I am 7 weeks but sonogram only shows 6 weeks

[Anonymous]

I had a sonogram done yesterday and it showed that the baby is only 6 weeks and a couple of days old but according to my period I am supposed to be 7 weeks and a couple of days. We heard the heart beat yesterday but it was around 118. If I am 7 weeks then it should have been in the 170 range according to my obgny. But the baby's growth is appropiate if the baby is 6 weeks old.I was told to come back a week later and do another sonogram to see the growth of the baby. Now I wonder how could it be 1 week off, does it mean something is wrong going on with the pregnancy. I am really worried about it. if anyone have had same kind of experiance , would you mind sharing with me. I have to wait 1 week to find out. I hope and pray that it will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you ovulated later than you thought?

[Anonymous]

Do you chart or are otherwise certain of your ovulation date (b/c of a monitor)? They only rely on your last menstrual date because most women don't know when they ovulate. And then they simply assume you ovulate on day 14. Many, many women don't ovulate on day 14. You could have ovulated later and baby is just fine. There are many similar stories of women on this board and all turned out fine. I'm sure you'll get more responses.

[Anonymous]

Hi, with both my pregnancies the sonogram dates and the period dates did not match up. Both times the sonogram date was exactly right - even at 8 weeks. I wouldn't worry about this too much. Cycles are not always perfect. I was frustrated during both my pregnancies that the doctors and nurses constantly asked me about when my last period was as a way to guage when I was due as I knew that that was not so accurate. They seem to be stuck on that method and I have two little pieces of evidence that the sonogram date is more accurate.

[Anonymous]

As a PP said, unless you know when you ovulated (based on reliable charting or an OPK), then they are just guessing at how far along you are with the LMP. When they use your LMP, they assume that you ovulated on day 14; however it's possible to ovulate on day 7, 10, 15, 20, 30 or anywhere in between. So the LMP is really pretty useless in terms of getting an exact date. I think it's crazy that our gynos and/or health classes don't teach us fertility basics when we're young....I think it would be so beneficial to women to understand how those sorts of things work! Anyway, you have nothing at all to worry about. Keep in mind that sonograms aren't perfect, either (as much as our OB's would like us to believe they are). But in this case it does sound like you probably ovulated around day 20 or so. That's what my guess would be.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your support. Yes, I do agree with the pp poster regarding our basic fertility knonwledge. When I saw my obgyn yesterday, she asked me if I had unprotected sex around Dec 25th if so that would explain why it was off by a week. I told her no during that time we did not. So, I started thinking about it and got really worried since we did not try. Now the pp said if I ovulated around day 20 or so then it makes sence since we did try on Dec 19.

[Anonymous]

I had the same concern....24 weeks ago (am now 30 weeks pregs)...we were certain we were 8 weeks
when we went in for our first appt/sonogram, but the dr. said it looked more like 5-6 weeks...we were
very concerned and had to wait another week to go in...still cant explain the difference in dates, but
everything has been developing appropriately, and the baby is healthy. Basically, you want the sonogram
dates to be right. Hopefully everything will be ok at your next appointment...and the mystery of the dates
could be due to a number of different things..

[Anonymous]

Same here -- we had an ultrasound at what we thought was 11 weeks, but the ultrasound indicated we were only 9 weeks along. Since then, everything has been totally fine: measurements, ultrasounds, etc. Keep in mind also that the sperm can live for quite a while after you have sex (something like 72 hours, right?), so that can throw the dates off a bit, too, I think.

[Anonymous]

Yes, sperm can live inside you for up to 5 days (the norm is 2-3 days) so even if you are sure about the one day in the month that you had sex, that does not mean you conceived that day. Your egg on the other hand lives no more than 24 hours; usually only about 12. So the day you ovulated, or the day following ovulation, is the day you conceived. OP, if you had sex on December 19th, you could have conceived anywhere between the 19th and 24th. So yes, the dating of the ultrasound makes good sense. In fact, make sure that no one uses your LMP date anymore -- because at the end of pregnancy they will be stressing out that you are past your due date, when in fact you aren't. The worst thing is when women get induced because they are told they are "late" when they really aren't.

[Anonymous]

After I read the pp response , feel much better. You explained it so nicely . My obgyn could have expalined that to me but did not. I told my obgyn that last we tried was Dec 19. With out explaing anything, asked if we were sure that we did not try around Dec 25. I was so worried becasue I knew we did not try around Dec 25th. I will go for another sonogram end of this week to see the baby's growth. Thank you so much for all of your support and kindness.

[Anonymous]

AND keep in mind implantation of the egg takes some time after fertilization. So really, a few days or a week plus minus is entirely NORMAL.

When we were born, they couldn't even measure any of this stuff so precisely.

Take a deep breath and stop worrying.

[Anonymous]

I am the op just wanted to share with everyone that I ended up with a miscarraige. I was just told by my obgyn that I miscarried. I know they could not do anything but wished talked to me a little more about it. You all helped me more than my obgyn. I am really thankful for your support. It was a loss and it hurts a lot. I guess with time it will get better.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry OP. I was the 9:29 PP. The same thing happened to me a little over a month ago, although I didn't share it here because there was no sense freaking you out when it was very possible you didn't ovulate on day 14. There are many stories of women measuring wrong because they ovulated later. I, on the other hand, knew exactly when I had ovulated and knew the sono wasn't a good sign. I'm just so very sorry. I know how you feel. Please take care of yourself.

[Anonymous]

I'm the 11:45 poster... same thing, didn't want to freak you out, but I also had a miscarriage. I'm really sorry, but hopefully it helps just a little knowing that you're not alone and so many of us go through this.

[Anonymous]

read your first post, and had memories of my miscarriage but what was the point of scaring you just in case you were just off. That said, I am so sorry for your loss. As all losses do, whether it be friend, family, miscarriage time does heal pain.. I really still can not discuss a miscarriage without tearing up, but I now have two beautiful children to love and would go thru anything for these two people. I hope you have support and wish you all the best in the future.