dates off/irregular heartbeat - advice, pls?

I had an early u/s on Thursday. According to my LMP (which I feel 99% sure of) I would have been 8w6d. The u/s showed I was 7w3d. There was also an irregular heartbeat so we couldn't get an accurate rate. I am getting my hcg done on Monday and have another u/s scheduled for 7/3. I had very little symptoms in the beginning and for the last week or two I have nothing. No sore/full breasts, no m/s, not tired etc. I also have had no cramping or spotting. My dr. said he's not all that concerned with the irregular heartbeat rather the 10 day descrepincy. When I talked to him I asked for his professional opinion on the turnout and though vague, he said he thinks there's a chance it will be fine. Can anyone share with me any insight? Can I catch up in development? I feel like I'm pretty much doomed.

Catmommy - what do you mean by irregular heartbeat? what was the heartbeat? re being behind in LMP I was behind by 5-6 days when I was about 10 weeks and have caught up now. See what they say at your next scan and your HCG results.. Its great they found a heartbeat did he say that the sac the baby is growing in looked normal? When I m/c they said my baby size wasnt a good size in comparison with the sac. Best wishes, I am thinking of you.

Bel
xxx

Bel, The heartbeat was seen but it was too irregular to get a rate. The dr. said he wasn't as concerned with that because it was still early and irregular heartbeats aren't uncommon. It's the 10 day lag with no explaination that he's concerned about. I supppose if there were only a 5 day lag it wouldn't have been a big deal. He told me at the end of the u/s that he saw what he needed to see: 1. The baby 2. The heartbeat. He said there are a couple red flags and the most concerning again is the dates. I'm wondering if my charting could have been off meaning I had a thermal shift indicating O but didn't O until a few days later? DH and I had sex the two days prior and day of what I thought to be Ovulation day. Any sex we had after was waaay to far out of my fertile time period to be considered. I know I'm phsychoanalyzing but I'm afraid and grasping for answers.

Catmommy :hug: I hope things go ok for you.
Was the heartbeat SLOW? or was it in normal limits but all over the place?
Also, an ultrasound is only a diagnostic tool. When we look at scans we say they can be 7 days out, either way.
Are you going to have another scan soon?

I would take the ultrasound date because when you are full term, you will have less pressure to be induced if you are not as far along as they think! It gives baby a chance to come in it's own time. I assume you are booked in for another scan later? Hopefully the next one will have something more reassuring for you.

My u/s have consistantly showed me to be a week behind my LMP date. My OB wont change my EDD because he said they only do that if its more than a week. If its more than a week the u/s date becomes your new EDD.

Good luck. I'm sure things are fine - its so tricky at the very early stages - so may people have felt doomed like you and 7 or 8 months later are holding their little bundles.

Tiggy - dh and I spoke about this. And he said that from what he could see, the heart rate looked like it was beating pretty fast (more than 60bmp if compared to how the seconds hand on a clock ticks) but it was all over the place so it was too hard to get a reading. I had asked my Dr. what the heart rate was and he said he couldn't get an accurate read on the u/s machine. Still praying that everything will be okay.

Hi Catmommy. My ticker is 10 days behind my LMP due date because I had longer than usual cycles, so that's my best guess at when I'm due, but I won't know until the scan. I'm similar to you, I'm "supposed" to be getting on for 9 weeks but I've just passed the 7-week mark.

At 7 weeks the heartbeat is rather irregular, I believe, and you could always have ovulated and conceived later than you thought. I've not had many symptoms either, the only reason I know I'm pg is because of a blood test done to find out why I was so late!

Best of luck to you for the next scan, maybe your baby will be a bit small and that's all. Has to be better than it being twice the recommended size and trying to squeeze that out at 40 weeks!

There's no need to frighten people about big babies... it's not what you've got, it's what you do with it! Seen plenty of mums with 10-11lber babies having an active birth and not a stitich in sight. It doesn't necessarily mean a bigger head, it's accumalative body weight and the body just slips on out once the head is done.

catmoomy, did they say what the heartrate was ?

This bub was 115bpm at 6 weeks 2 days and then 162bpm at 8 weeks.

I've already had my dates changed twice and i had my dates changed also twice when i was pg with Alex. This is the trouble with early scans they always seem to change dates and sometimes go back to the dates or your LMP.
I think the best time to get the real EDD and find out how many weeks you are is at your 12week scan anyway.

It can also depend on the skill of the person doing the ultrasound. I had my embryo put in on my birthday, therefore knew when i conceived so to speak, and knew exaclty my dates. At the time of the scan, he said i was a week less than i was. He said a few mm out can make a difference by a week. Try not to worry :)