Miscarriage after seeing suturing heartbeat

Hi Everyone I am new to this forum but was hoping to get some answers. My fiancé and I have been ttc for some time and we finally got pregnant in July 2010. We went for our first ultrasound early, 5 weeks as I have suffered a miscarriage once before, and there was no hb. A week later, 6 wks 4 days were blessed with a strong hb of 113 pbm. The ultrasound tech said he could not fault the pregnancy. We were over the moon but still walking on egg shells with what has previously happened.

Went back for my 8wk ultra sound and tech now says he can't fins hb and our baby has not grown. We are now devastated. He was no longer than 2 minutes, whole scan completed. I thought it was very rushed but he is the tech and also an ob. I expect he knows what he's looking for. He calls the ob, as mine is on leave at this time, so I had to see another ob at the hospital. The doctor and the midwife thought it was best I under go a d&c. I request another scan the next day before the d&c hoping to see my babies hb. The ob this time, did a trans abdominal ultrasound not the usual transvaginal which I have had with previous visits. He said I was slim and don't require the transvaginal one, the pregnancy should be obvious with abdominal ultrasound.

He was also very brief and said the uterus is now collapsing and it isn't a big black circle like it once was. I couldn't tell as I find those type of ultra sounds hard to read. I can't see who it could have collapsed in one day either. The d& c was preformed the same day. I had no bleeding or cramping so I found it hard to believe I was miscarriaging throughout the whole two days. I had no symptoms of a miscarriage.

My question is, do you think I should have requested the transvaginal ultrasound & I thought once a strong heartbeat was detected your chances are like 10% or less. I must just have bad luck. I followed all the rules by the book. I don't drink or smoke and stayed away from deli meats, soft cheeses, pates anything which the experts say you should avoid.

I am so sorry for your loss. I experienced 2 miscarriages, the first in Oct 06 and the second in Sep 07. It is a terrible thing that I wish no-one had to experience. My first miscarriage was @ 6 weeks, I started bleeding and that pregnancy turned out to be a blighted ovum (implants into uterine wall but baby never grows). My second pregnancy was riddled with fear so I too had an early u/s at 7 weeks. We saw a strong little hb at 143bpm. I felt relieved so we told our immediate family and a few close friends. Surely things had to be ok this time! Unfortunately we went back for a scan at 10 weeks we found that precious little baby had stopped growing a few days earlier. We could see little arms and legs but no hb, I ha experienced a 'missed miscariage"! We were devastated. I had both trans abdominal and trans vaginal u/s for both first & second pregnancies. Like you I took all the precautions & didn't eat the 'wrong' foods etc and am non-smoker and only consume minimal amt of alcohol... although none when ttc. How could this be, I just felt like there had to be a mistake as I hadn't had any pain/cramping etc. I have never felt as empty as I did the day I saw that motionless baby on the screen. I still get upset when I think about that day. You are right, the odds of having a miscarriage after seeing a healthy hb are quite low. I have only just returned to BB but I virtually lived on BB when I was going through my ttc journey. The ladies in here are fantastic support. Dh and I went on to have quite a number of tests after we lost our second bub. The tests didn't give us any real reason, I had a few minor issues which OB said may or may not have been related to the m/c (small uterine scar and a uterine polyp). I will tell you something else..... it is very likely that you WILL go on to have a healthy bub. I found much comfort when I stumbled across the Sydney IVF website and their miscarriage management area. You may want to google it and have a read. Sending you a huge hug and lots of positive vibes.

Hi AJC,

Thank you for your prompt reply. It is a terrible thing for anyone to have to ever live through, there are no words to describe a loss like this. I was given a photo from the good ultrasound showing baby and it's measurements. It is a sad reminder and I am still not sure if I should be hanging onto this photo. I have not looked at it since hearing the sad news. I could not see if our bub had arms/legs as the tech took it off the screen very quickly. He didn't point anything out to us, regarding features and I think I was in shock and was looking at dh in disbelief, as I did turn to look at the screen, photo was taken off. I still think I should have demanded the transvaginal ultrasound right before the d&c, not the 'belly' one that the ob preformed. I will be seeing my own ob in 6 weeks time. From here we will do all the tseting which will hopefully shed some light onto why this is happening. My dh has 2 healthy children from a previous marriage, and it's hard for me to be around them and display love and affection when I so want a child of ours. My attitude had changed towards his chicldre, for the better, as I was so excited to be carrying a child and dh and i were eager to tell them the news in what would have been 4 weeks time.

We are also having the bubs tissue tested, to see if it was chromosomal. As they say when you do see a hb and still go onto miscarry, it's caused by a chromosome defect.
I knew. Few days before that things were as good, as the weird dreams you have while pregnant seemed to have stopped for 3 days but returned on the eve of the d&c. This was my only symptom plus sore boobs, which still hurt a little now. I know this will stop once all my hcg levels are out of my system. I still cry each night and feel so empty, like yourself. I loved being pregnant and would sit and talk to our bub every spare moment we got. I'd talk all the time while at work etc.
I've found the harder I try with doing all the right things while pregnant, the no better off I am.

I will check out the web site you mentioned and hope this helps with my pain. I just keep thinking I should have had the transvaginal ultra sound one last time. But I figured the doctors know best, but it doesn't mean they always do, they are human and can make a error just like us.

So very sorry for your loss hun :hug:.

Regards,
Dianne
Emmanuel born sleeping @24wks
Trisomy 13

couldnt read and not post, just wanted to send you hugs and i hope you find the answers your looking for. there are (sadly) lost of lovely women here who have been through something similar and im sure they will be a great support for you.

Thanks to all you lovely ladies for all your kind thoughts and words.
I hope to one day soon, give birth to a beautiful healthy baby.

I think we all deserve this

Hi Tania and welcome to BB.
I'm so sorry to hear of your losses. Sadly there are many women who know that pain all to well, and you'll find heaps of support and info here.

Between DD and DS I had a pregnancy where we had a couple of bleeds before 12 weeks and saw a little heartbeat both times. The day before my NT scan at 12 weeks I felt something was awry and had another tiny bit of blood. I had the scan booked for the following day and so waited it out until then. My tiny baby was on the screen motionless the following day. It had only passed away the day before. Like you I was paranoid at avoiding all they said I should, I don't drink and have never smoked.
Wondering whether or not you should have asked for a different scan hun will just eat you up inside (though I have to say I'm surprised that they didn't) :hug:

I hope you get your forever baby soon.