I don't know much about IVF but I do know that your nurse's attitude sucks!! What a heartless cow! What's wrong with just saying they're low but to stay positive and to wait and see?! I can't see any point in her telling you all the stuff she said. It's not like you can just remove it and hand it back to her! What a crazy, nasty woman!!
I found this info for you. I hope it makes you feel better:
When you're pregnant, it's normal to want to swap notes about every twitch and test result with other moms and moms-to-be. But when it comes to hCG, the hormone detected in pee-on-a-stick home-pregnancy tests and more precisely in blood tests, trading tales may just make you spin your wheels with worry. That's because the levels can vary enormously from day to day, person to person, and even pregnancy to pregnancy.
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A brand-new placenta starts pumping out hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, a few days after the budding embryo implants in the uterine wall. Although the level of hCG will initially be quite low (it's just starting to show up in your system, after all) — it'll soon begin to soar, doubling every 30 hours (give or take). The rapid increase peaks somewhere between seven and 12 weeks after the last menstrual period (LMP), and then starts to decline.
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While it might sound like a predictable increase, when it comes to producing predictable levels, it's not even close. Experts have found a huge variation in hCG levels on even the first missed day of a woman's period. Some women have no measurable hCG (in other words, a level of 0 mIU/ml), while others have readings over 400. Either way, this is perfectly normal and has to do, in part, with exactly how long it took your egg to get fertilized, make the trip down to the uterus, and get snuggled in; some embryos are simply zippier than others. It's also perfectly normal for that wide range in levels to persist throughout pregnancy.
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So, what should you expect? Experts have found the following ranges of hCG levels to be normal:
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Weeks from LMP (Last Missed Period
Amount of hCG in mIU/ml or IU/l
3 weeks
0 to 5
4 weeks
5 to 426
5 weeks
18 to 7,340
6 weeks
1,080 to 56,500
7 to 8 weeks
7,650 to 229,000
9 to 12 weeks
25,700 to 288,000
13 to 16 weeks
3,300 to 253,000
17 to 24 weeks (second trimester)
4,060 to 165,400
25 weeks to term (third trimester)
3,640 to 117,000
After several days postpartum
nonpregnant levels (<5)
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If your readings fall outside these ranges, don't worry: It's still quite likely that everything's fine. (Your due date might just be off.) As long as your pregnancy is progressing normally, you don't have to obsess about these numbers (especially once you've past the first trimester), but if you are concerned, talk with your practitioner about your results.
Last edited by Taurean; July 14th, 2010 at 10:48 PM.
I agree that your nurse has no idea how to talk to people or how sensitive we are when doing ivf. Is there anyone else you can talk to there so you don't have to deal with her?
Thought it might be useful to share how my FS explained the funny hcg level thing to me. When the blasty implants, the cells on the outside, which eventually become the placenta, start to produce hcg pretty much as soon as they've implanted. Then, the amount of hcg produced depends on what's inside the sack, like one embryo or two or, sadly, sometimes nothing. But there are soooooo many women who've had slow rising hcg then healthy pregnancies. And, the range of what's normal is so big, so don't lose hope!
I have not provided an update in awhile... but need to get it all out.
The roller coaster ride is still going on. Can you believe it? I was so naive, thinking that IVF was a waiting game with the two week wait.. never expected that after receiving that long awaited positive that so many more doubts arise.
So in Summary, this is my journey so far.
June 16th Ovulation
June 21st Embryo Transfer (Day 5 Blast)
July 2nd Blood Test HCG = 24 (elated that my period did not come but devastated to be told by nurses that it is most likely not viable)
July 8th Blood Test HCG = 179
July 14th Blood Test HCG = 1627
July 21st Blood Test HCG = 7809
July 23rd Ultrasound Scan showed that the SAC was evident in the uterus ruling out an ectopic pregnancy but that nothing could be seen in the SAC. Devastated. Although, I was theoretically 7 weeks pregnant at this stage based on ovulation, the nurse advised that the size of the sac was 6 weeks so that it was on the cusp of seeing something or not. Blood Test on same day showed HCG = 11459
July 29th Blood Test HCG = 18964
August 3rd - tomorrow!!! I go in for my next scan - hoping that something is in the sac. If not, it could be a blighted ovum. I have not had any pain or bleeding...
It just feels that after so long, after so much waiting, and after so many hurdles we have jumped, that if the SAC is there, and nothing is inside, that this is one big cruel joke.
Would rather a yes or no many weeks ago, then have to go through this only to be told it is not viable.
Anyway, I better drag myself to bed, big day tomorrow.... will keep you posted.
Sorry I can't offer any advice. I was recently in a similar situation as you. Thankfully I was not in limbo for as long. I lost all hope after one week of being told it would not be viable and now I am just waiting for my BT tomorrow to make sure my levels have returned to normal.
Any way rambling aside. I hope you get the answer your looking for tomorrow. I will be thinking of you and have everything crossed
wishing you the very best for todays scan, i have also suffered from several BO, my HCG did not rise as yours has though so i am hopping that this is just a slow started for you (and that is very possible)
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