Blighted Ovum

Sadie06 · 01-22-2007, 07:37 PM

Had my doctor appointment. It's a blighted ovum. I was pretty upset and I guess my husband says that the doctor said something about depending on the beta level- that will decide me having surgery? I thought he was saying he was checking my level to make certain of the diagnosis. Anyway- my dh doesn't view this as a m/c or as a form of a life so we don't agree on that. Has anyone on here had a blighted ovum? Were you able to have children after this? Is it related to pcos? And what's a d&c like? I'm not looking forward to it.

goodbyeluv4ever · 01-22-2007, 08:50 PM

Hi sadie,
I'm so sorry. I had a blighted ovum and had a D&C last week. How far along are you? I don't know if you went to the website i posted on your last post about misdiagnosed miscarriages. Sometimes doctors rush to say that it's a blighted ovum when it's not but it all depends on the ultrasound results and also how far along you are. Do you know if they saw a fetal pole? Or just an amniotic sac?
My D&C was not bad at all. I'm still bleeding but it's not that bad. It's been 4 days now. I had a bit of cramping the first day and off and on after that.
If you're not that far along you can probably opt for not having the D&C. The problem with blighted ovums is that your body may not realize that that pregnancy is not viable so it can take weeks to miscarry on your own. I know this is a very emotional time for you and my prayers are with you. PM if you want to talk.

RunnerDuck · 01-22-2007, 09:26 PM

So sorry you're going through this

I had a blighted ovum last spring. I found out I was pregnant in mid-march. Scan showed a sac but no heartbeat or fetal pole. Also a corpus luteum on the left side. Bloodwork over 48 hours showed doubling betas - I don't remember the numbers but they more than doubled. Progesterone was low but adequate - around 18. My doctor was confident that it was just too early to see anything.

Two weeks later the sac had grown but only a little. Still nothing in it. Corpus luteum was shrinking. Bloodwork showed betas had gone up but not enough to suggest a healthy pregnancy. Progesterone had fallen to around 11.

My doctor gave me the option of a D&C or a medication called cytotec. Also the option to wait it out - but it can take until the 12th week of pregnancy for a blighted ovum to be lost, which was not something I really wanted to contemplate. About a week past my second scan, I still had not begun to miscarry. I went back for the medication. It took two doses to make it work - the first I took orally and it didn't work. The second I took vaginally and it did.

I was probably about 7 1/2 weeks along at that point, but the sac was more like a 5 1/2 week pregnancy. Physically, the loss was not so bad. Just like a bad period that lasted a little longer and had something a little bigger at the very beginning. (The sac was about the size of a golf ball)

The cause of a blighted ovum is thought to be either a bad egg or a bad sperm. It's not necassarily a PCOS thing although it's POSSIBLE that with our crazy hormones, our eggs aren't always primo quality. I have not been able to get pregnant since then but lots of women have blighted ovums and go on to have healthy pregnancies afterwards. I hope you have better luck next time!

Also it is very common for the husband to feel differently about this than the wife does. The men just don't always feel that instant bond that we do. I don't know why but that's how it goes a lot of the time. Don't let that keep you from talking to him about how you feel.

anichols · 01-22-2007, 10:20 PM

Sadie~~I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm thinking of you and your husband and you are in my heart and prayers. I'm here if you need to talk.

milliganga · 01-22-2007, 11:30 PM

Sadie- First off let me start by saying I'm sorry for your lost and pain. I myself have had 2 blighted ovums and I just delievered my pride and joy 10 days ago. You can get pregnant again and go on to have a health pregnancy and baby. That was my #1 question to at the time of my 2nd lost. A blighted Ovum is where your hormones are off and you have an extra chromozone mixed in the egg and sperm. The egg and sperm might not be of good quality either which can cause the baby not to grow or get past the gestional sac. I pray that you and your husband get through this hard time. If you have any questions please PM me anytime. Did you Dr. talk about running test on the passed tissue? You might want to ask about that as well.

Sadie06 · 01-23-2007, 12:51 AM

Yeah I was going towards seven weeks but I had a scan at 4 weeks when I had some pain and they said "wow this sack sure looks kinda small and we can't see anything in it." But they chalked it up to being so early. Then I find out my progesterone is low, then I start spotting for a week, then I start feeling like my pregnancy symptoms are going down but not all the way and then today I go in and the new doctor had a very high tech u/s machine. I saw the sack and I said "It's empty." He asked "do you know what that means?" I said yeah it's called a Blighted Ovum. He agreed. He said my HCG level was originally very low and he's checking it again for some reason and he'll call me tommorow to go over blood work and then decide on a time for a d&c- he said I could choose the day. My job didn't seem to really have much sympathy as they asked when I could pick up more work this week. And I work in healthcare-go figure.
It's not like I call in sick much- I work at home so I don't abuse the system but.... I guess I'll be working up to my surgery date. I guess they figure I can cry at home while I work.

I feel for you all that had saw your baby on an u/s and then lost it- this is hard enough and I never saw mine- my heart goes out to you. My heart goes out to anyone that's gone through a m/c- this is awful to go through. But I feel now that I have the chance to help someone else out who may go through this. I just hope this doesn't keep happening when we try again.

SheriKCMO · 01-23-2007, 01:25 AM

I'm very sorry. I hope that the physical part of the loss is over soon so that you can go on to some emotional healing. Sometimes the d&c or medicated loss is the way to get that transition going. After that, whatever you decide to do, I wish you a peaceful healing emotionally. Even if DH doesn't feel the same way about it, you can tell him that you need his support for how YOU feel. Men are really different about this stuff. And of course on the science end of things, your baby might not have made it very far, but in my opinion you had a unique conception, irreplaceable and unrepeatable. Regardless of how many moments that little one lived, he or she is yours forever and is important. Many hugs coming your way!

Sadie06 · 01-23-2007, 02:20 AM

Thank you-Sheri. Yeah my poor dh - it's hit him hard today. He had high hopes until today and I'd been really "questioning the health" of this pregnancy almost all along as something just didn't "feel" right. Not to say that makes this any easier but I kinda had a gut feeling about it. Thanks for your kind words though. This site helps so much to talk to those who have gone through these horrific things.

AlisonMK · 01-23-2007, 11:11 AM

Sadie, I'm so sorry for your loss. I too had a blighted ovum in Sept 05 and opted for a D&C because emotionally I wasnt ready for the long wait my Dr said that I would probably have if I let nature take it's course. The D&C was pretty painless I was completly under and after I only had spotting for about two days. I took 2 days off work and then my boss told me I HAD to come back so I did, but it was okay I was just hurting more emotionally than physically I guess. But whatever you decide to do I just wanted you to know you are in my thoughts and I wish you the best of luck. ((HUGHS))
P.S. I did get pregnant again and even though it was another m/c this one was not a blighted ovum so that at least held out some hope for me that we are on the path of getting it right!

angelzmom · 01-23-2007, 12:28 PM

Sadie - I am so sorry for your loss.

Kath

sistercyster · 01-23-2007, 04:49 PM

RunnerDuck- Were you given cytotec to start your miscarriage or to help it along? The reason I ask is because I had started to miscarriage on my own, but not everything was passing, so I was given an option for D&C or "pill intervention" (because I was bleeding rather bad). I still don't know the name of the med given to me just that it made the uterus contract, forcing everything out & slowing bleeding. Then I had to stay on it for 2weeks to make sure it worked.
I do remember I had to stay away from ALL forms of alcohol while on it (perfume, deorderant, rubbing alcohol, etc,etc).

RunnerDuck · 01-23-2007, 05:27 PM

tami - I never did start to m/c on my own. Cytotec does cause uterine contractions, but I don't know if it would be used in the manner you described. By that I mean "I don't know" - not the sort of "I don't know" that implies it absolutely would not, if you know what I mean. The only way I have ever heard of handling an incomplete miscarriage was to do a D&C.

I can't remember if I was told to avoid alcohol on cytotec. The only medication I have ever been told absolutely to avoid alcohol on was the oral med they give you for bacterial vaginosis... I think it is called Flagyl?

sistercyster · 01-23-2007, 05:55 PM

Thanks, no that wasn't it. All I remember was that I was told that if the pills didn't work that I would have to have a D&C (they did), they were little light pink (or maybe white?) pills & that I was told to completely avoid all forms of alcohol while on them. I was even given a list of common things that might contain alcohol to avoid because it could be fatal if I came in contact with it.
I had to take them twice (?) a day for two weeks, then when I got off them I started bleeding (as I took the last one...) & had to get a weeks more.
I just wish I could remember what they were called, I remember everything else, right down to the shot I had to get for being Rh- but I can't remember the pills name.

BTW- I think I would have ended up with a D&C if I wasn't hysterical refusing the stuff they give you to put you "in lala land" so they can perform it.