Inconclusive scan?? Any chance this will be ok?

[Mooey89]

Had an early scan today at what was meant to be 6w3 days.
had it this early due to pain and spotting.

they said they can see the yolk sac but no embryo and measuring at 5w4d.
he said he is hopeful that it’s just behind in dates but I have two weeks in limbo now waiting.

any advice or success stories? (Or the opposite - I’m really trying to manage my expectations)

My experience of measuring behind wasn't a good one. But it was measuring a whole 12 days behind. I should have been 7+5, but it was only measuring 6. We saw a heartbeat. I had no further scans in between as I haven't had any history of MC and no bleeding. This was a private scan. 4 weeks later, I have miscarried just days before my dating scan.

I had bleeding with my son - a lot. But he was never measuring behind at his early scan. Nobody could see why i bled so much.

Good luck, I hope things are positive for you.

@Squidtentacles im so sorry to hear that.
I hope you are healing as best you can.

Do you know exactly when you ovulated OP? As in through physical tracking? Or is this just based on LMP? That makes a big difference.

My first scan I should have been 8+2 going on LMP dates but I actually only measured 6+1 - I had long and often irregular cycles and hadn't been tracking though so nobody was overly concerned. I'm now 31 weeks pregnant and everything is fine.

LMP is just a rough guide the midwife uses at the beginning but is based on an average 28 day cycle with ovulation on day 14. It's not accurate for everyone and not unusual for women to measure ahead or behind at this stage (the official due date comes from the 12 week dating).

Obviously if you are absolutely certain of your dates and are measuring behind then that's different.

Also up to 12 weeks is high risk anyway and MC can sadly happen even when you've seen a healthy heartbeat and are measuring bang on the dates.

There is no way of knowing which way it will go and other people's experiences will just show you that - it could go either way, as could every early stage pregnancy. This is why it really is best to avoid early scans unless there is concern eg significant pain, and in that case the NHS will see you. They literally offer no reassurance whatsoever - despite their advertised title. Most miscarriages happen between weeks 6 and 8 anyway, so a sign of an embryo/heartbeat at 6 weeks really doesn't mean anything. Dates can easily be out by a week in even the most regular of cycles and some embryos are just slower developers but still turn out okay. Some don't.

As hard as it is, take it day by day and try and leave it a few weeks. Having a scan in more the 8-9 week timeframe can offer more reassurance as a good outcome at that point means miscarriage risk drops off quite substantially, and then drops further again after a positive scan at 12 weeks. I wish they'd ban private companies from scanning before 8 weeks. Wishing you well.

I was behind. They could only see the fetal pole but baby grew perfectly.

I was behind. Sac and yolk sac measured 5w5 but no fetal pole. Went back at 6w4 and everything was perfectly there as it should be with a heartbeat fluttering away, currently 35 weeks😊

Thank you so much for all your replies.

my cycles are a little irregular (PCOS) so anywhere from 26 - 32 days and we weren’t trying so no idea of ovulation!
your post was so reassuring @sel2223 , thank you.

@SErunner thank you so much for commenting. I know there’s no real reassurance to be had. I was having left sided pain and then had some bleeding. They sent me to A&E on Thursday night but it was ram packed and I get such bad anxiety I just couldn’t stay so booked a private scan for Friday to check it was growing in the right place.
Luckily it is nestled in the womb but currently no sign of an embryo.

It’s so nice to hear all the reassuring stories, thank you.

Any update? I am going through something similar however they could see an embryo just no heartbeat. They measured at 3.7mm which is 5 weeks 4 days which is nearly 2 weeks behind what I thought I was ( 7 weeks). Trying to stay hopeful but think it could be a missed miscarriage. Hope everything was okay for you and worked out

I’m so sorry you are in that horrible limbo. It is so awful.
I went back after 2 weeks and was measured at 7w 4 days with a strong heartbeat. Currently almost 10 weeks.
I obviously just ovulated later than I had thought. I think honestly it can go either way, but if your cycles aren’t regular then you’re definitely in with a good chance. Good luck.