Misdiagnosed miscarriage at 11 weeks

[aehlich]

I found out I was pregnant on December 23, 2008 and my husband and I announced it to our entire family on Christmas Eve, at our home. We hadn't been planning on getting pregnant just yet but we were close to starting to try, so I took it as a clear sign from God that he wanted for me to have my second child.

My first child, my beautiful daughter, was born in September 2004 at a whopping 10# 13 oz. We were shocked, as I and my siblings had been small babies, and big babies didn't run on mine or my husband's side. So for my second pregnancy, I wanted my sugars to be watched very closely to ensure I didn't get gestational diabetes. Type I and Type II run in both families and since my daughter was so big I felt it need to be monitored more closely this time (just a note, I was never diagnosed with gestational diabetes but since she was so big...).

I had my first sonogram done at 7.5 weeks and there was a healthy embryo with a heart-rate of 162 bbm. Everything looked great. I got lots of rest and made sure I ate healthy... I really took it easy as I was exhausted and nauseous all of the time.

I had always felt my doctor's office was too big, I'd been going there for 10 years, but I never had a personal connection there, so I opted to go to a new doctor. My primary physician recommended a "high-risk" doctor who was very well-known and respected (his wife had gone to her for years) so long-story short, I called the new doctor's office and got an appointment within 2 days.

Which brings me to yesterday, nearly 11 weeks along. I drank a full bottle of water before going in, as I was told I would have a sonogram. When I got there I learned that their practice still did them trans-vaginally at this early stage so I was glad to be able to go to the bathroom and get some relief. I spoke to the new doctor for 30 minutes and really liked her, she was caring and concerned, so I felt I had made a good choice. She then proceeded to do the sonogram, herself, with a nurse in the room. She seemed to struggle a bit and was having a rough time finding my uterus (?) which I thought was odd. She said she could see my bladder was very full and she couldn't really see what she needed to see, so I told her I would gladly go empty it again, and I did. She did a quick "physical" internal and them went ahead with a second try at the tv sono. She was looking and looking and I started to get really nervous. She asked the nurse how she could "zoom in", again, odd for a doctor with her reputation. She asked me how far along I thought I was again and I told her "I should be about 11 weeks tomorrow". She said, "honey, are you sure you were pregnant?" Well my whole body went numb and I thought, wait, am I dreaming? Did I dream I was pregnant? I couldn't even think and I started to cry I said "YES! I had a sonogram a little over 3 weeks ago, there was an embryo with a beating heart", to which she replied "honey, I am sorry there is nothing there, your sac is empty, I can see a yolk sac but that's it". I got hysterical- I had not had an ounce of pain or cramping or a drop of blood, how could I miscarry at nearly 11 weeks and not know it? She told me I most likely "re-absorbed the baby into my body" and that I would need a D and C to remove the rest of the tissue that was there. I kept crying, with my 4-year old in the room, saying how could this be, it was there, how could this be? She and the nurse were extremely caring and understanding, she told me it was not my fault at all, that I had had a "missed abortion". I was in a state of shock. She told me to take my time getting dressed and to talk about having a D and C with my husband and to "let her know". I was completely devestated. I cried for hours and hours as my family gathered around. Then I started to think that none of this made sense. I didn't have any pain, bleeding or any other indication of a miscarriage that I should have if I was 11 weeks along (which by the way I was absolutely certain of). Then I found this wonderful website and started to get hope. Why couldn't a skilled doctor find my uterus? Why didn't she know how to zoom the machine? My instincts told me something wasn't right and that I shouldn't proceed with scheduling the D&C. I called my "old" doctor's office, explained that I had gone to a new doctor, etc. and explained the entire situation. They agreed to take me at 10:30 this morning.

I was up all night, trying to accept the fact that I had miscarried, I barely slept at all. I was nervous all the way to the doctors, just completely stressed out. I told the sono-tech that I was there to confirm or deny the miscarriage (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were with me) and that I was very upset and didn't have my hopes up but needed to know for sure. She told me to jump up on the table and proceeded with an external sono. Well within about 5 seconds if that, she said to us, "well, that doctor is an idiot", she turned the screen fully towards us and there was a perfectly healthy 11 week old fetus with a heartbeat of 188 bpm (my heart was racing so I guess it's was a bit too). Not only was it there but I could immediately see it moving around A LOT and the little heart was fluttering and I listened to it beating away. I got hysterical in a way I did not know I could. I couldn't breathe, I was in complete shock and beyond elated, as were my family and my husband by phone.

So I ask, how could this happen? How could I be so badly and negligently misdiagnosed? WE HAVE TO BE OUR OWN ADVOCATES! If you feel something is not right with a diagnosis DO NOT be hesitant to get a second or even third opinion. The stress this doctor put me through probably caused me more harm than anything else. Not to mention the stress it put on my family and our friends, including one of my sister-in-laws who is 5 months pregnant who was absolutely hysterical and besides herself over this. DO NOT GIVE UP hope. If I was 10 years younger I might have just listened to that doctor and gone and unknowingly aborted a completely healthy baby that I wanted so very much. It is a horrible thought and I am so very thankful to God for this baby and for His guidance. Listen to your instincts! And update, as I was typing this, the doctor's office where I was wrongly diagnosed called (I had left a message that I wanted my medical records so that I could get a second opinion). Long story short, they had taken it upon themselves to make an appointment for a D&C for 2/9! I told the nurse I had not authorized that and she said I must have!! To which I told her I absolutely did not authorize it. She asked if I wanted to cancel it and "let me know" that if I canceled it, I might not get another appointment for a long time!!!! I told her to cancel it and that I wanted a second opinion. She said, and I quote, "well, why do you want a second opinion? I mean, you have an empty sac, what is there to confirm?". It took all of my strength to not say "F-you! I DO NOT have an empty sac, I have a perfectly healthy 11-week old baby in there!!". I am holding off until I pick up my records later today.

God bless all of you grappling with this type of issue but do not give up hope! If there is one good thing to come out of this story, I hope it helps somebody to get through the night and keep hope alive. Doctors and their staff are no where near perfect. GOOD LUCK!

[clormi]

Please read my sister-in law's story and if you are misinformed that you should be having a DNC and believe you are misdiagnosed please go for a second opinion!!! We all prayed for a miracle and sure enough the baby was fine and that idiot 1st Dr was wrong.

Angela, what you went through was heart wrenching and I am so glad you did go for the second opinion. I am so happy the baby is fine and cannot wait to meet my nephew/neice.

Love you!
Christine

[lw8843]

I am so glad you got a second opinion. With both my m/c's I went in for 3-4 ultrasounds before I was going to give up hope. I am currently 11w3d so we are very close in EDD. Best of luck to you. If you'd like to hang around this site there is a forum for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters. Feel free to join me over on the 1st tri board for now till we can move in a couple of weeks.

[cmam]

I can't believe how poorly you've been treated. You must have been beside yourself. So appy you went got in to see your old doc. The new 'high risk' one should be reported to the medical board. Best of luck with a healthy happy pregnancy.

[Kay]

Your story makes my heart hurt. I am a firm believer, if your doctor is the one doing the ultrasound and diagnoses a miscarriage, get a second opinion and make certain a trained ultrasound technician does the ultrasound. They have far more specialized training and, let's face it, doctors cannot do it all.

Congratulations on finding your baby. Please, update with what you do about that doctor.

[TanyaC]

Wow, I am soo sorry you went through all of that stress. Your story is somewhat similiar to mine. Thankfully I found this site and questioned my Ob's scan too. I still have a baby in my belly today. She even told me she would not have scanned me again before the D&C. I can't even think about it...

[Izzy]

Wow. Thast all I have to say.

Im actually 20yrs old and I live in Mexico. Im pregnant right now and I went to see a doctor who told me my baby was death at 6 weeks. That was on a monday but I got blood work done and it came out positive, I went again on friday and she said the same just because neither her or her husband (they share the office. But by the way hes NOT a OB/GYN) could find the heart beat. I was really sad till my mom told me that she had gone through the same with my sister (now 17) and my moms neighbor told me not to worry either because it happened to her too.

Now I dont know what to think. Im very scared and all I want to hear is that my baby is ok...

can anyone help me?

[TiffanyMarie2009]

Okay, so this will probably be as confusing to all of you as it is to me, but hopefully someone will understand and be able to offer some advice or knowledge from a similiar experience.

I am currently 10 weeks pregnant.
I had my first prenatal appointment this past monday, March 9, 2009.
Everything went great until I did my ultrasound.
The ultrasound technition only spent a total of about 5 minutes on my ultrasound, less than one minute which was devoted to trying to find my baby's heartbeat. She spent less than a minute then quit doing the ultrsound, the heartbeat wasn't detected. Two of my friends are currently pregnant as well, one of which took 30 minutes to find her baby's heartbeat and the other just said it took them a while to find hers.

I was told that my pregnancy may not be viable.

That night, March 9, 2009, I am 99.9% positive that I felt the baby flutter. It was in my uterus on the left side. Kinda felt like a fish was going back and forth (from top to bottom) creating waves that almost felt like they had a gentle vibration to them. I felt this for 10-20 seconds, but then I moved and could not feel it any longer.

The following morning, March 10, 2009, I woke up extremely hot. I felt like it was 80 degrees when it was only 55 degrees. I could not cool down for anything. Also, I had really bad nausea, a headache that lasted two days (until March 11, 2009), was moody, and exhausted from doing nothing. That evening I cooled down, but would freeze and couldn't get warm for anything. I usually go through this when my hormones rise. One of my, also pregnant, friends goes through the same thing, except she is 5 months along.

Then on March 11, 2009, I had more bloodwork done. Still had all my normal symtoms.

Today, March 12, 2009, I had a recheck with the doctor and he proceeded to tell me that my hcg levels have dropped "a little bit" and that the pregnancy isn't viable. I told him about how I had felt the baby flutters and how I was certain my hormones had risen due to the symptoms. Then I requested a new ultrasound be done with someone different, for a second opinion. I go on March 17, 2009 to have the new ultrasound done.

**I still have all my symptoms, they actually progress as time goes on. I saw the baby in the ultrasound (my first one on March 9th) and everything looked normal the baby definitely was following schedule. I was 9 weeks and 4 days on march 9th. I have had NO symptoms of miscarriage. None at all!!**

So my question is:

Does anyone know what could be going on? The doctor says non-viable pregnancy, but I felt the flutters and have no symptoms of a miscarriage. Also, does it mean 100% that if your hormones drop "a little bit" (exact words of the doctor) that you will have a miscarriage? Nothing makes sense to me and Tuesday is so far away!! Please help!!

[praying4twins]

hi Tiffany all i can say is try to relax, stay calm and stress free, continue taking your prenatal vitamins and most importantly PRAY!! i know that your levels are suppose to double every 24-48 hours but anything is possible. try not to worry too much. i know it's easier said than done but if you're gonna m/c there's nothing you can do to stop it anyway. whatever is meant to be, will be. trust that God will do what's best for you!

[praying4twins]

good for you Angela! i'm so glad you got a second opinion! let us know how you and the baby are doing!!

[HopeAndPray]

Ill try to make this short!
Found out i was pregnant 4 weeks ago.
following monday got v. heavy bleeding with clots, by next day had gone down to just spotting, that night just a brown discharge not enough to wear a pad and only when i wiped myself (which has gone on right up till now).

A scan was arranged for the upcoming thurs and for my bloods:
thurs: sac found 15cm (sac empty) bloods 14988
Sat: bloods 21896
Mon: sac found 19cm (sac still empty) bloods 24250

Another scan was arranged for the following monday (today) Sac had only grown 1cm to 20cm (was told there was signs of bleeding around sac, NOT GOOD) and still showed as empty, was told it was blighted ovum and that they were 99% positive (the nurse only took a couple of mins to scan and was done vaginaly) i would miscarry and wanted to know what i wanted to do, as i had been reading stories on your site i have decided to wait and another scan has bee arranged in 2 weeks to see if i have miscarried.

There are a couple of things my lmp was around 7th jan 09 had sex on 26th jan which would make me around 6 weeks 4/5 days there saying im about 9/10 weeks, but i know i only had sex that once so surly i could only be 7 weeks, Im loosing hope and feel like im cracking up, im now sat at home waiting for me to loose my precious baby.

It was a miricle that i even got pregnant after loosing 1 tube to ectopic, being overweight my age and the fact that i dont ovulate regularlly (diagosed by hospital several years ago while trying for my daughter) and now that miracle has been taken away. I dont know how much more i can take.

[lw8843]

Hope~ I hope that you will find something when you go back in a few weeks. I do want you to know that when they say how far along you are they always go by LMP so that is why they are saying 9-10weeks. It is possible for implantation to happen late and can make you one week behind if that happens. Do you know if you have a tilted uterus? As I do know that can make it hard to see what's going on in there and to get measurements. I wish you all the best.

[HopeAndPray]

hi i think i recall the lady who did the 1st scan saying i had a tilted uterous, she asked me to make 2 fists and put them under my bottom to raise my self to see if she could get a better pic.

SO NOT 100% SURE I am hoping and praying for a miracle but emotionally i am soooo tired.

[lw8843]

After the 1st scan did they have you do that? If you have a tilted Uterus then they would ask you to do that to see better. If they didn't ask you to do that it is possible that's why they didn't see anything and why measurements could not have changed much. I do not want to give you false hope but I would say there is a chances things will be ok in a few weeks. I would wait 2 weeks before another scan and if they don't ask you to put the fists under you I would ask about it.

[HopeAndPray]

Hi and thanks tw Do you know of any of the storys if they had any bleeding around the sac, i think thats what is making my hope fade.