To hate the term - ‘chemical pregnancy’

[Salss45]

Why on earth do people use the term ‘chemical pregnancy’ it was a conception which implanted but just didn’t make it for very long for whatever reason, but if you know much about embryonic development then it actually did a lot to get to even that stage. There was maybe a a few days or even longer of excitement, working out due dates, making plans etc. Why refer to these short pregnancies with such a horrible name.

I know where you're coming from. I do get that it's a medical term but it can feel a bit dismissive, like suggesting it wasn't a "real" pregnancy

I just think of it as a a medical term, they are called chemical pregnancy because of the hormone that causes the positive test & because they occur before 5 weeks pregnant there is nothing to see or show on an ultrasound, hence chemical pregnancy. So I don’t think of it as a good or bad name, it’s a medical term for what happened and I don’t think it’s intended to be dismissive but rather just an accurate description of what it was if that makes sense?

Nothing to be offended about imo. And yes, I've had one.

I work in healthcare and don’t remember it traditionally being a medical term in the UK or one used by people in general until recently, I can’t understand why women on here use it about their pregnancy, do they honestly think there wasn’t an actual pregnancy, just a conception that created a fluke not an embryo?

It's only quite recently that women can detect these pregnancies from home. Just a few decades ago, they'd never have known they were pregnant.
The reason we can find out it because of the HCG chemical in our urine.
As PP said, nothing would be seen on ultrasound.
So I think the name is fitting from that point of view.

Society being dismissive of early miscarriage is a whole other story.

I sense you've had a recent loss OP? If so, I hope you're doing ok x

It’s not accurate though

I don't think being condescending about how other women refer to their pregnancy losses is the way forward.

I think it’s accurate. It’s a pregnancy that would never have been known about if not for chemical detection. Hence a chemical pregnancy. You can however call it what you wish and that’s your prerogative

Totally agree.

I don’t personally see a chemical pregnancy as a particularly profound event. It’s not comparable in any way to a miscarriage at 10 weeks for example.

Perhaps if women weren’t so hellbent on testing for pregnancy several days before their period was due, many of these women would never know they had had a chemical pregnancy in the first place.

So women don’t know their own bodies? Why would someone be taking a pregnancy test in the first place? If you take that view to the extreme then before scans women didn’t know about any pregnancy until the birth

I’m not bothered by the term, I think of the definition as above (chemically detected). Having suffered more losses than I count, I don’t personally think of it as a pregnancy, but that my person opinion based on my own experience.

It is accurate, it’s a pregnancy that was only known about due to chemical detection.

It’s a new phrase because it’s only really now that we even awareness of these due to early pregnancy testing.

When my mum had us you basically had to wait until you’d missed 2 periods and then go to the doctors and get a test there, you would never have known about a chemical pregnancy, it would just have been a period that came a few days later than expected. But now because we have these 6 days earlier tests you can use from home we are far more aware.

Sorry you may be at crossed wires. She’s not saying women don’t know their own bodies, just that it’s only detectable via chemical means, you can’t see it on a scan.

I had 3 CP and 3 miscarriages and I agree. It’s different and it’s just a medical term.

Some of us have to test early for medical reasons not because we like the rollercoaster experience of chemical pregnancies!

I think you’re being quite pedantic there.

You only have to take a look on the TTC boards to see that there are thousands of women who take literally 10+ tests every single month, some of them for years, some of them from 6dpo because when you are actively trying to conceive and desperate for a baby you count every day of the two week wait and start testing crazy early. No judgement, I’ve been there, but the point is there are thousands of women who test every single day for the second half of the two week wait because they are desperate for that positive.

There’s also a huge difference between saying a woman doesn’t know at 5 weeks pregnant vs 39 weeks pregnant. As someone with both a 1 year old and who is now nearly 11 weeks pregnant, I wouldn’t have known at 5 weeks unless I had tested.

What kind of healthcare do you work in, if that's your level of logic?

Another one here who thinks it is a perfectly fine description. I've had at least 4 or 5 chemical pregnancies over the years (eventually I just stopped testing altogether until I was 5 weeks because I was fed up of the disappearing lines) and a miscarriage at 10 weeks. They are not the same thing.

My kids are aged 17-22.

This was not a term used at all when I was getting pregnant.
At that time home pregnancy tests only tested from the first day of your period, early testing wasn't a thing.

My first baby, I tested at period due date +2, and was pregnant. Then follwed a really exciting week for me and dh and we started to think about all that it meant.
Then I had a miscarriage, at about due date + 1 week, so about 5 1/2 weeks pregnant.

I have had a total of 4 miscarriages, 2 at 10+ weeks, and 2 at 5-6 weeks. This first one at 5 weeks was far the most emotionally traumatic for me.
I had not thought about miscarriage at all. Once I got that positive test, I thought I was pregnant and would have a baby.
My later miscarriages were physically harder, and also difficult, but this first one was the one that really knocked me for six.

My next pregnancy (which went to term) was really hard. I spent the first 12 weeks worrying about losing it, and didn't want to tell anyone. It was really hard, and pretty traumatic. It effected the first trimester of all my pregnancies, and totally changed my view of that positive test.
So I hate the term chemical pregnancy. It was a baby. It was a pregnancy and it was a miscarriage.

I dont like the term implantation bleeding.

Interesting! How come?

I don't think miscarriage is a particularly nice word either in the context of a much longed for pregnancy that is lost. I always think it sounds like you did something wrong, you carried wrongly or something. But that's the thing with medical language, it is factual only.

I think it's also important to recognise that women feel all sorts of ways about pregnancy losses. Some are very matter of fact about it, while others feel a huge range of emotions and grief.
I've met women in maternity services who want it referred to as nothing more than 'pregnancy tissue,' for example, and if that is what feels comfortable to them then that's absolutely fine. Others refer to it as a baby and that is absolutely fine too.

I don't like chemical personally in my own pregnancies, as when I'm pregnant I straight away start to imagine a baby. However, no one needs to use the term if it doesn't align with them. Language around pregnancy and loss is very personal in my experience.

I think my problem with the phrase is that it sounds as if there is no baby.

Just some chemicals.

Which when it is a much wanted pregnancy is very difficult.

I do take the point however that terms around pregnancy are very personal depending on the circumstances

Just use the term miscarriage then if you don’t like chemical pregnancy. From five weeks then the term becomes miscarriage anyway so it’s splitting hairs if you were close to five weeks. Society doesn’t really understand the gravity of chemical pregnancy but people would understand miscarriage.

I can tell you from having a miscarriage at 6 weeks that there is a sac and a yolk before five weeks (the sonographer said it looked like I was just under five weeks pregnant at my scan at emergency gynaecology). So there’s certainly a lot that your body does before five weeks.

I’m sorry for your loss.

Well my sister never had sex for 3 years had her period 2weeks later then had a one night stand for the first time in 3 years.
Became pregnant as a result of that night nurse then said your last period was not a period it was implantation bleeding.
Sister said no it was a period ive not had sex in 3 years until after last period.
If that makes any sense.