Misdiagnosed Miscarriage – A Blighted Ovum?

When I first found out I was pregnant, (around 4 weeks) my husband and I were super excited!  This was the best news ever!  We were so excited to go to our first appointment and see our baby on the ultrasound screen.  We didn’t get the news we expected at that visit though.  I had some slight spotting and let the office know of my concern when I told them that I took a home pregnancy test and got a positive result.  

The doctor usually doesn’t see you until you are 10 weeks pregnant, but since I had some slight spotting I was able to get seen and have an ultrasound earlier in my pregnancy which would be the first of many due to the spotting and the misdiagnosed miscarriage.

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Blighted Ovum

We received horrible news…I had a blighted ovum.

According to Babycenter.com, “Early pregnancy failure (also known as a blighted ovum or anembryonic gestation) is a common cause of miscarriage. It happens when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus but the resulting embryo either stops developing very early or doesn’t form at all. If you have an early pregnancy failure, you may not find out about it until the end of your first trimester.”

I had some spotting the week before and some into the current week which was already a cause for some concern and I should have been 6 weeks and 2 days, but the sac was measuring around 5 weeks instead.  The ultrasound tech was expecting to see a fetal pole and a heartbeat, but only saw a gestational sac and a yolk sac.  The midwife said that I could be just earlier than I think or I could miscarry.  That’s definitely not the news that we wanted to hear.

Missed Miscarriage?

A nurse drew my blood to check my HCG levels to make sure they were going up and if they were going up then I should be fine and should just be earlier than I thought.  I went back that Friday to get my blood redrawn again and to get my results.  My numbers went up but didn’t quite double.  Wednesday the levels were 18903 and Friday they were 35917.  I had to see a doctor because my midwife was out of the office.

He came off as cold and he was not like my friendly midwife at all.  He just got straight to the point and said with HCG numbers that high, we should be able to see a heartbeat, and based on the numbers and the ultrasound he was 99.9 percent sure I had a missed miscarriage.  We were devastated.  I cried in the office.  

My husband hated to see me cry and tried to comfort me.  The doctor just handed me a box of tissue…didn’t say sorry or give us any kind of hope.  I still had pregnancy symptoms and I had no more spotting at all.  My breasts were even beginning to become sore which the midwife had previously told me was a good sign.

I didn’t know what to think. The doctor diagnosed me with a blighted ovum.  He said that I could miscarry naturally or have a D&C.  He said something about a D&C twice even though I had already said I would let whatever was going to happen naturally. Rude.  I did some research and read that this can be misdiagnosed so I hoped that he was so wrong.  God has the final say so, so I put it all in his hands.  I prayed about my baby daily.  I even made a pregnancy journal to get all of my emotions out.

Misdiagnosed Miscarriage!

The next week I decided to get a second opinion from a doctor’s office that my mother in law recommended.  All of the staff were awesome!  Talk about a caring staff!  This staff was exactly what we needed even if we did miscarry I would’ve rather it happened in the care of this office than the first one.  On October 3, 2014, I had an ultrasound.  We got to see our “little peanut” as the ultrasound tech called her and we even saw the heartbeat flickering away.  My baby’s heart rate was 128 BPM which the tech said was good and strong.

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Meet The Chambers (@meetthechambers) has created a short video on TikTok with music Surrender. | BLESSED! #birthstory #misdiagnosed #pregnancyjourney #earlypregnancy #5thbirthday #momsoftiktok #blackmomsoftiktok #babiesoftiktok #givingbirth

We are so thankful and glad that the previous doctor was WRONG!  I am so glad I found Kay’s blog Misdiagnosed Miscarriage Musings and forum The Misdiagnosed Miscarriage.  That site truly gave me hope even though the previous doctor told me there was no need for hope.  Click HERE to view my post on the forum.  There is ALWAYS hope…you should always hope and have faith if you believe in God and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

I’m glad I had hope and didn’t just give up on my baby and cause damage to the baby that could have very well led me to have a miscarriage because I would’ve been so stressed and feeling doomed that I could have made my body make that happen.  I’m glad I have a husband that is super strong and there for me through the most stressful and depressing time of my life.  I thank God that He was there with us both holding us tight while we kept telling the devil to go away with his negative energy.  I’m just so very thankful!

Always Get a Second Opinion

I am here as a witness that you should always get a second opinion just to make sure especially if you’ve done your own research and have faith in God.  Definitely get a second opinion before agreeing to have a D&C!  I hope this post helps someone that is going through the same thing.  Pray about it!  If it’s in God’s plan for you, trust and believe that no one can alter his plan! Click HERE to chat with an on-call OB-GYN in minutes.

Here are some letters to the baby that I wrote during this trying time.  Click HERE and HERE to read the letters.  View all of my letters to baby HERE.

Here’s a video of us explaining everything about the misdiagnosed miscarriage if you’d like to watch:

STORYTIME: Misdiagnosed Miscarriage

This storytime video is about a misdiagnosed miscarriage. I was told that I was going to have a miscarriage, but that was not the case. My baby is perfec…

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Have you ever had a pregnancy scare? What happened?  How did you deal with it?