Couldn't hear heartbeat at 13 weeks?

[brneyedmama]

HI All -So I'm 13 weeks with number 2 and have a question.  Has anyone experienced not being able to hear the heartbeat of the baby via doppler at 13 weeks or later?  My midwife said she wasn't worried because I had just had a very normal ultrasound two days prior, but if I hadn't she may be worried.  I never had this problem with DD and was just wondering if anyone else had experienced it?  She has me coming back in next week to try and find it again, but a week feels like such a long time to wait!  Thanks!

[Vermillion]

We couldn't get this baby's HB with the doppler until around 16w. Got some extra tummy fluff and an anterior placenta, so... Did they happen to tell you the position of your placenta at the u/s?

[brneyedmama]

They didn't mention the position of the placenta, but she did say that my pelvis (?) tilts downwards during pregnancy....does that make sense?

[dealic]

My midwife first checked for a heartbeat the day before I was 14 weeks. However, she warned me that it was not for sure that she could hear that early, and would only do it if I agreed not to be worried if she couldn't find it. She said some midwives in the practice won't even check till later, for that reason. Its too upsetting to people when they can't find it. She told me that SHE would not worry if she couldn't find it, wouldn't be ordering an ultrasound, and wouldn't be having me come back in a week to check again. Only after I agreed that I understood it may be too early, would she even try.

In my case, she did find it, but she had to work very very hard to do it. My coworker who is a month further along than me said her OB couldn't find it till around 16 weeks.

It may depend on the doppler they use too.... Mine told me they have a "cheap" $500 model, and that it can't pick them up as early as some other models.

[cappuccinosmom]

Doppler hasn't been very useful so far.  Even at 23 weeks, last visit, it was several minutes trying to find the hb, and she got all of 15 seconds worth of it, lol.  Baby hides. :)

[dogmom327]

DD spent a lot of time hiding behind the placenta. I think we first heard it on the doppler at 14 weeks but at that point I was already feeling movement anyway. After that she was a tough little cookie to find on a regular basis.

[LivingSky]

I had an anterior placenta with DS, and our midwife couldn't find the heartbeat until 15 weeks.

[butterfly_mommy]

With DS my midwife tried around 13+ weeks for several minutes and couldn't find the HB she said she wasn't concerned but I had already said that I wanted to go for an u/s if we couldn't find it so I went in the next day and DS was fine and happily bouncing around. I had a low lying placenta just for reference.

[brneyedmama]

thanks everyone, I feel much better!  Just out of curiosity though, is there any problem with having an anterior or low lying placenta?

[butterfly_mommy]

With an anterior placenta the placenta is attached to the front of your uterus so it can make fetal movement harder to feel and sometimes harder to pick up the HB with a Doppler when the baby is little as the placenta is in the way but no real problems. With a low lying placenta the only concern is if it stays low and covers over your cervix then it is called placenta previa and can lead to bleeding and usually c-section delivery. By 19 weeks my placenta had moved away from my cervix so I was fine, most cases this is what happens as the uterus grows. It has nothing to do with not hearing the HB early I just mentioned it to show that even when the placenta is not in the way it can still be hard to hear the HB around 14 weeks.