In limbo: 6 - 7 weeks

The HCG taken at 5w6days measured at 17,000, which meant it doubled in 4 days. Pretty standard, and the reason why we saw a heartbeat (it's visible after HCG reaches 12,000). I got the news on Monday, but the day before that, I had another bad bleeding.

We went to the in laws for a niece's birthday party, and I had helped lifted a wooden bench out of the car into the residence. Couple hours later, in the car, I felt some discharge, so I wiped and out came the tissue with red blood. Devasted. More blood came out on to my pantyliner, which is soaked at this point, with what looked like some stringy stuff. All bright red. Of course, I'm miscarrying right?

So Monday when I got the HCG results, I asked the nurse over the phone about the bleeding and she told me that I could be seen if I wanted to, but the best thing is to wait a few days.

I figured if I was miscarrying, there's not much to be done anyways, so I stayed home because of the news...and because I was having really bad nausea/indigestion all day.

I went back to work the next day and the bleeding slowed down to spotting and eventually turned brown. This miscarriage is certainly taking it's sweet time.

Wednesday night, I took my toddler upstairs on a piggyback ride, then immediately afterwards, I started to bleed and cramp. I sat on the toilet and red blood kept dripping out, filling the bowl. Surely it was starting now. I laid in bed the rest of the night, preparing for some cramps and more blood, even texted my boss that I wasn't going to be in the next 2 days as I was miscarrying again.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to pee and had an incredible urge to hurl. I sat over the toilet thinking the worst was coming, but nothing came out. So I hovered over the sink to try to vomit, but only dry heaved a few times. Then the hot flash followed. My whole body was HOT. My back and my tailbone were drenched. I was so scared that I was going to pass out. But nothing happened.

The next morning, the bleeding slowed down again. This time I called the OB for an appointment because I wanted to know what was happening. In situations like this, they usually just tell you "well, most women bleed at some point in their pregnancy and all could be well." But I know I wasn't one of those women. I'm not that lucky.

So in comes the doctor with the ultrasound machine and starts the exam. At this point, I'm about 6w3days a long. He finds the gestational sac and takes a couple of turns until he finds the embryo... its heart beating away. It's measuring at around 6w6days or 7weeks. But... right next to the sac, he points out to me a large black mass of blood, the source of my bleeding.

What the hell is this??? A blood clot, also known as Subchorionic Hematoma. The clot can be resolved by either bleeding out, or being absorbed back into the body over slow progressive period of time. The risk is that the blood clot may take up the room necessary for healthy fetal growth, thereby slowly killing the fetus. The pregnancy is 50/50 at this point, no one can tell.

He gave me a shot of progesterone injection to "calm the uterus". Although he only recommended no sex, I voluntary put myself on bedrest as well. I took these two days off anyways. I'm staying off my feet as much as possible. Today, I have very little spotting. Will go back in a week to get another scan and another shot of progesterone.

5 weeks bad news... 6 weeks better news

Last week at 5 weeks pregnant, I had a pretty bad bleed after sex that was bright red and looked like the start of a period. I thought that was it. Bleeding had always been the first sign of a miscarriage. Went in for an ultrasound the next day, we saw a gestational sac but no embryo. According to my dates and previous HCG levels, there should have been an embryo. So we took another HCG level to make sure it's not an ectopic pregnancy and to see where the it was heading, although fully expecting it to be a miscarriage.

After the appointment, I have had constant spotting. Brown spotting. Little bit on my panty liner, and a little bit when I wipe. Sometimes it's pinkish. And sometimes, it's a big clump.

Next day, they called with my HCG results: 8,500. 4 days ago, it was 3,326. It doubled in 3 days.

So they booked another ultrasound appointment to double check everything.

4 days later... today... a huge surprise appeared on the ultrasound monitor: an embryo with a heartbeat! Measuring at exactly 6 weeks. My dates say I'm 5w5day today.

I still have minor pregnancy symptoms but not as much as week 2 or 3. Heartbeat is a good sign, but my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage after seeing a heartbeat at 9 weeks so... we're hopeful but not too much.

Took another HCG test today, will get results on Monday... and will book another scan for next week too.