No growth between scans?

[TheBusyLemonAnt]

Hi everyone,
Iwent to a private earn scan at 6w4d and they measured me at 4.2mm or 5w6d. I went to another place 10 days later at 8w and they measured me at 5mm or 6wk meaning I only had 1 day of growth in 10 days. Both ultrasounds showed a flicker of cardiac activity but we couldn’t hear a heartbeat. They want me to come back in a week to see if anything has progressed. I think these ultrasounds look very different for having only 1 day of growth difference. Does anyone else have any opinions or similar experience? The ultrasound with one photo was the first ultrasound where I measured 5wk6d and the ultrasound with 3 pictures I measured 6wk.

It's impossible for anyone here to tell you either way and this is why early scans unless medically indicated should be banned. I am sorry you're in this situation. Now you've started down this route i'd leave it at least another week, if not 2, and then have another for comparison. You'll get a more conclusive outcome then. To be honest it doesn't look great in terms of growth in 10 days, or in relation to your dates, but it's impossible to say at this early stage as dates can be wrong and they are so tiny in terms of measurements. Wishing you well.

Early scans are terrible for causing anxiety like this - and going to two different private clinics as well where the equipment will vary and the experience of the sonographer is unknown will not give any reassurance.

Agree with pp that these early scans should be banned unless conducted by the EPU for medical reasons.

I hope this is a positive outcome for you but really the only thing that will give you answers is time. Best of luck to you.

Hi guys, thanks for your responses. This pregnancy did lead to a missed miscarriage but I am glad I got the early scans. Although stressful, I was able to come to terms with it a lot earlier and was able to go ahead with the process of miscarriage earlier than if I didn’t have those scans. Still at 10 weeks I didn’t have any signs that I was going to miscarry and the doctors said it would be unlikely I would miscarry naturally or for at least a long time. I don’t think I would’ve cope to have gone to my 12 week scan thinking I was generally safe from miscarriage to then find out that the baby stopped growing 6 weeks beforehand. A lot of people have great success with early reassurance scans and I would get one again for the next pregnancy. It’s definitely personal preference and I don’t think they should be banned.

Sorry it turned out this way. I agree with you about early scans. I’ve had two MMC now and each time was found early by private early scans. Both times I’d had some mild bleeding but the EPU wouldn’t see me. So I went private. Both times I was seen at 6 weeks then 8 weeks. Both times measured under 6 weeks with no growth. By the time the EPU would see me I was 10 weeks and no sign of natural miscarriage. I finally had surgery to remove at what would have been 11 weeks. That was traumatising enough. If I’d have waited until the 12 week scan thinking all was fine I’d have been much more traumatised though.

I think if people think they should ban private scans, then the EPUs need to do more to see people early.