Frustrated- low betas, but doubling.

[plaidpineapple]

Hi everyone,

This last week has been awful. Exactly a week ago, I got a faint positive on an HPT. Because I've had two m/cs (and a live birth after), I went in for a beta, and it was only 7. Two days later, it was 17. Three days after that, it was 41, and two days after that (bringing us to today), it was 85.

I wasn't charting, but according to a positive OPK I got, I should be 4w4d today, and betabase.info lists the median HCG level at this point at 412. I haven't even hit 100 yet. But because I didn't temp and didn't see a clear thermal shift, it's possible I ovulated later. And because the numbers keep doubling, my doctor's office thinks everything looks good, but I know the numbers seem impossibly low. From everything I've read, this pregnancy is destined to end in another miscarriage.

Unfortunately, I'm taking progesterone and if this pregnancy does end between now and in two weeks when I'm scheduled for an ultrasound, I won't know. The progesterone will delay any bleeding. So I wait for 2 weeks in limbo, not able to become excited about this pregnancy, and feeling like general basketcase, which I can't be because I have a toddler to take care of.

Part of me wants to stop the progesterone (which I'm taking because it helped me carry my son to term in June '09) and let this take its course naturally, while the other part of me wonders "what if'? But I've just read so many stories about people with higher (low) betas than mine ending in m/c that I have almost no hope of this ending well.

Any advice? Words of comfort? Similar stories with either happy or sad endings? I'm just so confused and above all else, frustrated.

[finnegansmom]

What relation are you using your OPK to your ovulation date?

Ovulation is better predicted by thermal shift/dry up of CM.

Getting a + OPK does not mean you are ovulating that day.  It means that the hormone present before ovulation is in your urine.  I chart religiously and have used OPKs as well, and have gotten 3 days of + OPKs in a row and then gone back to negative and THEN see a thermal shift (and got pregnant that cycle...)

  You might not be as far along as you think you are.

Good luck!

[meander]

Don't worry so much about the median. Half of women have numbers below the median...it's nothing to worry about as long as the numbers keep doubling, which they are. And if your O date could be off by even 2-3 days you would actually be pretty close to that median number! Try not to worry--this really does look normal. People with far higher betas have miscarriage; people with far lower ones have healthy babies. The number itself really doesn't mean all that much, just the doubling. Also keep in mind that the betabase statistics are only shown for pregnancies which have a reported heartbeat, so lots of the early miscarriages aren't even in there. It skews the sample a little toward only healthy pregnancies...so the women with an hcg of 4 at 18dpo? Saw a heartbeat at some point. Yours is a lot higher than that.

I would think stopping the progesterone right now could be a really bad idea. Please don't do something like that without having a really thorough conversation with your doctor about your particular situation; I was told by my OB that stopping too soon/too suddenly could cause a miscarriage in an otherwise perfectly healthy pregnancy for me.

[soso-lynn]

The only thing that matters is whether it doubles. It did, more than once, so relax. Stopping progesterone would CAUSE a miscarriage.

[plaidpineapple]

Thank you all! It's good to hear that it looks normal-ish if I did in fact ovulate later. This was my first cycle using OPKs so I figured once I had a positive and then a negative, I'd ovulated.

After fretting this past week and most of today, I'm feeling a lot better about things, however they go. It's out of my hands at this point, so I'm going to try to stay positive and continue on the progesterone. I have an ultrasound in two weeks, so we'll see if it's successful at that point, hopefully.

Thanks again!

[SoonToBe]

I know it's hard not to worry, but it does sound like your numbers are doing exactly what they are supposed to.  Try to relax if you can (easier said than done) and hope that they keep doubling.  It's very possible that you ovulated later than you thought.  Even if that's not the case, your numbers are still going in the right direction at a decent rate.  I hope you get reassurance soon.  I'm sure it must be extra difficult with your history of m/c.  Sticky vibes coming your way....

Bree