My saga Continues

My dr told me on monday that although my hcg has only gone up a little bit and that it could be normal for me. He says that I just have to take a serial reading of my hcg level and then figure out if I have miscarried based on that. I had a blood test done that day and will get another on thursday to see where we are at. I am still spotting/bleeding. It is sometimes dark coloured and sometimes bright red. It still isn't soaking through pads and I have some lower back discomfort but not really cramping per se. My question is to those who have gone through this how much bleeding is still "normal" and how long can it last in viable pregnancies? So far it has been going on for almost a week. I think I have researched this subject to death and can never find any decent answers. I am just so mentally drained from the wait to find out what is happening to my body/baby. I understand that everyone is individual but I am just looking for some anecdotal information from those of you who have been there.
PS. All you women who have gone through this multiple times must have the strength and spirit of a warrior. It is the hardest thing I have ever dealt with and I have gone through a few traumas in my time
Further info: I had a u/s last week and was told that since I was only about 5-6 wks along there were no signs that could tell me either way if everything was ok---so no fetal heartbeat but the yolk sack was present and looked fine. My first blood test showed a hcg level of 5200ish the one taken two days later was just over 5800. I had another drawn after another two days and then will do it again tomorrow. I then go to my Dr. on Friday to get the news. I am just soooo tired of going between hope and despair. It is always the unknown that frightens us most. Thank god for my husband. He has been so amazingly sweet and gentle with me.

Big :hugs: to you Psychobear. It is an extremely difficult time wiating. Can you possible get a scan so that you can get some answers sooner then a blood test?

With your question about the bleeding, I think it is different for every woman. Don't forget, many women get bleeding in the first trimester and go on to give birth to healty bubs.

Just hang in there sweetie, I hope with all my might that bub is doing just fine and this is nothing more than a nasty scare.

Lv Spring

My hcg dropped 10 wks and had some spotting prior to that.

Think positively, but if worse comes to worse... be prepared.

I hope things turn out good for you.
Best wishes

Hi Psycobear- So sorry for what you are going through, hoping you're one of the lucky ones who can have a healthy pg after bleeding (lots of ladies do).
As for my own experience - with my second MC, I began spotting very lightly at about the 6 week mark, it was light brown, painless and Very very light. This continued for 2 weeks, and at no time did I have any pain, or bleed heavy enough to soak a pad (sorry if TMI). Till this point, I hadnt even seen a doctor as 1. I was hoping it was nothing and was still getting + HPTs 2. I figured if I was Mcing there was nothing they'd be able to do to stop it.
After 2 weeks of this, I woke in the night with the most excruciating cramps. I literally thought I was going to die. Stupidly put up with it till morning then went to the dr who confirmed that I had MC'd. Was devastated, but surprised because of the HPTs, as at that time I didnt jnow that HCG levels go back down gradually. Anyway, moral of my story was that if Id gone to the dr earlier, I wouldve probably had a DC and saved the pain, and this experience has made me fairly suspicious of any prolonged bleeding. Sorry about the crappy ending.I know this isnt what you want to hear right now, and I truly hope in all my heart that it wont be the case with you. Take care.

Oh Psycobear, I'm sorry you have to go through this. I bled for a few weeks with my DD's pg. It was mostly spotting, but there were a few days of heavier bleeding. Many women bleed throughout their whole pg and go on to have a healthy bubba. I hope this is the case for you. Good luck and big hugs.

I understand how you feel, I have had a m/c at 13.5 weeks, this bleeding started out like spotting and I had lower ab. pain which felt like a heaviness pushing on my cervix. Over a couple of days this increased into heavier bleeding like a period, with more lower back pain and heaviness in cervix area.
With my two following pregnancies I had spotting-light bleeding for around 1.5 weeks at the 12-13 week period but without the heavy feeling, they were tense times.
hope all goes well for you:)

Dearest Psycobear
I really dont have much advice, but i just wanted to say i understand the pain of not knowing and i think it is just the worst. The 2 weeks i waited before knowing what was going on was worse than dealing with the ectopic and stuff, its almost a relief now which sounds awful, but the pain of having no control over your body is excrutiating. When people would talk to me or try and give advice i could have belted them, no word of a lie, some of the comments, such as at least you know you can get pregnant and everything happens for a reason :wall: They just have no idea. So my heart goes out to you and i really hope you get some answers soon, hopefully postive ones:pray: And sometimes its good just to withdraw from society alittle in times like this, i know its hard for people to know what to say, all i wanted was someone to say i'm so sorry youre going through this, and thankfully thats were BB comes in. I'm sending you very big hugs,you know where we are if you need to vent. Please dont worry about conceiving again, look how many people in here go on to have healthy wonderful pregnancies and you will too, hopefully this is the time. :pray: take care

In answer to your question about bleeding with m/c this is my experience.

M/c # 1 Light bleeding - a little heavier than spotting for 2 weeks.....mostly brown & sludgy. No pain whatsoever. No clotting whatsoever.

M/c # 2 Spotting for a few days - hardly any at all - followed by 3 days of light bleeding - less than a normal period & a few small clots.... I never got anywhere near filling a pad and most of the time only had panty liners on as I was trying to judge how much blood I was losing. I seriously did not think I would have had a miscarriage as there was so little bleeding but it had happened. I had a little lower back pain & no cramps and I ended up dehydrated and on a drip.

M/c # 3 Light spotting for a few days. My HCG level dropped by half then miscarried the next day (my symptoms had disappeared that morning) - again 3 days of light bleeding and a couple of small clots. No back pain, cramps or anything this time. Again I wouldn't have thought I'd bled enough as it was less than a regular period but I had indeed miscarried.

As others have said they have had similar amounts of bleeding and still been OK. I guess what you can take from that is that you may or may not still be pregnant and you will just have to wait and see. I know how hard that is. I wish you all the best in the wait.