Question about UC and ultrasounds...

[xtara2003x]

Hi mamas....

We are pretty much 90% sure we are going to have a UC...and really really close to just doing UP too aside from this first trimester.

I am 25 years old, and have had 2 miscarriages this year. DD was born in 2007 with out any pregnancy complications or birth complications whatsoever.

With my first loss, I started spotting in the 5th week, and the baby died around 6 weeks (though I didn't miscarry until around 8.5 weeks due to progesterone I believe). I had an ultrasound...and they saw a heartbeat of 113 around 6 weeks...and said everything looked good even though I measured slightly smaller than I thought I should have.

With the second miscarriage..I didn't do any progesterone or anything..and started spotting in the 5th week again a little later than I did with the first, and started to miscarry the next day in the 5th week.

I am pregnant again....and I will be 7 weeks on Thursday. I have been taking progesterone since 4DPO with this one.....and haven't had any spotting or anything. I feel like I have more symptoms than the other two.....and have smell aversions and can't eat very much and do feel nauseous off and on. My bbs hurt and I have round ligament pain already and feel very tender and sore in my uterine area.

All of a sudden..I am feeling massively anxious and nervous about whether this baby is alright or not though.

The doctor wants to do an ultrasound around 7 weeks (which would be soon). I don't really want an ultrasound.....as I don't want anyone up near my cervix or anything, and worry that ultrasounds that early may cause more harm than good. I also know that a US can't really SAVE the baby if something is wrong...and that often times they aren't always accurate.

But.....my anxiety has me freaking out and wondering if I just got an ultrasound and saw a nice strong heartbeat and that everything is measuring fine that I would feel immensely better.

The other thought I had would be to just request getting more beta's drawn right now instead of the US at the moment..and just see how the beta numbers are doing.

Do you think this would be a medically indicated ultrasound if I got one right now? Do you think the risks of the ultrasound to me and baby out weigh the benefits of finding out if there is a heartbeat? Should I just do the beta's and wait on the US unless the betas show an issue?

I have friends who think I should just suck it up and wait it out...(especially since in a few weeks I can hear the heartbeat on a doppler anyway - though some say doppler is worse than a US)...and other friends who think I should just go and do it. I just really don't know what to do.

[lovestolearn]

(((Hugs))) So sorry about your miscarriages.
Personally, I would not have an ultrasound or use a doppler to make myself feel better--I would rather do something that would not impact my child (like another beta) or do some EFT to help with the anxiety.

[loveneverfails]

Not a UCer, but a pregnancy after loss mom, and I get ultrasounds and have no regrets about doing so. It goes a long way towards my ability to trust things and to not turn into a basket case. I do an early ultrasound and the 20 week one, and I have a doppler at home.

[BirthNut]

We had an early ultrasound (11 weeks) because I was in the ER with a subchorionic hemorrage & I only did it because I too have had a history of miscarriage. With my last baby we only had 1 ultrasound the whole pregnancy. I started going to an OB/CNM group after the ER incident & they did a follow up ultrasound at 15 weeks. After that we had none, but decided to UC for sure at 34 weeks so last weekend at 37 weeks we did have an elective ultrasound to make sure baby was head down because I had some major concerns that he might be transverse. I wouldn't have had any ultrasounds though if it weren't for the ER scare & a real concern about him being transverse.

[Illiana]

I had an early u/s at 6 weeks and again at 12 (still couldn't get hb on doppler) and 20 weeks. I don't bad at all about doing it to for peace of mind. Good luck and hopefully this one will stick for you. Do what you're comfortable with. You're right that if you miscarry again there's nothing you can do esp this early but sometimes its good to just prepare yourself for it.

[ashleybrook]

tara-- we're on our third pregnancy after two miscarriages, and so i really understand how our heads can get freaked out! i'm 17 weeks now, but the first 12 i really had a lot of fears that came up. i know it's great to have ultrasound when we need it, but i think it's even more important to find a way to handle the fears, to work them out, to let them go. or even to just give yourself room to have them and not be overwhelmed by them...

i didn't do an ultrasound, but i can say that 12 week hearing the heartbeat was a big relief, and i cried. and then even had more fears come up again week 15 or so...

what i'm trying to say, is for me, the process of doing something with the fears was more important than a doppler or an ultrasound... though i appreciated the doppler and will be switching to the fetoscope so as to leave the baby in peace once we get the heartbeat through the fetoscope. i don't think a one time hearing of the heartbeat calmed all my fears until the end of pregnancy...sadly! so, i'm finding other ways to be in peace and let nature grow the baby!

good luck with the pregnancy! sending lots of sticky vibes!

ashley

[basje]

I think if the ultrasound will make you less stressed that it's worth the risks or possible harm. Stress really isn't good for the babies development, so anything that can be done to help that is worth doing in my book. Wishing you a blissful pregnancy!!

[kittywitty]

I agree with basje. Getting an u/s will likely ease a lot of your stress. IMO, they high stress is more damaging to baby than an u/s. Good luck!

[minkajane]

I got an ultrasound at 7 and 9 weeks. The first was to rule out twins (I wouldn't feel comfortable UCing with twins) and the second was to double-check that everything was ok because we had a bit of spotting. I felt that knowing from the start how many babies we had was very important and I feel like the second one really eased my mind. Yes, ultrasound has risks. But IMO, stress has higher ones and is more likely to affect your pregnancy and birth more than a couple of quick ultrasounds will.