IVF early pregnancy scan

[Jaxyj]

Hi I just wondered if anyone can share any similar experiences

this is my 3rd IVF attempt
1st resulted in an ectopic, with both tubes removed
2nd was a failed FET
3rd is from a new fresh cycle

I’ve had a positive pregnancy test. However
due to me being high risk from the previous ectopic I had an even earlier pregnancy scan.
to our initial delight, the embryo was in the right place and there was a heartbeat!!
the sonographer was being very hesitant and told us the fetus was measuring too small, the pregnancy sac was too small and that would indicate an abnormality!
she said it’s likely I will miscarry in the next week. But if I don’t, I can come back for another scan the following week.
we had resided ourselves to there being no heartbeat but I haven’t bled at any time.
the scan showed there was still a heartbeat and whilst the fetus has grown, it isn’t where it should be, it’s approx a week behind where it should be as it was a week behind the week before too!
but as there is a heartbeat they said they have to discharge me! No more checks.
she wasn’t happy just leaving me as it was so she kindly contacted my local EPU who said I can go for a scan next week
im in another week of limbo
no bleeding whatsoever but I wondered has anyone had an experience like this where there was a heartbeat but the fetus was measuring small?
I understand it’s likely this won’t work out but I’m just keen to hear of any similar experiences?
thank you x

Hi, my embryo was about 6 days behind at week 8-9ish. We are in our 27th week now and she has cought up by this time. We had quite few scares (bleeding around 8-9 weeks, loosing the ivf twin at the same time, having high chance of down from the quadruple test, but good amniocentesis results, had a Doppler scan for the placenta), but at the moment everything looks good.

That’s great thank you
I’m hoping it catches up but the nurses haven’t been hopeful
theyre adamant as it’s not at the size it should be, I’ll likely miscarry x

I am sorry for that, but I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Do you have any other embryos for a frozen transfer? I had three ivf-s so far, the first two resulted in 1 chemical pregnancy that lasted 1 day and lots of failed transfers with absolutely no luck. This one was extremely lucky so far to get to the pregnancy stage with 2 embryos, even if one of them sadly stopped developing.

Yeah I have 2 frozen embryos
just not had much luck so far
this is the 3rd attempt
the 1st ectopic was pretty traumatic
so glad it’s working out for you.
this is why I wanted to see what experiences other people had as it doesn’t seem to be a consideration that it might just be a week behind all the time.
im still expecting it to not work out but its good to hear it can x

IVF is so difficult and it is all about chances. The more you try, the more chances you have and the fact that you got pregnant with 2-3 times is reassuring as it indicates good egg and sperm quality capable of fertilisation and implantation, best of luck!

Im curious to know, if you were a week behind. were the nurses etc telling you things were not ok and that you would likely miscarry?
I’ve read about late implantation too but they don’t seem to consider anything other than something’s wrong x

No, they actually weren't worried at all(I was, because we knew the exact age of our embryos, i was after a bleed and the other embryo's heart stopped beating at that point, and I thought maybe the nurses just forgot that they are ivf embryos and they thought it is just late implantation for a natural pregnancy).

It must be very difficult to wait for EPU at the moment and to not know whether it will work out or not. What made me a bit more relaxed is the realisation is there is nothing I could do to influence the outcome, as it is already determined by the genetics of the embryo and I just had to wait it out. It was terrible and it doesn't help that there is hardly anyone I could talk about it.