couldnt find heartbeat but heard placenta flow. anyone else?

[Yarrawin]

:hugs: Pregnancy is so worrying!

At my last appointment (I was 20 weeks) my ob gave me the option of trying to hear the hb or not and she said straight out to me that the baby is still very small and so they may not find the heartbeat and because it wasn't unsual to not find it with the doppler at 20 weeks they wouldn't send me for a scan if they didn't find it. I knew I'd worry if they didn't find it so I declined and decided to wait until next time.

I'm sure everything is fine

[Alan]

Hi Skybie

How scary for you. At 17 weeks it can be very difficult to find the heartbeat. An anterior placenta also makes it harder to find the heartbeat. Try not to worry hun, if you heard the blood flowing through the cord or the placenta then your baby does have a heartbeat.

Your anterior placenta has no effect on how fast the blood flow is. A normal heart rate for your baby is between 110 and 160. Sometimes it may even be a little faster or a little slower than this and still considered normal.

How loud the sound is depends on how close the Doppler is to the blood flow and if there is something between the Doppler and the cord such as an arm or leg.

[MummaSue]

Just to second everything that the others have said.

Also, hope that you got on well today and were reassured!
Sue x