Early Pregnancy HcG Levels- Please Help
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
Please please please help me, I am so worried and need reassurance
Following a miscarriage with my first baby in September last year I was delighted to find out 3 weeks ago my husband and I are expecting again. My doctor has been monitoring me closely by taking blood tests and I had a referral yesterday for a scan to the Early Pregnancy Unit.
I was unsure of my dates so the scan showed yesterday I was only 5 weeks gone, all we could see was the sac.
My blood test Hcg levels have been: -
Wed 4th Feb - 7
Tues 10th Feb - 151
Thurs 12th Feb - 546
Tues 17th Feb - 4351
All these tests were done at my Gp surgery
Thurs 19th Feb - 5357
This test was done in a different hospital yesterday and I got the result last night, have to go back tomorrow to the same hospital to get another blood test done.
I am so worried because my Hcg levels up to yesterday were rocketing and if they are supposed to double every 2 days so I was expecting yesterday's to be at least 8000, does it make a difference depending on where the blood tests are taken to the results, I mean do the Gp's and hospitals have different ways of testing what the level is?
I checked a page earlier and it said that in the case of ectopic or miscarriage the levels are normal and then start to slow down, does this look like the case for me?? I want this baby more than anything, please give me some advice xxxxx
ANSWER
Of course I can't make you any promises, but generally speaking as long as you are not spotting and the levels are rising, these are good signs. You might request that you have your progesterone level checked also; you don't mention how far along you were when you miscarried last time, but sometimes a supplement can help to prevent a miscarriage if your levels are low. Good luck!
-- Cynthia, CNM. PhD.
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Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, teaches in the College of Nursing at Seattle University and is President of the American Association of Birth Centers. She also practices midwifery at Valley Medical Center where she cares for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
Cynthia hosts a monthly "Ask the midwife" chat as well as answers questions via our expert section.
Listen to Cynthia live on Pregnancy.org Live: Before, During and After.
