They're 99% sure?? What the!

Hi all,

This is the story of a friend of mine, fyi..

She is 35, and 7.5 weeks into her 1st pg. She has slight bleeding / spotting, for a few days now. Worried, naturally she attends her private ob and they do a scan. She wasn't told to consume water upon booking the appt (after telling the receptionist what the problem was - so she could get in for urgency) - and the ob has a u/s performed.

The ob states "I'm 99% sure there is still a baby there - but I can't quite tell". When I heard this I thought WTF? I'm no expert in pg, I'm only on number 2 myself, but they saw, albeit very small, my baby at 5 weeks + 6 this time around..

Needless to say she is worried to all hell now. Any advice I could give her? (Good news stories similar are appreciated :-) ).

at that early stage if your bladder is not full and pushing your uterus forward it can be very tricky to see so I wouldn't worry

I know when I was that early and external u/s hardly showed anything so they did an internal, that way we were able to see bubs just... Is she going back for another u/s in a week or so? She could ask for it to ease her worry.

I had an u/s (external) done when I thought I was about 8w4d, they could see it, although it just looked like a little white fuzzy patch, but there was a heartbeat you could clearly see. It measured at 7w4d. I had to drink about 600mls of water beforehand though (I was so busting!), so maybe that's why the ob wasn't sure? I thought it was standard to drink water before having a scan to push the uterus up. Can she go back and get another one done? I do hope all is ok for her.

external scan often doesn't show a heartbeat until after 8 weeks so he woud be seeing the sac but be unable to confirm it's viablility without seeing the heartbeat. unfortunately, it's something they won't be able to guarantee (baby is only a mm or less long) for another week or so.

i would guess the 99% estimate is based on sac size and baby size without the confirmation of a HB...

is she sure of her dates? bub could be just a bit younger than she thought.

Often the ultrasounds machine in the office of most OB's is a small old one. Being 99% sure might have sounds a tactless way of saying it but I guess it was a way of covering his butt if she had(s) lost the bub KWIM.

99% sounds pretty sure to me, only a breath off 100%. There could be a number of reasons they couldn't see very well. Besides the fact that at this stage of pregnancy babies are super small anyway, perhaps her body shape/size, bub's position, the placenta's position, could have made things a bit tricky.

As FJ says, since with babies that young (for example, no heartbeat yet), it can be tricky to tell so the Ob was just leaving a teensy bit of room (despite probably personally being sure) because they're all terrified of being sued these days.

One of the girls from my TTC group a few years back (not sure if she is still around) had something similar happen. Thought she had miscarried, went for a repeat U/S and everything was fine. She now has a happy healthy baby a few weeks older than mine.

MG

The ultrasound equipment that OB's have in their rooms is usually very basic. They are also not trained sonographers - so their ability to perform ultrasounds and interpret them tends to lie in what is normal. This is why you will usually be sent elsewhere to have your morphology scan or to have scans relating to complications even if you're with a private OB.

It sounds like everything is ok, alot changes very quickly this early too and in a week or so she should have a better answer.

Otherwise she could ask for a referral for a more detailed scan.

Hope it all works out ok.

Sorry to jump on board without chatting to you before, I have been through the same as your g/f..

In my experience, she needs an internal u/sound, which Ob couldnt have done if he didn't have the right equip ... if your g/f pushes it, she will get one this week, at a general u/sound place, and it is a much more clearer u/s for someone going through what she is going through..

All the best for your g/f, I hope everything works out

I had an internal and external US done when I was 6 weeks - saw the sac nothing else - this was in an Emergency Dept of a public hospital

Then at 6 weeks 5 days I had my planned dating scan and was terrified - I didn't say anything to the sonographer incase it changed his view but he did an external and we saw the foetal pole and the heartbeat - it wasn't clear but was definitely visable... he said I could get a clearer scan with an internal US. This was with a VERY full bladder.

At 6 weeks 6 days I had my Obs appointment due to my medications - and he did a quick scan and it took him a while to find bub - this was with a fullish bladder but not as full as the day before.