Planning To Get Pregnant
After the last episode of miscarriage which happened last year in March 2016, me and my hubby is finally prepared to try and conceive again. This time round, I bought ovulation kits to find out when is my ovulate date to get a higher chance to get the sperms to meet the egg. I have been tracking my menstruation cycle all the while and never did I know these infos can be of good news. I know some women don’t keep track but I’m lucky that I did.
35 Days Menstrual Cycle
As my menstruation cycle is pretty long, about 35 days cycle rather than most of the women who has 29 days cycle, I will only ovulate after 20-22 days after my first menstruation cycle; unlike the usual 14 days for women having 29 days cycle. My cycle has always been regular, about 34-36 days cycle. So I know roughly when I will ovulate, but I choose to use the ovulation kit to aid a higher chance to conceive.
I am Pregnant! Mission accomplished!
On 16 December 2016, I found my LH Surge and this is da day!
That is about 21-22 days after my last menstruation cycle (26 Nov-1 Dec).
I tested positive on 30 Dec 2016 and horray! Overjoyed that our mission is accomplished and I booked my first prenatal check up with my gynae.
No Pregnancy Symptoms
I do not experience any pregnancy symptoms like feeling nauseous, giddy and tiredness. All these happened in my past pregnancy and I thought I am really lucky. The only pregnancy symptoms I experienced is painful on the breast and the urge to go to the toilet more often.
Spotting Early Pregnancy
On 10 Jan 2017, Tuesday, I had spotting. It was diluted red discharge and I was pretty shocked and worried. It’s my first encounter as my previous pregnancy has not spotting at all. I quickly googled spotting during pregnancy and realized that many women experience spotting during their early pregnancy and that make me relieved. Luckily it only lasted that day.
Small Fetus Growth
11 Jan 2017, Wednesday: My first check up with my gynae wasn’t good. I highlight to him about my spotting and during the ultrasound scanning, he told me that the fetus is 2 weeks smaller than it should be. I should be 6 weeks pregnant but the fetus looks like 4 weeks. He said it may not be healthy and that made me really worried!
I was then given a Proluton injection to stabilized my pregnancy and also prescribed Utrogestan to be taken twice daily.
During the journey home after my appointment, I started to do a little bit more research about small fetus growth and I came to realized I have forgotten to highlight about my 35 days cycle to my gynae!
How Many Weeks Pregnant Am I Really?
Gynae usually take first day of your last menstruation date to calculate how many weeks pregnant. For example, as my last menstruation cycle is 26 Nov-1 Dec. They will calculate by using 26 Nov and count to today’s date to check how many weeks pregnant are you. Actually, the most accurate way is to use ovulation date to calculate but not many women know when they ovulate unless they are like me who uses the ovulation kit to find out their LH surge.
So I found this LPD & Ovulation calculator online to calculate how many weeks I am. This is crucial for me since I have longer cycle date. After entering both LMP & my ovulation date, the results are about 1 week different.
My LPD shows 9 Weeks 6 days and my OD shows 9 weeks (on 2 Feb 2017 as I write this post.)
Second Opinion About My Pregnancy
1 week later, on 18 Jan 2017, Wednesday, I went for my second check up. This time, I went for a second opinion at Thomson Medical center by Dr Beh. He knows about my previous miscarriage as he is the one who helped me terminate my previous pregnancy. So I’m pretty sure he will be more careful in terms of checking and giving me a better consultation. I told him about my ovulation date since I used ovulation kit for this pregnancy and he counted that I should be 6 weeks 5 days. But the ultrasound shows that my CRL is 2.66mm which is the size of a 5 weeks 6 days fetus.
CRL is Crown Rump length. It is the measurement between the top of the head to the area above where the legs begin. You can find the CRL length written on your ultrasound image handed to you by your gynae.
Image taken from Babymed.
| Days (LMP) | Days (Fertilization) | (weeks/days) | (mm) |
| 37 | 23 | 5.2 | 1 |
| 38 | 24 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 39 | 25 | 5.4 | 3 |
| 40 | 26 | 5.5 | 3 |
| 41 | 27 | 5.6 | 4 |
| 42 | 28 | 6 | 4 |
| 43 | 29 | 6.1 | 5 |
| 44 | 30 | 6.2 | 6 |
| 45 | 31 | 6.3 | 7 |
| 46 | 32 | 6.4 | 8 |
| 47 | 33 | 6.5 | 9 |
As you can see from the chart. I should be 6 weeks 5 days pregnant and the fetus should measure 9mm but I am only now measuring 5 weeks 6 days and 2.66mm only. It’s too way off the chart!! And Dr Beh indeed say is pretty small. The gestational sac only grew from 1.1cm to 1.3cm since last week. Dr Beh try to see if we can hear the heartbeat and I was amazed that the fetus heartbeat can already be detected and heard. That makes me a little comfort and with hope. Again I was given Proluton injection to promote the growth of the fetus and he ask me to carry my daily Utrogestan capsule. He ask me to see him next week again but somehow I was already mentally prepared.
Small Gestational Sac, Slow Fetus Growth but Strong Heartbeat
25 Jan 2017, Wednesday: Being able to still see the flicker on the ultrasound is really comforting. The fetus heartbeat is stronger than last week at 120bpm. However, Dr Beh told me that the fetus growth is very slow. From last week, 5 weeks 6 days, CRL 2.66mm to 6 weeks 2 days, CRL 5.25mm only. Meaning for a week, the fetus grow 3 days and not 1 week. What’s more is Dr Beh also realized that my gestational sac is pretty small. I did not really question more as I’m unsure what to ask. He said we will just try hard since the fetus still have a strong heart beat.
I was again given Proluton injection and as my Utrogestan capsule is insufficient, I was prescribe again but with a different brand; Duphaston.
Brown Discharge! Spotting again?
The next following day, I had brown discharge, I didn’t think much about it as no fresh blood is found and I have no cramps. The next subsequent day it happened again and that’s it.
Rumbling & Gurgling Sound From The Uterus
I’m not sure about the others but I know every time before I start my period, about 4-7 days before my period, I will have these really weird noise from my uterus. They are not from the stomach as they are not those gas which makes you feels like you are going to fart. They are really those rumbling and gurgling sound from the Uterus. So on 28 Jan midnight, the sound makes me woke up and I was so scared because they only happened few days before my period. Since I am currently pregnant, why will there be such noise from my uterus??? I woke up and goggle again. After a little bit of research, I found out that many women are experiencing the same thing as me, you can read more here. So that makes me feels assured and I went back to sleep shortly after that.
For the next few days, the pain on my breast subsided and more pimples are popping out on my face and back. I have this really bad feeling and somehow I told myself to be mentally prepared.
The heartbeat stopped: My Second Miscarriage
1 Feb 2017, Wednesday. Today I was accompanied by my hubby, somehow I dragged him along as I have this really bad feeling. Indeed, the flicker on the screen(heartbeat) I’ve seen for the past 2 weeks is gone. Dr Beh checked multiple times and said it’s not with us anymore. Although the fetus size shows 7 weeks and increase in size but it’s no longer with us.
Feeling upset, Dr Beh provide us with 2 options: Natural miscarriage or like the previous time, terminate it for us. He also mentioned that since this is the second time I miscarriage, he say I may wish to choose to send the fetus sample for lab test to check if there is any abnormality after the termination had been done. This test would allow us to find out the underlying cause and may prevent future miscarriage to happen, but is optional. Some couple wish to know and some couple doesn’t. The costs is about $700-$900 but I’m just in a blank state of mind now. I mean, why did this happened again??
What went wrong? =(
On a side note. Please know that every pregnancy and every miscarriage is different. Everyone will experience different thing as it also depends on how many weeks pregnant you’re in. Therefore, I hope sharing it will help others who are in the same boat feels better. If you have the same experience like me and wish to speak to anyone, I am here for you. You can send me an email.
