Slow rising HCG levels with spotting in early pregnancy! Help!?

Question

I am experiencing light bleeding (since last Wednesday) off and on for the last 9 days. It has never been very heavy and no clotting and only slight cramping have been associated with it. Last Thursday I was seen at my docs office and showed an HCG test level of 1766 in the previous test done 12 hours prior it was at 1362. My doc kept trying to tell me that I should be between 7 and 8 weeks pregnant however, due to a drug allergy that I had at the begining of July I was placed on Prednisone in which prolonged my period causing me to bleed from the 3rd to the 18th. I didn't engage in sexual intercourse until the 22nd of July, the 25th of July, and then again on the 4th of August. I went yesterday to have a vaginal ultra sound done and nothing could be found not even an egg sac. They drew more blood to test the HCG, but were already discussing a natural passage or D&C procedure and told me that the pregnancy had been aborted. This morning I got another call from them stating that my hormone levels were somewhere around 3100 and even though they weren't doubling as they should they couldn't say that I had definitely miscarried. So now they are sending me tomorrow to have more blood work drawn and then again on Tuesday. It looks pretty grim at this point and I have all but given up hope. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and then went on to deliver a healthy baby? They also said that there was a possibility that I was not as far along as they had projected. At 4 weeks or so would it still be possible to not see anything in an ultrasound?

Answer 1

My HCG was slow rising and the docs at the hospital asked me to be prepared for a d&c as they assumed my baby was dead, at 13weeks, so i went into panic mode, my mum nearly killed us on the way to hospital, driving so fast, when the bleeding got worse, but my little Sunshine was fine, heart beat normal, and was born a whole day late on the 1st of Jan 2008! So dont give up nd stay positive.

GOOD LUCK! X

Answer 2

I had slowly rising HCG levels. They were doubling about every 10 days instead of every 48-72 hours. Everyone kept hinting at me to prepare for a loss. My daughter is now 4 months old, happy and healthy.

I'm not sure about the ultrasound not showing a sac. I know at 5 weeks, there is definitely a visible sac, but I don't know about at 4 weeks if there is one visible.

Oh and I just realized you said you were spotting. I had light bleeding, which is why we had the blood drawn to test the HCG levels. Everything could still be OK - your period being messed up could have definitely delayed ovulation and you may have ovulated much later than normal and not be as far along as you think.