Viable pregnancy?

[Anonymous]

I am asking for my best friend. She is 36 and has been trying to convive for 2.5 years and has never had a positive pregnancy test. She is healthy and so is her husband. The only thing I find strange is that her period is regular, but only lasts a few hours (1 day max).
She finally got a positive pregnancy test and she was so happy. By her calculations, she should be 7 weeks now (last period Dec 27th). 3 days ago she started having a tiny bit of bleeding (dark in color) and went to the emergency room. There they saw the heart beat and told her she truly was 1 week behind (6 weeks). Her beta doubled in 1 week (which I know is bad). They are measuring the beta again today (2 days after). The tiny bit of brown bleeding is still there, but it’s so little that she does not even need a pad.

I have been pregnant 3 times and once I had bleeding early on and I rmemeber that once you see the heart beat, betas and tiny bleeding mean nothing. Am I wrong? I would like to comfort her and give her my experience, but I don’t remember all the details and my betas always doubled in 2 days ( when measured).

Thank you

[Anonymous]

The HCG not doubling in a normal timeframe would worry me more than any blood.

I have heard brown bleeding is better than red, but I don't know - unfortunately, I just had a miscarriage after seeing a heartbeat and dark brown spotting was the first sign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The HCG not doubling in a normal timeframe would worry me more than any blood.

I have heard brown bleeding is better than red, but I don't know - unfortunately, I just had a miscarriage after seeing a heartbeat and dark brown spotting was the first sign.

Oh no! I am so sorry... I hope you are ok

[Anonymous]

I would have her prepare for the worst. Fwiw I had an almost exact same exact experience. Turns out I had hard eggs. Did natural cycle IVF with icsi and it worked right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have her prepare for the worst. Fwiw I had an almost exact same exact experience. Turns out I had hard eggs. Did natural cycle IVF with icsi and it worked right away.

I see... what is natural cycle IVF with icsi? She is not in the US and where she is from, they don’t do IVF (ethical reasons I believe), but they can get up to a certain point... bot sure which one.

Thank you and I am glad it worked out for you.

[Anonymous]

She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

Thank you! I will try my best. She is optimistic and does not show/share her feelings much. We live in different countries now and I was so happy for her (she has been trying for a while). Doctors where she is a great, but different from the US. They run blood tests, but waited so much time to do something about it (possibly because IVF is not an option anyway).
I truly hope it sticks, but I told her I like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think she is very rational too. Can I ask if you were successful eventually without IVF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

Thank you! I will try my best. She is optimistic and does not show/share her feelings much. We live in different countries now and I was so happy for her (she has been trying for a while). Doctors where she is a great, but different from the US. They run blood tests, but waited so much time to do something about it (possibly because IVF is not an option anyway).
I truly hope it sticks, but I told her I like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think she is very rational too. Can I ask if you were successful eventually without IVF?

And I asked about heart rate because I remember it was important, but doctors did not giver her a number. They just said it was good...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

Thank you! I will try my best. She is optimistic and does not show/share her feelings much. We live in different countries now and I was so happy for her (she has been trying for a while). Doctors where she is a great, but different from the US. They run blood tests, but waited so much time to do something about it (possibly because IVF is not an option anyway).
I truly hope it sticks, but I told her I like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think she is very rational too. Can I ask if you were successful eventually without IVF?

Usually there's not much you CAN do about it, aside from progesterone supplements and baby aspirin. But if it's a genetic issue, then there's nothing you can do except wait. If IVF isn't an option, could she try clomid/letrozole with timed intercourse or IUI? The idea is to give the sperm 2-3 targets (i.e., eggs) to aim for per cycle. If she's been trying that long, her odds are really not good anymore and it can't hurt to maximize her chances every month. One other thing she should consider is that if her cycle is short and light, she may also be ovulating early. I usually ovulate between day 10-13, so if I started trying on day 14 like the standard recommendations say, then I'd miss ovulation every month. She should try OPKs if she's not already.

And no, I haven't had success. We're still trying, but for folks like me the best option really is IVF with donor eggs. Hope things are easier for your friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

Thank you! I will try my best. She is optimistic and does not show/share her feelings much. We live in different countries now and I was so happy for her (she has been trying for a while). Doctors where she is a great, but different from the US. They run blood tests, but waited so much time to do something about it (possibly because IVF is not an option anyway).
I truly hope it sticks, but I told her I like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think she is very rational too. Can I ask if you were successful eventually without IVF?

Usually there's not much you CAN do about it, aside from progesterone supplements and baby aspirin. But if it's a genetic issue, then there's nothing you can do except wait. If IVF isn't an option, could she try clomid/letrozole with timed intercourse or IUI? The idea is to give the sperm 2-3 targets (i.e., eggs) to aim for per cycle. If she's been trying that long, her odds are really not good anymore and it can't hurt to maximize her chances every month. One other thing she should consider is that if her cycle is short and light, she may also be ovulating early. I usually ovulate between day 10-13, so if I started trying on day 14 like the standard recommendations say, then I'd miss ovulation every month. She should try OPKs if she's not already.

And no, I haven't had success. We're still trying, but for folks like me the best option really is IVF with donor eggs. Hope things are easier for your friend.

Thank you. She just just got her beta back and in 1.5 days it went from 4,700 to 5,800... I know it’s not ideal, but it’s still going up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds very similar to me, down to the infertility and light periods. I'm diminished ovarian reserve and heading toward premature menopause. Just FYI. I also have poor egg quality (which you can only tell by doing IVF and seeing the eggs in the lab), and had a few early losses. Unfortunately her situation sounds a lot like mine did with my losses.

Around 6 weeks beta doubling time slows by a lot, but not down to a full week. How certain was she with her dates? Could she really be a week off? Do you know the heart rate? There's a study that shows increased miscarriage rate to low heart rate. Fingers crossed for her, and please be there for her no matter how it turns out. It's SO HARD to lose a pregnancy, even a very early one, after trying for so long.

https://i2.wp.com/expectingscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-27-at-1-46-32-pm.png?resize=830%2C203&ssl=1

https://expectingscience.com/2015/08/26/lies-damned-lies-and-miscarriage-statistics/

Thank you! I will try my best. She is optimistic and does not show/share her feelings much. We live in different countries now and I was so happy for her (she has been trying for a while). Doctors where she is a great, but different from the US. They run blood tests, but waited so much time to do something about it (possibly because IVF is not an option anyway).
I truly hope it sticks, but I told her I like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think she is very rational too. Can I ask if you were successful eventually without IVF?

Usually there's not much you CAN do about it, aside from progesterone supplements and baby aspirin. But if it's a genetic issue, then there's nothing you can do except wait. If IVF isn't an option, could she try clomid/letrozole with timed intercourse or IUI? The idea is to give the sperm 2-3 targets (i.e., eggs) to aim for per cycle. If she's been trying that long, her odds are really not good anymore and it can't hurt to maximize her chances every month. One other thing she should consider is that if her cycle is short and light, she may also be ovulating early. I usually ovulate between day 10-13, so if I started trying on day 14 like the standard recommendations say, then I'd miss ovulation every month. She should try OPKs if she's not already.

And no, I haven't had success. We're still trying, but for folks like me the best option really is IVF with donor eggs. Hope things are easier for your friend.

I am sorry... I hope it works out in the end for you both. She is taking progesterone already. I will mention it to her (if this is a miscarriage) to start to be a little more aggressive...

[Anonymous]

My mom says that she can't believe she had a healthy baby after how much she bled when she was pregnant with my brother. On and off for weeks, sometimes very heavy. He's 41 now with his own kids, perfectly healthy.

Sometimes bodies are weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom says that she can't believe she had a healthy baby after how much she bled when she was pregnant with my brother. On and off for weeks, sometimes very heavy. He's 41 now with his own kids, perfectly healthy.

Sometimes bodies are weird.

I hope it works out for my best friend too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have her prepare for the worst. Fwiw I had an almost exact same exact experience. Turns out I had hard eggs. Did natural cycle IVF with icsi and it worked right away.

What are hard eggs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have her prepare for the worst. Fwiw I had an almost exact same exact experience. Turns out I had hard eggs. Did natural cycle IVF with icsi and it worked right away.

What are hard eggs?

When the shell is hard and the sperm can’t penetrate the shell of the egg.