6w 5d with rising hcg's but not doubling.

houstonot4kids · #1 August 16th, 2012, 04:25 PM

Hi All! My name is Celina and my husband and I struggled to get pregnant for 3+ years. After getting a diagnosis of stage 3 endometriosis we finally are pregnant after the help of IVF. Here's my story...

We were pregnant with twins last Monday. My hcg levels are rising steadily but not doubling in 48 hours as the doctors want to see. At 5 weeks 4 days I got a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy with no evidence of an ectopic pregnancy. We got a second opinoin from that of our Reproductive Endocrinologist. The second opinoin was that we have a viable pregnancy. On Tuesday of this week I miscarried one of the twins. Keep in mind that they have only seen gestational sacs. I passed a large clot of tissue and we thought my pregnancy was gone. Went back yesterday and we still have one gestational sac there!!

Here is my concerns: They can only see the gestational sac right now; however the gestational sac that remains intact continues to grow every time we see it on the intravaginal ultrasound. I'm concerned that they haven't seen the fetal pole or heartbeat yet. I get this from my RE's office telling me that I needed to terminate my pregnancy because my hcg levels were not high enough.

My second concern is that my hcg levels are not doubling every 48 hours. HCG at 6w 3d was 2800. 6w 5d was 4283. It continues to rise even after losing a twin but I'm wondering if anyone else has been through this? I'm so worried and heartbroken. Our RE's office want us to terminate the pregnancy and have been very forecful and disapproving of our refusal to do so until we have proof. It's been very daunting. My regualr OBGYN says that everything looks normal for our gestional period but I am concerned about my hcg levels and not being able to see the baby in the sac yet.

Can anyone help?? <3

momof6lopez · #2 August 16th, 2012, 06:40 PM

I would prepare for the end result to be a "blighted ovum". The hcg is going in that trend (up but not doubling) with an empty sac. I had a BO that went to 14wks. The sac measured 14wks, and it only had a yolk visable (no baby) m/c and hemoraged bad due to the size of the sac. Keep a good eye on things. I understand the roller coaster your on, Ive been there, many times. Praying for a miracle to happen for you.

Dee Darling 3 · #3 August 17th, 2012, 09:05 PM

I wouldn't jump to terminate at this point. I hope you see a fetal pole soon and end up with a wonderful healthy baby.

chickadee · #4 August 18th, 2012, 12:13 AM

First, I'm so sorry for the loss of your twin, and the huge emotional roller coaster you're on. I have been there, with so many of the same issues (TTC for 2.5 years, pregnant finally via IVF, worried about betas not doubling, a twin loss), and I know it's just agonizing to wait to see how things will pan out, and how desperately you're hoping for a good result. The anxiety I felt was terrible, and I wish you didn't have to go through all of this. It is so hard.

I don't know that I can shed a lot of light on what's happening, as I really only have my own experiences to go by, but I'll share the tiny scraps of knowledge I have just in case it helps you any.

Once beta hCG values get to a certain level, they stop doubling every 48 hours... and it takes more like 72 or even 96 hours for them to double. My betas did the same thing yours did, at right about the same numbers. I think my third beta was ~2800, and then my next beta 48 hrs later was ~4100. I was hysterical about it not doubling, but that was actually expected and perfectly normal (it was just that no one had told me to expect that!).

Heartbeat and fetal pole: We were able to detect the heartbeats of both twins at 6w3d (our first ultrasound), but we had been told to be prepared that we might not be able to see the hearbeats yet. And the heartbeats were SO faint (and still slow, both had HRs below 100)... I have no idea how the equipment was even picking them up. As far as I understand it, the heartbeat will generally show up sometime around 6-7 weeks... and so you may not be able to detect it for a few days still.

I think there's a decent chance that your remaining baby is still developing, and so I wouldn't give up hope just yet. An no offense, but screw your RE. This is YOUR body, YOUR pregnancy, and you shouldn't feel pressured to terminate a pregnancy that you feel may still be viable. You know what's right for you, and I'm sorry you're getting so much pressure from them. It doesn't help what is already a very tough situation for you.

I really wish you good luck, and I hope that the next few days bring good news for you. *hugs*

geogeek · #5 August 19th, 2012, 04:06 PM

I would like to ditto what the other ladies have said. My thoughts are with you that you will have a healthy pregnancy. I am so sorry for the loss of the twin.

sterlids445 · #6 August 20th, 2012, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by momof6lopez

I would prepare for the end result to be a "blighted ovum". The hcg is going in that trend (up but not doubling) with an empty sac. I had a BO that went to 14wks. The sac measured 14wks, and it only had a yolk visable (no baby) m/c and hemoraged bad due to the size of the sac. Keep a good eye on things. I understand the roller coaster your on, Ive been there, many times. Praying for a miracle to happen for you.

i agree with her. i'm sorry i know that isn't what you want to read but i had a blighted ovum 2 yrs ago and had the same issue. the numbers were rising but not doubling. mine finally just stopped rising. i had about 3 u/s within 2 weeks and never saw a fetal pole. the gestational sac didn't grow either. with my current pregnancy my numbers doubled and we saw the hb at 6w5d and heard the hb at 7w6d. i hope that maybe baby is some how hiding in there but to me it doesn't sound too promising. i'm sorry you're going through this.

princess136 · #7 October 5th, 2012, 02:10 PM

I did experience the same thing with my blighted ovum. Even though my doctor called it a missed miscarriage. I had spotting/light cramping and ER did U/S and HCG levels and couldn't find any gestational sac. then went to OB two days later and had blood work done. HCG doubled as it should and we did ultrasond 3 days later and gestational sac showed, yay! went in two weeks later and still just a sac on my OB's portable machine so we scheduled U/S with techs in office as their machine is better. 3 days later still no baby. I demanded bloodwork (Doc kept thinking all was fine) and next day I got call that my levels were only 10,000 (3 weeks ago they were 2,200). Did final U/S following week (6 days later) and still just gestational sac.

I have read lots of stories where women have babies show up much later than the standard 5,6,7,8 or even 9 week ultrasound, so I know there are miracles all the time.

I just hope it turns out well for you and the baby is just hiding in there somewhere and the next U/S (push for one with your doctor) shows baby in there doing just fine.

Good luck to you!