Heart beat on early ultrasound

I am 45

[Forum-M.D.-SP]

First of all, it is great news that you are pregnant! Big first step. Now for the statistics:

1) When someone your age gets pregnant, there is, unfortunately, a > 60% chance of the pregnancy ending in a miscarriage and < 40% chance of having a liveborn baby.

2) The presence of a heart beat is a good thing! It definitely means the odds of having an ongoing pregnancy are > 50%

3) Hard to comment on the slow heart rate. At only 6 weeks 1 day, the baby's heart rate will be slower than it will be at 9 weeks. As a rule of thumb, when the heart rate at 6w1d is 100 or more, the chances of an ongoing pregnancy (in younger women) is probably > 90%. If < 100 (in younger women) the chances are still pretty good but drop to around 60%. At 6.5-7.0 weeks and beyond, the cutoff number becomes 120 beats per minute.

4) I too am not worried about a 6w1d ultrasound at 6w5d. Ultrasound accurracy is +/- 5-7 days at this stage, and you may have ovulated a day or two late.

I know this is going to be a long wait for you, but you have already passed two huge hurdles: just getting pregnant in the first place, and seeing a heart beat on ultrasound. You are on progesterone. The rest is out of our hands at this point. Good luck!

[aimntrev]

Do you know what the heartbeat was? I know when I went in at 6 weeks 5 days her heartbeat was only 126 and 2 weeks later it was up to 170.  The heartbeat gets faster as the fetus grows.  At 6 weeks, it's heart just started beating and that's why it's slower.  My doctor did an ultrasound at 6 weeks 5 days and then again at 8 weeks 5 days. I think she mostly did it, because I was very sure of my lmp but the baby was a little behind (which is normal some babies grow faster in the beginning then others) but I ovulated late, and she just wanted to make sure the baby was growing on pace and to help keep me calm,since  I had a previous miscarriage.

[BG-MN]

Thanks for your comments.  We weren't told the heart rate, but It's good to know it can be slow to start out, and that there are normal variations in growth....