maternal and child

hi,

[Crritter]

Wow, at 6 weeks it is hard to see a baby, I did see my son at 6 weeks 3 days, but there are some women here who haven't seen anything at 6 weeks and a few days or a week later it's there.  Just prepare yourself either way.  I hate to say it but there isn't much you can do right now, so try not to stress yet.  I had a blighted ovum, but it was not discovered till 11 weeks, and I had no problems, just started to spot and cramp some, that's why I went in.  I hope you do have a healthy pregnancy and get to see a baby soon.  Hang in there.

[AnnieBrooke]

Excuse me, in the third paragraph I said it doesn't mean the baby has been developing that long.  What I should have said is that it doesn't mean the placenta has been developing that long.  :)

[AnnieBrooke]

It does not sound like the doctor did the other thing that could reassure you, which would be to take a beta hCG test, and then to do another one 48 hours later.  hCG is human chorionic gonadotrophin, which is in your blood and urine once you are pregnant, and is the substance that gives you a "positive" on a pregnancy test.  It can be measured by a urine test, but is more precise when measured on a blood test, especially a blood test called a "beta" hCG test.  That test gives you a count, not just a yes or no, and the count (of how much hCG is in a given quantity of blood) will double about every 48 hours in early pregnancy.  When your count is doubling, the pregnancy is considered to be progressing normally.

If your doctor has not done these tests, I would call to request them.  They, not just the ultrasound, are what gives good information in early pregnancy.  (Around here, in-vitro fertilization patients give blood every couple of weeks at their clinic to test for hCG levels, progesterone levels, and estrogen levels.)

As for your six-week count, even when you have a pregnancy that comes from medical help, you still do not know exactly what day the little blastocyst implanted in  your uterus.  You may know what day it was inserted into you, but it will be loose in your uterus, adding more cells to itself, for a couple of days or more before it decides on a spot and implants.  So the "six week" number is just a number on the calendar, it doesn't mean the baby has been developing that long.  

(In fact, at our IVF clinic despite the fact that they KNOW exactly when the baby was conceived and when it was put into the mommy's uterus, they still use the older dating system of measuring a pregnancy from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period before she got pregnant.  Of course, this means adding two weeks when she wasn't pregnant at all to the length of the pregnancy.  So "six weeks pregnant" means more like four weeks from conception.)  
  
Because of this dating and the possibility of the baby implanting a little later, and because the difference between what you see on an ultrasound at late 5 weeks and at mid 6 weeks is HUGE, I would not stress yet.  What I WOULD do is ask the doctor for two beta hCG blood tests 48 hours apart.  GOOD LUCK! and (((HUGS)))
Annie

[breeze2]

thank you for responding. Your explanation is very informative. you really helped me to overcome my desperation. It's really difficult to pour out my feelings at the moment. I am a little bit confused. I know I have to wait for another twelve days but it's also nice to know that there is a sign of hope.