Early scan

[Beccaa123]

I had a scan today, at around 5 weeks and the doctor couldn't see anything yet. She was hoping she may see the sac but thinks I'm still too early.
I believe she said she could see a thickening of my womb or ovaries (I can't quite remember) but that this tells her I'm pregnant. She just can't yet rule out ectopic.
Is this normal at an early stage?
Thanks

Yes it’s normal five weeks is too early to see anything. Did you have the scan for a reason?

Thanks.
I have PCOS, so my doctor wants to scan me regularly.
I am from the UK, but I live in the middle east, so we just deal with a doctor here, we aren't given a midwife...not sure whether it's a good thing or not!

5 weeks is almost pointless to have a scan. Best to wait til at least 8 weeks.

Surely pointless isn't the right term?
If it was pointless I wouldn't have had one?
I mean in this case it was but she said your HCG can be high enough to see the sac and at least confirm it is in the right place

@Beccaa123 I’m in the region too and doctors are very quick to scan at every opportunity for any tiny little thing because it’s all billable and the equipment is right there - they can just do it, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s helpful to our anxieties or gives us clear answers. Sounds like you’ve got a week or so to wait and see what happens, I'm sorry but hope you can distract yourself in the meantime.

@v60 thank you!
Yeah, I've to go back at the end of next week.
To be fair I have a good obgyn and I see her for my pcos etc, she doesn't just run tests for the sake of it normally. I do understand that it's an insurance based system though

Thanks for all of your replies, I just got my latest HCG levels from today and they are at 2200, they were 940 on Wednesday. Dr phoned and said at that level she should have seen something on the scan, so she can't rule out ectopic yet 😞

It really is pointless to be honest, there are lots of similar posts to this on here and these very early scans often cause more anxiety than anything else.

In my opinion they absolutely should not be scanning anyone this early unless there is a genuine concern the pregnancy is ectopic or other medical concern.

At 5 weeks there is nothing to see, no way to tell if the pregnancy will develop in the right place, no way to tell if the pregnancy will be viable or not. It tells you nothing so yes, pointless.

I also live overseas and have an obstetrician and way more scans that the UK - my first was at 6+2 and there was a tiny blob with a heartbeat. Went back 2 weeks later and it was a bigger blob with a stronger heartbeat. Good luck with your follow up scan.

Incase anyone is interested, I went to radiology and had a scan on Saturday. The gestational sac was there measuring at 5+3. No yolk sac yet, but I imagine that is common at this stage.
I start googling things/looking at these forums and unlock new worries like blighted ovum!

Have you really had 2 scans in 3 days at 5 weeks pregnant? That is crazy!
Normally you would be asked to leave a couple of weeks between scans to see if there is an embryo, heartbeat etc and if it has grown proportionately.
I can't see any benefit to having any scans before 6 weeks, let alone multiple scans.

Yes I did because my doctor was worried about ectopic due to a couple of symptoms I had

Care in the UK is fine, it's the minimum safe requirements. Care is different abroad and that can be a good or bad thing. Given your anxiety about blighted ovum etc I would suggest the regularity of visits may be a bit much. A friend had an abnormal blood test and was given the impression her baby was gravely ill. It was only very marginally outside the normal range for that country, would have been ignored in the UK. Baby is healthy! Just exercise caution.

Many countries scan before 12 weeks. And I don't think it's abnormal to want to find out the location of the embryo when you have symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy. Very glad to hear it's in the right place.

I had bleeding at 5+3 and they couldn't find the heartbeat but 2 weeks later it was fluttering away. Sounds like a healthy pregnancy so far.

Thank you!
A lot of appointments definitely cause anxiety, especially so early on, when there really isn't anything to see other than a blob!
However, I am going to be led by my doctor with what needs to happen and when. Days make a difference on things appearing, especially at this stage!
I am glad it all worked out for you :)

Hopefully your OB-Gyn has suggested a gap of at least a week to 10 days before your next scan now or your anxiety will be through the roof!

It's very different being overseas where everything is billable. My own experience living in a similar region is that they can be a bit too 'scan happy', not just with pregnancy.