Early pregnancy scan measuring behind – looking for honest experiences

[BoldReader]

I'm looking for some honest experiences, both positive and otherwise, as I'm really struggling with the uncertainty.

My LMP was 19 September, which meant I should have been 6+4 at my scan on 4 November. I also estimate ovulation was around 6/7 October, which would put me at approximately 6+1.

I had a genuine faint positive pregnancy test on 19 October, which appeared within the test reading time. My blood hCG that day was 50.

I had an internal scan yesterday. They could see a gestational sac and yolk sac inside the uterus, but no fetal pole or heartbeat. They said the sac was too small to measure and thought it might simply be too early.

I'm booked for another scan in 12 days.

I'm finding the dating really difficult to understand. If I was genuinely around 6 weeks pregnant, I would have expected to see more by now. I appreciate ovulation dates aren't always exact, but given I had already tested positive on 19 October, I'm struggling to understand how I could be measuring around 5+2.

For background, I have a 3 year old daughter and I've had three missed miscarriages previously, all around 10 weeks (may 2025, nov 2025, April 2026). One was confirmed as trisomy 13 and the other two were unexplained. All my recurrent miscarriage investigations were normal.

I've been under a consultant this pregnancy, who initially estimated around a 70% chance of a successful pregnancy. I'm taking Cyclogest and have been offered weekly monitoring.

I'm now struggling emotionally. I feel completely numb and like I'm just existing until the next scan. I'm even considering staying off work until I know more.

I'm not looking for anyone to diagnose me, but I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced:

• A gestational sac and yolk sac but no fetal pole at around 6 weeks.
• Measuring behind despite having an earlier positive pregnancy test.
• A sac that was initially too small to measure, followed by a healthy pregnancy.
• Or, equally, experiences where things unfortunately didn't progress.

I'm looking for honest experiences rather than false reassurance. I know nobody can tell me what will happen, but hearing from people who have been through something similar might help me get through the next 12 days.

Thank you. ❤️

Hi @BoldReader I had a similar experience, where the scan measured at 6w3d with no heartbeat, when it should have been around 7 weeks. I was told the embryo was just below the diagnostic threshold for miscarriage (CRL over 7mm with no heartbeat), so I would have to wait. Radiopaedia diagnostic guidance might be helpful - they don't take your dates for granted as not all women will be tracking, hence the wait and see advice.

Sadly, my pregnancy did end in miscarriage, which began spontaneously a week after the scan. Until the scan, I’d had no idea anything was wrong, but it seems the pregnancy had stopped progressing much earlier than I would have realised otherwise and I would have considered it an 8 week loss rather than a 6 week one.

Personally, I found the waiting and hoping the hardest part by far. It sounds as though you may be in a similar position, so my honest advice would be to think about how you’d want to approach things if it does become clear that it is a miscarriage.

I am so sorry to hear you have had recurrent miscarriages and I very much hope my advice is not needed. Please take care of yourself, it is a horrible experience. If you haven't listened to 'The Worst Girl Gang' podcast episodes, you may find them helpful, I did.

Hey. So let's work it back logically.

If you got your first positive on 19th October and HCG was 50 then it's reasonable to suppose you may only have been as newly pregnant as, say, 10dpo. That would mean you ovulated on 9th October (I know you think you ovulated on the 7th, but unless you had a scan to check, then you can be 48 hours out). Add two weeks to ovulation date to date the pregnancy (going by LMP only works if you ovulated on CD14). That could make you 5+5 today, measuring 3 days behind.

3 days isn't a deal-breaker at this stage. The measurements are really small and can be mildly thrown. My current 27+2 week pregnancy was measuring 2 days behind at a 6 week scan and it was IVF so I know my dates 100%.

Now, I've had recurrent loss, and so have you, so I'm not in the business of handing out false hope online. It's ALSO possible that you weren't 10dpo when you tested, maybe you were as late as 13/14dpo. In which case the dates start to be further out, and it becomes more concerning.

You've been here before so you know only time can tell. If you've not been bleeding, that's a good sign.

Honestly I would absolutely get signed off work until the next scan (and then consider longer if it's bad news). Ive done that before because I know how all consuming it is.

Limbo is hell and I am so sorry you're stuck in it.

Can you ask for 48 hour HCG to help give you an indication of how this pregnancy is going?

Other than that, just know that at this point I believe it could go either way (and usually I read these threads and think, this is going only one way). I hope very much for you that this one pulls through.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thoughtful reply. I really appreciate it.

Congratulations on your current pregnancy, sending you lots of love and well wishes ❤️

Just to clarify my dates, we only TTC on 4 October. I had an LH test on 6 October where the line was almost as dark as the control, but I can't say for certain that I caught my peak. I got my first faint positive on 19 October, when my blood hCG was 50.

My scan was on 4 November and showed a gestational sac and yolk sac, but no definite fetal pole, although they thought they might see the very beginning of one.

I think what's making this so difficult is that my previous three pregnancies ended in missed miscarriages, and my most recent one in April was measuring around 12 days behind. I'm struggling to separate the possibility of late ovulation from what feels like the same pattern happening all over again.

I know only time will tell, but after everything we've been through, it's incredibly hard to have hope. Thank you again for being so kind, I really appreciate it❤️

Would HCG of 50 not be quite high for 10dpo? Implantation happens earliest 5-6dpo. Then HCG doubles every 2-3 days. I think most women have a base HCG of 0-2. So at 10dpo wouldn’t it be more like 10-30?

That's really interesting, thank you. I hadn't considered that 50 might be quite high for 10 DPO.

We only had intercourse on 4 October, and my LH test on 6 October was almost as dark as the control, although I never got a definite positive. My first faint positive was on 19 October, when my blood hCG was 50.

Do you think that level makes it more likely I was further past ovulation than 10 DPO, and therefore further along than the later-ovulation calculation suggests? I'm trying to work out whether later ovulation is a realistic possibility or whether the dates make the scan findings more concerning.

I've had three previous missed miscarriages, so I'm finding it really difficult to interpret everything objectively. I appreciate your thoughts. ❤️

I had a very similar experience where I am telling it was a blighted ovum. Same as you really , scan only with gestational sac sand yolk at 6 +2 or 3 . They weren’t concerned but I knew I was even further than that and felt straight away it wasn’t gonna be good . Went back and nothing had che her and the gestational sac was irregular. Had a D&c.
the thing I’d say though is that I was 100% sure of the dates.
with a positive on the 19th you could also be 5+2/3 and it just being early . It’s hard to know what day a faint positive is . It’s a horrible waiting game , I hate it .

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm so sorry you went through that. I've had three missed miscarriages myself, all of which ended in D&Cs, so I'm finding this particularly difficult emotionally. I'm terrified of going through it all again.

I think what's making it so difficult is that my dates aren't 100% certain. We only had intercourse on 4 October, and although I had an LH test on 6 October that was as dark as the control, I never got a definite positive. I had my first faint positive on 19 October with an hCG of 50.

I'm struggling to work out whether I could genuinely be around 5+2/3 or whether I'm likely further along and the scan is showing something similar to my previous losses.

It's such a horrible waiting game. Thank you again for taking the time to reply. ❤️

I’ll be guarded if I were you .
obviously I want to tell you’ll be fine but there is a very real possibility that it’s an early miscarriage. If that’s the case ill ask for some more tests .
have they considered aspirin ?
I had a loss at 24 weeks as well, before the miscarriage. It was actually a neonatal loss as he did live a couple of months .
i haven’t had 3 early miscarriage in a row so I won’t say i understand you , but I do share the feeling of anxiety of things not working out ever. It’s really hard and there isn’t a quick fix other than giving yourself time and I found having a plan knowing you have done everything in your power to make things work xx

I've had HCG taken several times at 12dpo during my fertility journey - the lowest was 8 and the highest was 80, so whilst it would be on the robust side it definitely wouldn't be unrealistically high, from my experience.

Obviously, it is totally possible OP was further along than 10dpo, and I'm not trying to force a hopeful narrative, just trying to show a scenario whereby things could work out.

I do still think in this situation that OP should guard her heart, as we all do with recurrent loss ❤️

Driving me mad waiting for a scan but realistically could I have ovulated later than I think?

I've been trying to make sense of my dates following my early scan and wondered if anyone could help me work out whether late ovulation is a realistic possibility.

My dates are:

• LMP: 19 September.
• Only intercourse that cycle: 4 October.
• LH test on 6 October showed a line almost as dark as the control, but I didn't test past here to get a definite positive.
• First faint positive pregnancy test: 17 October.
• Blood hCG on 19 October: 50.
• Clearblue Weeks Indicator on 17 October: 1–2.
• Clearblue Weeks Indicator on 28 October: 2–3.

I had a transvaginal scan on 4 November. They saw a gestational sac and yolk sac, but no definite fetal pole or heartbeat. The sac was too small to measure. The sonographer visually estimated around 5+2, but this wasn't based on an actual measurement.

By LMP I should have been 6+4.

I've been wondering whether I could have ovulated later than expected, potentially around 8–9 October, meaning conception could have happened around then. As we only had intercourse on 4 October, this would mean sperm surviving for up to five days.

If conception happened on 8–9 October, I would have been approximately 5+5 to 5+6 at the scan, rather than 6+4 by LMP.

Does the timeline, particularly the hCG of 50 and the Clearblue results, make conception around 8–9 October plausible? Or does the scan seem more concerning given these dates?