by covid at the moment so there seems to be a backlog.

One of the reasons why I booked a scan was that I know at that dating scan I will not be that far along, and I didn't want that worry (ha) but to be honest I did expect to be 6 weeks. Maybe just because that first positive test seems to long ago 
@penguin303 that test I posted was taken 2 weeks 2 days before the scan, so I guess there is room for a margin of error?

I really appreciate all of your responses. I know there is nothing that I can do right now, but talking about it really does help!

In you shoes I would deffo take another test to see if you get the 3+ weeks flash up. If it does you know that your hormones are increasing. If it doesn't, I'd sway towards loss unfortunately. I too have wildly varying cycles and it can be soul destroying.

It's important to remember that our health system works based on an average of many women's pregnancy development and then average out. Just because the average says it should be at x stage at x time, doesn't mean everybody will be there. Some women have a really long luteal phase, some women don't ever get a + test but still go on to give birth. I would not say to lose hope yet.

Definitely wouldn’t say you’re out.

Positive pregnancy test can be as early as 3 and a half weeks. So two weeks ago would still only have you as 5 and a half weeks.

Babies also grow at different rates in the first trimester, which is why they don’t tend to date pregnancies until 12 weeks. I’ve had scans at 6+ weeks in all 3 of my pregnancies and seen only a yolk and sac. In all 3 pregnancies they said I couldn’t be 6 weeks yet, and all 3 times my dates caught back up perfectly by the next scan.

If anything I think it’s a positive sign you aren’t as far along as they though. If you were 9 weeks now and that was a pregnancy test taken at 7 weeks then it would be concerningly faint. How are your tests looking now? Are they getting darker?

Hugs. It’s a horrible wait I know. Good luck x

@Enwi thanks! Attached is a picture of this morning's test. It's now dried - forgot to take a pic when it was fresh, but it's the first time I've seen the test darker than the control.
I'm trying to be realistic though as I imagine with a yolk sac my body is still going to pump out hcg even if it's not progressing?

The pic!

Your first pic looks like my 9dpo positive with my daughter, and your latest pic looks like mine did just before I stopped testing at 21 dpo. I'd be cautiously optimistic if I were you. The midwives have to go by lmp because it works for the majority but those of us who don't fall within the average tend to know, but they can't take our word for it.

OP, you are very definitely pregnant!! There's no way your tests would have progressed and be that dark otherwise. That last test is a dye stealer! It looks exactly like mine did this morning and I'm 4 weeks 4 days and I got my first positive test on the 13th Dec but it was a definite fairly bold line so I reckon I would've got one on the 10th/11th if I'd have tested, which would fit perfectly as that would make you about 7 days more than me. I honestly think you're only 5.5 weeks and it's too early to see a heartbeat yet.

My scans didn't show baby till 8 weeks. It was also my first month I gave up 'trying' after years and I became pregnant I put it down to not stressing so much about it! I'm around 2 weeks behind what I'd thought but i'm 15 weeks now and so far so good. I hope everything works out but seems completely normal from what you've said. Good luck and congrats x

@theblueflowers

Also jumping on to agree that I think you could very well have been 5 weeks at your scan. Like a previous poster said, normally with these types of posts I think that it's going to be a bad outcome (and in fact, I myself had the same experience last year with a bad outcome).

BUT, here's my tests from my current pregnancy (I'm now just under 10 weeks and all good so far).

The top pic was 10 days post trigger shot (I had treatment) so I would have been either 8 or 9 DPO and I'm absolutely certain of that given the treatment and tracking scans I had.

My first test line is similar to yours so I'd be fairly confident that you were only around 9 DPO when you took that test.

I didn't consistently test with the cheapies afterwards but my test line was almost darker than the control line from about 17 DPO onwards. The tests will have faded somewhat by now but hopefully this gives you a bit of reassurance 😊

Also, with irregular cycles of around 55 odd days, there is more chance that you ovulated around cycle day 40 than, say, cycle day 15-20.

Keeping fingers crossed for you 🙏🏻

Well yes it could be bad news, but I’d say given that you have a picture of a test two weeks ago that looks like a perfect example for a test at 3 and a half weeks and 2 weeks later have a test that looks spot on for 5 and a half- 6 weeks I’d say the chances of it being bad news are quite slim congratulations!

You could maybe contact an EPU as they might do blood tests to see if your HCG levels are increasing or decreasing (on the premise you don't know how far along you may be).

Just FYI if everything goes well (fingers crossed) the scan date they give you may be way too early for dating but you should see something by then!

Thank you all so much for your input! I know of course I still have to be realistic, but reading about similar experiences has helped so much. I think because I have only talked to my husband about this, and he knows nothing about the impact of long cycles, I have got myself into a negative spiral. He immediately thought it was over and that has impacted me.

I went out and bought another CB digital and it's come up as 3+

I would never have had a scan if I thought I was that early! Definitely not worth all this stress and worry!

Hi sorry your going through all the worry . I am currently pregnant after a long cycle I only know and could tell the hospital how far out my dates were as I was tracking ovulation . I had my last period ( breastfeeding so cycles are always very long ) on 12th of August and Didn’t ovulate until the 19th of September (tracking using easy@home strips ). On my dating scan they went off LMP so my scan says 17weeks 5 days but baby measured 14 weeks 2 days which is perfect for when I ovulated. You need to have 3 periods of same length for them to date correctly off LMP .

I hope you get good news and it’s your cycle that is off 🤞🏻

I wouldn’t rule it out yet, especially as your cycles are so long! Your latest tests are promising. A scan earlier on than you think would certainly give the result you had, and your first test was very light. I do hope it’s a case of you just tested very early in and didn’t realise!

@theblueflowers Hey, just wondering how things are going for you?

Hi @MimiArm unfortunately it wasn't good news for me. I started bleeding on New Years Eve, with a miscarriage confirmed on Monday.

Wishing you all the best if you find yourself in a similar situation. Since getting a a solid answer I have actually felt so much better. The anticipation was the worst for me.

Sometimes, 'knowing' is good. You can try to begin to process 'known' over 'what if?'.

I'm sorry to hear. Look after yourself.

@theblueflowers Ah, I'm very sorry to hear that. I've been there myself and so know how it feels.

Wishing you all the best for the future 💐