Still Pregnant??? - Collegeville,PA

Hi K.,
I to had a miscarrage and was devistated. I was told to wait 3 months before trying again. With that said, I got pregnant 3 weeks later. I had symptoms within 2 weeks of being pregnant. Anything is possible. Although you have an appointment next week, I would call the doctor and get the bloodwork done. The will be able to tell by the hormone levels if it is a new pregnancy.
Congrats and good luck!
L.

I think maybe the first positive was a chemical pregnancy (the egg just doesn't implant properly) and maybe you got pregnant the next cycle. That's what happened to me, I got a positive test then started my period and got a negative test a week later. I wasn't even going to try next cycle but we ended up doing it right around the time I would have ovulated and I ended up pregnant again the very next cycle. Unfortunately that one just ended up in a miscarriage at 12 weeks. Hopefully you are pregnant and have a long and healthy pregnancy!

Go have another blood test done. There's always room for human error on the nurse's part. Also, there's no reason you couldn't have ovulated a week or two after a miscarriage. I hate having early ultrasounds done, I see no reason since I chart and know exactly when I ovulate - I can't even decide if I'll have the 20-week one this time - but this is probably a good time to have one done for dating purposes because of the mix-up.
Good Luck!

A couple people have PMed me asking about Ultrasounds so Here is the response I sent Lisa in case anyone else is wondering about my above statement about ultrasound dating...

First, yes, early US dates better than later-term ones, however, no matter what your doctor has told you, if you chart your fertility and know when you ovulated, then the US is not more accurate than knowing ovulation. It's impossible to conceive anytime but ovulation. You can conceive within about 12-24 hours of ovulation and that is it. So, if you truly know when you ovulated (not just the start of your LMP and a guess at a day 14 ovulation because you assume you have a "perfect" 28-day-cycle) then that is more accurate that the guess that a tech makes based on a computer's measurements. Knowing the date of ovulation is ALWAYS more accurate than ultrasound dating. But you have to be cycle charting to know when you ovulate.
Second, there is absolutely no reason I'd ever abort a child. No matter what an ultrasound found. I don't want to spend 20 weeks preparing for my baby to die. I want to enjoy the whole pregnancy without knowing something awful is coming. I think it would be very hard to bond with a fetus I know won't make it. I know some people claim they want to be prepared for a handicap or an illness, but if something catastrophic but not deadly were there at birth, the chances are that the infant would spend time in the hospital anyhow, which means I would have time to prepare at home. So, again...I don't need 20 weeks to prepare for something horrible I know is coming.
Third, US haven't been proven safe. Did you know that they raise the amniotic fluid temperatures? US waves have also been proven to hurt adult hearing, and scientists haven't done enough research to know if they are hurting the hearing of a fetus yet! Remember...x-rays were deemed "safe" for years before they realized...oops! They aren't safe after all! At a time when autism rates, infant death rates, subtle hearing loss, and ADD/ADHD rates are all going up, I choose to do as few procedures as possible. And the doppler (for fetal heart tones) is SO MUCH worse. The US is done by pulse, the the doppler is a continuous stream of sound waves emitted. A 30 second doppler to listen to the baby's heart at every appointment is like having a 10 minute US each time :(
Routine US have no correlation to birth outcome. Having one done will in NO way save a baby that could have otherwise died except when there are signs of fetal trouble. If my fetus shows signs that s/he isn't developing, I will have one done, but I don't feel the need to have it done just for measurements and to see if I need to prepare for it to die.

Here's the bottom line. No more babies died before the advent of US technology, in fact the infant death rate has only gone up. I'm sure they are totally unrelated, but my point is that the US isn't saving lives.

Anyhow...hope that answers your questions and corrects some of your assumptions:) Good Luck!!

There's no exact science with pregnancy. I cannot tell you whether you're still pregnant or pregnant again.

One thing I can tell you is that if you pop a positive on a pregnancy test, the only way that can happen is if it detects the HCG hormone. The only other way is if you're taking medication like hormone therapy or something that would have the HCG hormone in it, which is uncommon. So if the test says yes, then you are.

I can also say that when they take blood tests those are the most accurate tests and there's no way to misread them. The computer pumps out the hormone level number and the number is right on the paper to read. You're always going to come across a skeptical nurse so ignore that. If you ever question a nurses opinion or what she is telling you off a paper, request to discuss it directly with the doctor over the phone if need be. So, if the numbers were showing no pregnancy, then I trust that and assume you would be pregnant again.

Yes, you can ovulate immediately after miscarriage. And it only takes having sex one time to get pregnant. Ask any pregnant teenage girl. "But we only did it once!" LOL (you hear that from guys who don't want to pay child support too, lol) Although the norm may be that ovulation happens a while longer, there's no rule that says your body has to work like the norm. It happens when it happens.

Call your doctor's office and let them know that you want an ultrasound when you go to check for pregnancy. Don't take a blood test until that appointment so you can know what the numbers are. Every day you wait the numbers go up, so a week will make the numbers rise. There's a range of numbers for HCG. There will be a range of numbers for every week you are pregnant. I don't remember what they are in the beginning but I'm sure you can google them online. So if you go to your appointment and take a blood test and they give you the numbers, they will know how far along you should be, generally speaking.

If you go and they do an u/s and take blood and it shows nothing, then you need to have a long talk with your doctor, face to face, to find out what is happening. To have this happen once and possibly twice means something else is going on and you need to find the answer. For you to pop pregnancy tests which only ONE thing can do that and to find out you weren't pregnant, yes, they need to find out what's going on.

And hormone numbers after a loss can take their time to drop from your body, or can drop off immediately. There's no exact science with how hormones leave the body either. There's a general way for most people but it's not going to be the same for everyone.

I would just wait for your appointment, treat your body as if you were pregnant, just in case, by taking pre-natals and such, and be sure they know ahead of time what's going on and request the full treatment of u/s and blood tests. They can see an embryo sac at 4 weeks.

But remember, there are women out there that are desparate to get pregnant and will be in and out of the doctor's office constantly thinking they're pregnant when they're not. So you may get the staff thinking you're "one of those women". Don't let it deter you if you're using common sense and have legitmate questions and concerns. If you're confused, get the answers.

Good luck!

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Hi, K.:

Don't worry. Whatever happened before, it has taken care of itself.
Take care of yourself. Eat balanced meals, take your vitamins and do
things for yourself to relieve your stress. If you are pregnant, time will tell.
Your body will respond to the developing fetus. If you are not, then it won't.
Save yourself from alot of extra expense. Wait and see.

Good luck.
D.

Your doctor will hopefully be able to answer the questions for you but I wanted to share that my mom had almost the same thing happen to her when she was pregnant. Positive test, doc said she miscarried after the bleeding and that the baby hadn't grown and when she went into have a D&C they saw on the ultrasound that there was in fact a healthy little baby in there. And that's how she and my dad ended up with ME! :) So.....I guess there's often no real explanation sometimes. Good luck to you and your pregnancy! I hope you keep us updated. :)

I think you are right that there are 2 possibilities. One is that you had a chemical pregnancy - and yes, your body can ovulate normally after one, and you can become pregnant the very next month. The second possibilty is that your test results were mixed up. I think the only way to figure out which is correct is to get an ultrasound to determine how far along you are.

Either way, take care of yourself and congratulations!

They should probably do an ultrasound in addition to a test to determine a due date. I have heard of women having positive urine tests but negative blood tests, especially really early in the pregnancy. My doctor's office has never done a blood test for me (they never even mention blood until they do initial bloodwork for basic testing) and just have women come in for another urine test. You could still be pregnant (some women do have bleeding for unknown reasons) or you might have conveived again. My guess would be that you are still pregnant simply because this would be very early for you to have had a positive test if you conceived again. I hope you get some solid answers (and an ultrasound). :)

Even if you miscarried your hormone levels should have still been elevated. They do not go back to normal the instant you miscarry. Since the docs office questioned whether you were pregnant at all I have to think there was a lab error or some kind of error on the docs office side.
Best of luck!

It is definitely possible that there was a lab mixup. My mother had a blood test and the Dr. called and immediately ordered her a ton of invasive tests b/c her bloodwork showed severe anemia. Thankfully the doc looked into it a little further to find out that it was a lab mixup. Scared my mom really bad though for a couple of days. So...yes there could have been a mixup.

I know it is difficult but I would just try to wait until your annual next week.

It is possible to have an ectopic pregnancy and get your period. It is also possible to spot while pregnant early on. I know this probably doesn't help. If I were you I'd call the dr. and get in ASAP. If it is an ectopic pregnancy, you need to be seen right away.

Hi K.:

The very same thing happened to me and I AM PREGNANT. I miscarried (or what's called a chemical pregnancy when you miscarry when you are only 4-5 weeks pregnant, meaning that I took a test and 5 days letter I started bleeding). The bleeding occurred on March 3. We were also not careful and I believe I ovulated early like 10 to 12 days later. I then got a positive pregnancy test on April 1st. I am now 15 weeks pregnant. I would suggest that you call your doctor and get a blood test done asap. They will be able to look at the results of the blood test and compare it to the last blood test. Of course, if your numbers are higher than the last test, this would be a new pregnancy. They may also do another test to make sure your numbers are continuing to rise. I also had the same very early pregnancy symptoms that you describe. I can't imagine that this is not a new pregnancy for you based on your numbers being so low on the last blood test. I would think you would still not have the hormone in your body. I know that your chances of conceiving are much higher right after a miscarriage. I also have a friend that the same exact thing happened to too. Please keep me posted on your story. I really want to know what happens and good luck!

It is ABSOLUTELY possible that the NP read someone else's bloodwork. It happened to a friend of mine and her doctor tried to have her go in for all sorts of testing (un-necessary testing) during her 2nd pregnancy, because her file indicated that she'd had some random complication during her 1st pregnancy. There was no such complication during that pregnancy and someone had simply accidentally written it in her file. I would call the doctor and have them see you ASAP and expect some serious apologies if they made a mistake. The last thing you need this early in a pregnancy is to stress out over a miscarriage that never actually happened! And if there was no mistake, then perhaps something else is going on, which you would still want to see your doctor about.

Anything is possible! I would insist on lab work again. The quantity of hormone can help to tell how far along you are. If your levels are high enough they should order an ultrasound for dating the pregnancy. If your doctor does not cooperate I would look for reccomendations for another practice. Good luck.

Why not just ask them if you can have an ultrasound??? That's how my doctor determined I was miscarrying. I thought I was 10wks pregnant, and I started to bleed. They did an ultrasound, the baby was measuring only 6wks and there was no heartbeat. After my miscarried was complete, they did another ultrasound and confirmed that my uterus was empty. It was painful emotionally, but miscarries always are.
P.S. It's very possible to ovulate right after a miscarriage. My midwife got pregnant within a month of hers, and a woman I know got pregnant a few weeks after hers. Best wishes!!!

That is awesome, K.! Congrats on your twins :)

WOW! I went through seemingly the same thing in 2008. I changed doctors right about where you were and though it was torture I went and got those blood tests every other day for 10 days to be sure I wasn't or was pregnant. turns out I did miscarry, have an immediate period and then got pregnant all with in 4 weeks. Please don't wait for your annual- call them right now and insist on another blood test (stat). If they say no, call around until someone gets you that blood test. Our bodies have an amazing way of healing. Good Luck!

Trust me, it's possible the lab screwed up...maybe not the NP though that is possible too. When I was pregnant with my first, I was coughing stuff up often. The doctor took a sample and it came back I had pseudomonis. My primary doc and OB were freaking because that can be dangerous and I was told I'd have to go on a serious round of antibiotics that could hurt my son. I went for a second opinion to a pulmonologist who almost immediately said he wouldn't be surprised if the lab screwed up. He told me precautions to take and I did until I got to be tested again and wouldn't you know, that time the test came back negative?

I would just make sure you call your doctor's office before your appointment next week and let them know what's going on. Sometimes offices aren't very flexible and won't spend a lot of time working on anything that wasn't part of the schedule.

BTW, early sonograms are the most accurate at determining a due date. I had "perfect cycles" most of the past 10 years and even so, the past two pregnancies were not do for a week past what I thought they were. According to the calendar I had one due date but the babys' measurements at the early sonogram put them due a week later. I'm wondering now if I wasn't farther along with my oldest who actually came 2 weeks early and was 9 lbs 3 oz!! (My doctors back home didn't do early sonograms to get an exact date. They just went by LMP.)

Sounds like you are pregnant again, but if I were you I would just wait on this one. Stop buying the home pregnancy tests and driving yourself crazy. Talk to your doctor about this when you go for your next appointment. The only reasons they say to wait after miscarriage are: 1)emotionally it is difficult and a person may need some recovery time and 2) if you have a D & C your lining has been stripped and your body need more time to recover before being able to have enough lining to allow implantation to occur. There is really no medical reason to wait to conceive again that relates to your current condition. I hope that you get good news!!!

i cant really answer your questions, but if u seem to be having trouble with how the staff treats you or are not understanding or whatever i would change doctors. It is about you and you know your body best and they should treat you accordingly.