QuestionHi! My name is Christina. I have no children and the first day of my last menstrual period was 10/13. I had to do an IVF frozen embryo transfer on 10/30. I got a positive pregnancy result on 11/11. I've been going for ultrasounds and blood work since then. My beta level keeps rising. It's up to 15,176 yesterday from 11,222 on Friday. My Dr. isn't too happy with the rise, but that's not my problem. Everytime I go for my u/s they keep telling me that I'm a week behind. When I went yesterday they said I should be 7 weeks and 2 days, but my u/s shows me at around 6 weeks. When she looked at the gest. sac a yolk sac was found, but wasn't clearly visible. She said that a fetal pole should be seen by now with a flickering heartbeat. There was no fetal pole. Also she said there was no fetal development from last week to this week, but how can that be if there was no yolk sac last week and this week there was one? Should I be nervous that no fetal pole was found? If they have my dates wrong and I am only 6 weeks due to late implantation is it okay if there wasn't one? They are giving me a grim outcome. I have to go back again this coming Monday to see if there is a change. What should I do if they tell me to stop taking my progesterone because there's no fetal pole, but my numbers keep rising? Could everything still be okay and I'm just slow or something? Also...was my beta rise good from 11,222 on 11/2 to 15,176 on 11/5? Doesn't it slow down a little now since I passed the 10,000 mark? Any information you can give would be helpful. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude. Should I just give up hope?
Thanks,
Christina
AnswerUsually,in a viable pregnancy, the HCG values will double every 48 hours. It is a bit disconcerting to only rise from 11,222 to 15,176. If your last period started on October 13, you should now be 7 weeks 5 days. A sonogram will only show an empty gestational sac up to 5 weeks. After 6 weeks, we see a fetus and a fetal heartbeat. The HCG values at 3-4 weeks range from 1500-10,000. At 4-5 weeks, the HCG values should be between 1000 and 50,000. At 5-6 weeks, HCG should be 10,000-100,000. At 6-8 weeks, HCG should be 15,000-200,000. So you see that the range is very large and you can't go by actual numbers. Repeat the sonogram in another week and see if there is any growth. If not, it does not sound promising. Good Luck.
