Miscarriage Questions

Have you already had the D & C?
I've had this happen to friends and they ended up with healthy babies because they refused the D & C.

I, personally, have had 2 miscarriages. No need for D & C, but it wasn't fun. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

My first pregnancy was very similar and I did end up miscarrying, but my mom's pregnancy with me was also similar, and I'm here today with no problems to speak of. I would try not to worry about it. I know it's not easy to do. If you'd feel better, you might try talking to another doctor for a second opinion, or even a specialist. I can recommend a great specialist. It sounds like you're on the right track now, and you're almost out of the "high-risk" zone. Try to rest and relax, and see what happens at the next visit. I have heard of the heartbeat just being hard to pick up, or maybe you weren't really 9 weeks at the time and the hearbeat just wasn't detectable at the time. GL! I hope it all goes well!

Those are questions for an OB and any good OB would be happy to answer those questions on the phone via his/her nurse. I do know that it is not uncommon to be unable to hear the heartbeat when the fetus is so young. It may mean that you are just not as far along as you think you are. Pregnancy due dates are measured on a chart that assumes you have a 28 day cycle and ovulated on day 14 which is the median for woman's cycles but not the norm. If you usually have a cycle that is longer than 28 days then it is logical to assume you ovulated later than the day 14 that the due date charts and you may just not be as far along as you thought. That would explain why the heartbeat was hard to detect the firs time. PS. The comment that someone else made that stress may lead to a miscarriage is false. Stress does not lead to miscarriage.

Congrats on your pregnancy, by the way!

I think the reason she said you should expect to miscarry is because a fetus usually develops a heartbeat between 4 and 6 weeks gestation. When she didn't see it at 9 weeks (4-5 weeks later than what's "Normal") she told you to expect the worst. However, there are plenty of reasons why she could not detect a heartbeat at that time. The estimated day of conception could have been wrong, you could have been less progressed in the pregnancy than you thought, the baby could have been developing a little later than "normal," or about a hundred other things. The fact that the baby has a heartbeat now says that it's doing fine. I wouldn't go through the next 7 months worrying that something will be wrong. Just enjoy your pregnancy and have a healthy baby! Congratulations on your pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with my daughter (now 8 yrs old) I was having really bad cramps and pains. I went to the ER and they did an internal ultrasound and the dr told me, "I don't see anything here...You are probably going to miscarry...If nothing happens in a week, come back and we'll take care of it." Needless to say, I was pretty upset and PO'd. I called my dr and his nurse told me to come in and just sit and talk with her. I went in to my regular doctor every other day for quite a while to have blood drawn to make sure my hormone levels were increasing and well, like I said in the beginning, my daughter is 8 now. Good luck and as hard as it is, try not to worry.

I had a miscarriage at 7 weeks and at 8 weeks I had an ultrasound, there was no heartbeat, and I had a DNC. It was the most heart breaking thing that has ever happend to me (this was just last year in March). I was due Oct. 14 and I had already wrote the weeks down on my calendar. After the DNC I had to go buy a new calendar and every pregnant woman I saw I wanted to punch them and say, why you and not me. I am terribly sorry for your loss. It will be hard to get over but don't fear that you won't have another baby. I did fear that because it took me a whole year to get pregnant again. Now I have a healthy fetus and it's due Oct. 21. I hope you are lucky and get pregnant again right off the bat, but if you don't, try not to worry. It's not much of a secret, but the way we got pregnant again was having sex every other night for two weeks starting one week after my period. I never used the ovulation test strips or any other method than the old fashioned way. I have to admit, the first week was fun, we both liked it, but during the second week even my husband got tired of it too! (Never thought that would happen!) We made each other do it and I guess it worked! I don't know what will work for you but the more you stress about it the harder it is to get pregnant. Good luck and I hope you will have a baby soon.

It is my experience that these sorts of things happen a lot. I don't think you have any reason to think that this pregnancy will have problems. Ultrasounds are supposed to be reassuring, but boy do I hear a ton of stories about women getting scared to death over false results.

This website may be helpful:
http://www.misdiagnosedmiscarriage.com/

you are very lucky to have a live baby. Maybe the baby was not showing because of the shape of your uterus?

be careful with what you do, and listen to your doctor. my next door neighbor had a similar experience, except that when they heard the heart beat it was weak. pray for help and guidance. Good Luck and God bless you!

I think you need to take it easy and see what happens at your next visit. First of all, I did not have my first ultra sound until I was 15 weeks along. My doctor said that any time before that the heart beat at times is not detected. So I would keep relaxing and DO NOT stress about it. Let your body take care of that little one! I think you are going to have a healthy and sucessful pregnancy. Wow, even doctors are not perfect! Good Luck and Congrats!!!

J.,
I have a friend this happened to. Her doctor said "there is no heartbeat. Come in next week and we'll do a DNC..." She decided to wait until the baby came out by itself. Well the baby did come out, about 9 months later; and she was just fine. Ultrasounds are not reliable pieces of technology. Personally, I think it's ridiculous how doctors rely so much upon them. Don't worry about your baby. Your body knows what it's doing in creating another human being. And I'm sure you'll have a perfectly healthy bundle of joy in a few months.

J.

J.,

Women let me tell you...... doctors are human too and we all make mistakes. Your baby should be just fine!! Things like that happen all the time, they just prepare you for the worse. Just dont do crazy things like, carrying heavy things, running,jumping etc.... Just take it easy and relax.

Best wishes, E.

J.-
I don't have any answers or suggestions, but I just want to say that I will be praying for you and your baby, and I'm so sorry for you and your family for having to go through all this heartache.

I have actually had this happen to three of my family members. I have never had to go through this personally but I have seen how painful this is. All three of my family members delivered healthy babies at full term. One of my sister-in-laws was told that she should abort the baby because there was a high probability of birth defects. She had faith and she knew personally that it was OK. She had a very healthy baby with no defects. Her little girl will be turning one soon. My other sister-in-law had tried for a very long time to have a baby. Her hormone counts were low and they told her to come back in a few days. They would do an ultrasound and then a D&C. She again delivered a very healthy baby who is now 9. My aunt went through invitro and they thought that the baby would not make it. She again delivered a healthy baby who is now 6. Try not to stress because sometimes the stress can lead to a miscarriage. I know that they happen but don't doom yourself before it does. Do see your doctor and ask for an ultrasound. They may have more information based off of that but in the case of my SIL with the 1yod, her doctor wasn't giving her any hope. She had prayed and had a blessing. I don't know if you are religious but there is always mother's intuition. How do you feel about things. Think about it and go from there. And after experiencing a miscarriage myself; I know how disappointing and traumatic that can be but life does go on and I have had a wonderful son since then. Good luck! Don't give up hope and know that doctors don't always know everything. It's just a science and sometimes proven wrong. Best of luck with your pregnancy.

J.,
Can I just say that I am so sorry for what you have been going through for the past three weeks. The same exact thing happened to me at 7 weeks with my second daughter. I went in for a routine ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. We did blood tests to confirm and my doctor said that I was in the early stages of a miscarriage. I went home and waited 4 days before I just couldn't take it any more and I called to have them schedule a D&C because I was misserable just sitting around and waiting. My husband begged me to do another ultrasound before I went in for surgery and my doctor agreed that it was a good idea, and for unknown reasons there was a perfectly healthy sac with a very distinct heartbeat. So for whatever reason, we all can speculate the reason, from tilted uterus, faulty equipment, even that there may have been twins at one time. But none the less I now have a very vibrant 3 year old. I do believe that everything happens for a reason and I think you will have a total normal and healthy pregnancy following all this headache. I will be praying for you. If you need someone to talk to you can e-mail me anytime, I know how emotional what you are going through is. Best of luck!!
J.

The heartbeat probably had not developed yet. The baby is not on the same time table as everyone thought. Your baby should be healthy but take care of yourself and see your DR. regularly. Congratulations! Every healthy baby is a miracle!
C. B

J., I have not had this happen, but my heart goes out to you for the range of emotions you must have been feeling--and may still be feeling! I am sure your baby will be healthy; take good care of yourself, try not to worry too much, and trust that your body is strong and ready for this miracle!
S.

J.,
I was a twin. My Mom miscarried my sib. They were getting her prepped for a D&C and heard a heartbeat (they didn't even know that she was carrying twins!). I was born two months later. I was smaller than my other sibs at birth but, healthy as a horse. Don't rob yourself of the joy of your pregnancy. P.S. They also told Mom that I was going to be a boy!

Were you sure you were 9 weeks and not earlier? I know my Dr. refuses to do any ultrasounds before 6 weeks and even then he said that sometimes it is not 100% that you will see it. Your uterus could be tilted back and that makes it harder to see. Maybe you were earlier than you thought??? It hasn't happened to me but I have heard of it happening to a few other people. Did the doctor say anything about any risks? If she didn't say anything I would assume that there wouldn't be any reason to worry. That would really suck though after all that time thinking you lost it and having to deal with that to say oops there it is..... I think everything should be fine, although I am not a doctor.

Congrats!! What great news!

I did have a miscarriage and D&C at 10weeks and went on to have a wonderful boy 14 months later. We had told everyone about the baby and so prayers, cards,etc. helped. We also planted a tree in the baby's memory-with two more for my older child and the new baby! Best of luck to you.

Sometimes you can't hear the heartbeat until 12 weeks. Just try and take it easy:)

J.,
What you had happen did not happen to me, but I just wanted to tell you that I am so happy for you that you are still pregnant! Yes, doctor's are human too, and rely on equipment that can be faulty or need new batteries sometimes, so mistakes are made. Thank God she decided to do another ultrasound before doing your D&C! I miscarried several years ago when I was just over 5 months pregnant with twins, and they had to do a D&C on me. I am so glad that you didn't have to go through that! You are truly blessed to still be pregnant! Congratulations!

Hey J.
I think I have read of this happening before, so it is not uncommon for it to happen. My guess is the doctor maybe wasn't operating the machine correctly (or the US tech?). There's no way the heart stopped beating and then suddenly start again. I'm sure baby was there all along, doing just fine.
When I would go in for ultrasounds, my boy would do acrobatics - like he was trying to avoid getting seen. And especially when they would try to listen to the heartbeat though that little machine. There were a couple times my doctor gave up even trying to count the heartbeat with that thing because he was moving around too much.
I don't know who your doctor is or where you are going, but I went to Billings OBGYN Associates and they are great. Their US tech is fantastic too.
Just keep up with the doctor appointments and I'm sure future ultrasounds will show you have nothing to worry about. Take care of yourself, and congratulations!

Hey, miracles happen. I would get the ultrasound if it is covered on insurance...just be prepared. I had two. my first would have "died' at 5 weeks. It was at the 10 week appointment that there was no heartbeat and they tried the ultrasound but nothing...it was so little when it died, that their really wasn't much but cells there..a little like a tadpole. i wait to miscarry for two weeks then asked for a DNC. i actually started to miscarry all over the bed when I was in the pre-op room. but she was gald we had the DNC as it looked like I was bleeding pretty heavy and could have had clotting issues. anyway, the second was a year later. We had an ultrasound about 6 weeks with a heart beat. then at the 9 week, there was none. they think this one 'died" at 8 weeks because of the size of the fetus. Have fatith. it is really heard to hear that. but go ahead and allow yourself time to grieve. Mine were both around thanksgiving so I was able to take the week off. I just cried and read books. Read the "Red Tent.' It helped give me perspective. going to church was hard for christmas. but now it is kay. I hve two kids now and still feel the sadness sometimes. Your husband will try to "fix" you. just tell him to give you time and let you 'feel" He is not feeling quite as sad because he is not carrying the baby and hormonal, but he is sad too. He will look to control to help himself. just undertand that so you don't isolate each other. Have hope and keeping trucking. Miscarriages have happened to about everyone i know. I am actually a bit glad now. it pushed being a mom back three years and I was totally ready then.