Forcing myself to wait for ultrasound until 7-8 weeks, but the waiting is torture

[pugh]

TW: loss
My first pregnancy ended in a MMC November ‘22. It makes it very difficult to have faith in my current pregnancy because I had no symptoms of miscarriage (HCG labs doubling every 48 hrs, etc) until we went for an ultrasound and saw nothing but an empty bubble. They said there was a yolk sac, but I couldn’t see anything. It ended with a D&C at week 10 when nothing progressed beyond that early development.
Right now I’m exactly 5 weeks. My HCG was 412 mIU/mL at 4 weeks 1 day and progesterone was 27.99 ng/mL. My HCG was drawn again at 4 weeks 5 days at 1890 mIU/mL. These numbers are stronger than my first, but I still feel like I can’t fully enjoy this. I told them I wanted to wait until beyond 7 weeks for an ultrasound because I don’t want there to be any question about what should be seen at that point. I didn’t want to go at 5-6 and have to come back in two weeks, wondering again. Time is going by so slowly, and I don’t know what to do in this waiting period. I guess I am just venting; the frustrating thing is there is no way to relieve my concerns until I see a baby with a heartbeat in there.

 

[kathrineswitzer]

@pugh I had 2 early mc and also waited for 9 wk for my first ultrasound with this pregnancy. I’m so glad I did because heart beat was clear enough for abdominal ultrasound and nobody has to stick the internal wand into me. I was very traumatized by all the transvaginal ultrasounds.

It was hard to delay the initial ultrasound, but I kept reminding myself that the fate of this pregnancy is already determined at conception and there is nothing that I could do to prevent a mc. It is a mental practice that there is a lot in life that is beyond our control.

The point of the first scan is placement to rule out ectopic pregnancy. So you still have to watch out for those symptoms.

 

[rein_29]

@kathrineswitzer This is great advice. I waited until 7 weeks for my first ultrasound this pregnancy and told myself a lot of the same things.

My betas and progesterone looked good, so I just watched for any concerning symptoms and told myself the fate was already determined and I could not do anything to change it. If the embryo is developing correctly then it will keep on doing so and we’ll see it at the scan.

My mindset every scan is, if I haven’t had any concerning symptoms or lab work then it’s “probably okay”. I still get nervous every time - I had the anatomy scan at 19+2 yesterday and they had to retake my blood pressure after because it was reading so high before we started the scan. I still guard my heart somewhat when I’m nervous but I try not to ruminate on the what ifs when there is no evidence pointing to possibility of a bad outcome.

Best of luck to you and OP with your pregnancies!

 

[pugh]

@rein_29 This was so soothing to read, but I’m sorry you’re having to deal with the nerves. It sounds like you are having a healthy and successful pregnancy. Congratulations to you and thank you for commenting : ))

 

[pugh]

@kathrineswitzer I remind myself of this- there isn’t much I could do to mess up a viable pregnancy and on the flip side, nothing I could do to change the outcome of a non viable one. I am still dying to know which boat I am in this time.

 

[kathrineswitzer]

@pugh Wishing you a very boring pregnancy. And congratulation!

 

[pugh]

@kathrineswitzer Thank you : ))