Bleed, then scan showed empty preg sac

Ruby_Moon

rosie383 wrote: »

I just need some advice please if anyone can help. I am 7 weeks, 4 days preg with my 3rd. A couple of days ago I started to bleed with some cramping. I was seen in A&E and sent up to the maternity ward where a nice doctor gave me a quick scan and told me that there was a pregnancy sac there, and she saw a heartbeat. An internal exam showed that the cervix (os) was closed.
I was booked to return to the EPU the next morning for a more detailed scan. The bleeding had all but stopped after about 10 hours. I expected the scan to show all was well, and was really shocked to be told that it was 'inconclusive'. The pregnancy sac looked empty. I was told to go home, keep taking the folic acid, and am booked to return for a scan in 2 weeks as there is a 50-50 chance that there is a viable pregnancy that was just too early to see.
I have read through old threads on here from a few years ago and all of the ladies on there had miscarriages. Has anyone had this experience but had a positive result at the next scan?
And if I start bleeding what do I do? Do I just let nature take it's course? Go to hospital or what?
I was too shocked at the time and didn't get much info at all.
In my head I am no longer pregnant, I think to prepare myself for the worst at the next scan.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Happened to me a long time ago.
I knew I was pregnant as I had several tests done prior to the bleeding by the doctors, so there was no mistake.
The scan showed nothing and they wanted me to go back in a couple of weeks to take more measurements (obviously if it grows, you're preggers) I couldn't do that. I wasn't prepared to carry around a dead foetus for 2 weeks and went back to the hospital the next day for a D&C.
Sorry, I meant to add (I didn't mean this to have scared you)...I bled in most of my pregnancies all the way through, so its not always a bad sign.

rosie383

To be honest, I am feeling really pregnant this afternoon, more than I have for a few days. Boobs are really tender, and feeling really sick and tired.
If it does turn out to be an empty sac in 12 days time, then I think, that if they can show me for definite, and there is NO BOUBT, then I may opt for an ERPC. If there is any doubt in my mind at all, then I will accept that the baby is not developing, and I think, wait for a natural miscarriage. I really pray that I won't have to make that decision.
Google can be a wonderful thing, but also a very scary place!!!!!!!

skintchick

Rosie - just wanted to say that you don;t need a full bladder for scans these days as the equipment is better than it used to be. I didn;t have to have a full bladder for any of my scans. Sorry to dash that hope but maybe it will set your mind at rest in terms of the scans being done properly?

Do take care of yourself and try not to Google too much - you will scare yourself and not everything on the internet is true!!

:A

dinky_dragon

I found out I was pg (about 5 weeks) and 2 days later I started bleeding and cramping - went to the hospital and had a scan, saw a sac but nothing in it and I was gutted. Told, like you to go back 2 weeks later and I was expecting the worst but I was told 'theres the pregnancy' (by the most miserable nurse I have ever encountered) and my daughter is now 1! So there is hope, honestly, there is! Don't worry, keep doing pg tests between now and your next app - if your hcg levels drop they will stop showing positive and you will be able to prepare yourself for your scan.....x

greenhill

Firstly Rosie, let me say how horrible this must be for you. Big hug.

23 years ago I was bleeding at 5 weeks pregnant. Hospital said the heartbeat was impossible to find, though the sac was there. Sent me home for 1 week of bedrest then to return for a 'scrape' (as we called it then). I'm a stubborn c*w sometimes and simply knew I was pregnant. So I took the bed rest part of their advice.

As for the 'miscarriage'? He's doing his Masters at Oxford and will be home for Christmas on Monday.

I hope I've given you a bit of hope.

Tina x

rosie383

Dinky Dragon and Tina. Thank you so much!!!!!

mrcow

Just wanted to add - I had bleeding with my third pregnancy. I was a bit like you, couldn't tell if I even felt pregnant or not any more. I was really annoyed as the midwife centre told me to wait until the blood was coming "like a period" and then to go in to see them.

Sod that I thought. It was less than a week before Christmas and there was no way I was going to just wait - so I called BUPA and booked a private scan. It costs about £100, but they saw me that morning, I got scanned by a consultant obstetrician and had a detailed scan. I was further along than you (nearly 12 weeks) so the scan was a little more conclusive, but I can remember the heartache that we were feeling even now before we went in (we'd lost a baby just six months prior to this at the same stage of pregnancy)

My little girl is 4 now. She's always been a little miracle to me. I think to have waited like the NHS wanted me to would have been the most unbearable thing in the world.

All I'm saying is that if you don't want to wait for your rescan - there are possibly other options. Personally I couldn't wait. Especially over Christmas and New Year.

Good luck.

rosie383

Skintchick: I take your advice about Google. It is both a blessing and a curse!!!
Mind you, I'm not sure about what you are saying about the scans. From everything that I have read..... even on sonographers' websites, that it is difficult to see a very early pregnancy without a full bladder if done by abdominal scan. A transvaginal scan is preferable before 10 weeks, but if a transabdominal is done so early, a full bladder is necessary to get a clear picture, especially if the mother is overweight, as I am. I know there are many women who have had a transabdominal early, and have seen everything clearly, but it is not ideal.
Most times in this country they do a transabdominal as it is less invasive and cheaper too. If it inconclusive, then mostly they rescan in a couple of weeks unless it is an emergency situation, eg possible ectopic.
In the U/S it seems that women have scans from very early in the pregnancy, and all scans below 10 weeks are transvaginal, from what I have read.

tiamai_d

Your EPU sounds !!!!! You have been treated appallingly so far from what I have read.

And please, step away from google.

rosie383

Yeah. Google is off the menu for today, as far as pregnancy stuff is concerned. I promise!!

It's funny..... the maternity hospital here was great when I was having my last wee one. Much better than Whipps Cross where I had an awful delivery with dd1, but the EPU has a reputation for being particularly uninterested in people having problems before 12 weeks.
That is why I will not be going back until my booked scan at 9+3.
Maybe all staff are not like this, but in my experience so far, there is not a lot of sympathy or info around at all.