Low HCG Level and Unsure of Date of Conception

oh boy do i understand. when my husband and i started trying to conceive in april 99, my last period was july 99, in sept. when it still hadn't come and i had all - home test, my doc. did a blood test it was - also, so she gave me pills to bring on my period and when that didn't work and i felt like i had the flu (that was my only symptom) i made an apt to see her in oct. and had a + test on oct 4th, 99 (i'll never forget that date!!!) it was all due to low HCG levels in my body. the only true and definitive test to see how long along i was was by a vaginal ultrasound to see the sac and baby. and i was about a month along. if it wasn't me feeling like the flu i would of never really gone to the doc i never had freq. peeing, sore breasts, or even morning sickness and i had a healthy baby boy may 31,2000 (his due date).
so i wish you all the best.
K. L

Hi M.-

After my first pregnancy ended in a misscarraige my husband and I attempted to get pregnant again. A little over a year later I started seeing my OBGYN to discuss infertility possibilities. During my second visit he did a routine pregnancy test. The line he said was barely there, so he couldn't be sure (it was that faint). So, he had some blood work done. Told me to call the office the next day or so. So, that's what I did. When I called the nurse told me that my hcg hormone level was really low. She told me it could mean 1 of two things. 1) I could've just gotten pregnant and wasn't very far along or 2) there could be something wrong. So, they order more bloodwork every 48 hours (Your hormone levels are supposed to double in that time. She also said my being nauseous was a great sign of the levels doubling). So, not only did they order the blood work they got me in for an ultrasound to make sure everything looked ok. I ended up only just being a few weeks pregnant. My son was born that September of '04.

Hi Yes this happened to me. I had to have a series of blood tests to check my hcg levels. And yes I was very nervous. Good luck.

here's my story . . . my pregnancy test came back faintly positive the week after I should have gotten my period (I continued to take tests every couple of days for the next week and they never got darker), so I went to the dr to confirm the results. my fist lab test results were similar to yours, so I had to go back for a couple of follow up tests to verify that the hormone levels were doubling. everything came back fine, but based on ultrasounds my due date is about 10 days later than I originally thought it should be. I'd recently stopped breast feeding my first baby (after 10 months) and had only had one period, so the drs said my cycles were probably weren't back to normal (although we were trying to get pregnant, so I was using ovulation tests, and feel pretty comfortable that my original date was close to accurate). anyway - I'm 25 weeks along now and everything is going well, although I'm going to be prepared, just in case I go "early". best wishes. hope you have a similar experience.

I don't know anything about the blood levels, but when I took the home pregnancy test I could barely see the line, and I was 4 months pregnant (crazy, I know), so I wouldn't be concerned with that!

That is exactly how I found out I was pregnant. I took a home test and the line was very faint. I did find out that it is impossible to have a false positive test, so whether it is bright or you can barely see the line if its there at all, you are definitely pregnant. I wouldn't worry too mush about "symptoms" either, some women don't show any signs of being pregnant. besides the test I took, I didn't "feel" pregnant at all for a while. I hope this helps and congratulations!

I would ask for a second blood test to be sure the levels are going up appropriately.. they can tell from the first bt if they are.. good luck

Hey M.,
I had a similar thing happen too. I took a test on the first day of my missed period and it was visible, then 4 or five days later I took another one and it was barely visible. My ob said that there are a number of factors, time of day ( first morning urine is still the best even if the test says anytime of day is ok), type of test, etc and not worry. She also said false poositives were much rarer than false negatives.
Hope this helps!
Rose

Hi, When I missed my first cycle I was so busy with work I waited a week to go to the doctors and by then i was actually spotting. something told me i was pregnant so I went to my appt. they did blood work and my hcg was really low they said dont worrk come back in 2 days and we will chek again then we will know if you are pregnant. so scared I was having a miscarriage I stressed out for a little while until I called the doctors and got my second hcg level count and it went to something like 175,000 i didnt find out till an ultra sound confirmed it but I was having twins! not saying you have twins but just try not to stress. I hope everything works out for you. the doctors told me that you concieve about 2 weeks before your period. GOOD LUCK WISH YOU THE BEST !

Hi M. - this happened to me too. I was so anxious to get pregnant the 2nd time i was constantly taking tests. I had bloodwork done & confirmed i was, but they called me "barely pregnant". Obviously i was only a week or two, the horomone levels tested very low, & 9mos later my 2nd daughter came along in August '04.

Congratulations & good luck!!