Measuring less than expected at early scan

[1245TD]

Hi everyone,

looking for a bit of advice. I went for my first early scan yesterday in which I expected to be 8w 1day and was sadly measured at 5w 6d. The Sonographer mentioned a flickering, a fetal pole & a sac. Obviously I have no idea about any of that, to me I could see very little, if anything at all. The sonographer couldn’t have been nicer and has booked me in 2 weeks time to remeasure but I am so anxious that I am going to miscarry.

My confusion is this. I know my date of conception which was exactly 6 weeks ago. This marries up with the gestational age but I also know pregnancies are dated from the first day of your last period, which for me was 8 weeks ago.

I therefore am unsure if I should have been seeing an 8 week embryo ? Or if 6 weeks is relatively normal ?

Im trying to stay positive but also want to be realistic and prepare myself.

thank you

I don’t have much advice sorry but I do know that the date I know I conceived doesn’t marry with our dates at all.
I was measuring 6 weeks when I had an early scan at 7 weeks, which I realise is a smaller discrepancy than yours, but I’m now 23 weeks and all seems to be ok. The positive is the fetal pole and the flickering so keeping everything crossed for you!

They are measuring sonething very small, through layers of skin and muscle. A tiny error leads to a big difference in ages.

Due to previous history, DS1 was scanned at 6 weeks - no hb, but about the right size, and again 2 weeks later - where he had gained a hb, and about 3 days growth. I questioned the age, they prodded a bit to make him wiggle, and remeasured to get an age much closer to expected.

The hb is good news. I'd guess the most likely reason is a slightly funny measurement. Hopefully you get good news in 2 weeks time.

I had a big bleed and thought I was 9 weeks going by my last period.
Went for a scan at 12 weeks and was told nope you're actually 9 weeks now so dates are wrong, not sure how but it happens.
(This was 20 + years ago and not offered an early scan, just had to wait it out)