Dr. Marjorie Greenfield
Specializing in pregnancy and birth.
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 Ask Dr. Greenfield
Chemical Pregnancy | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Greenfield,
When I went to my doctor for a check up, they did a urine test, which said I was pregnant. This was about seven to nine days after I ovulated. I since have had another pregnancy test that came out negative. Could I still be pregnant or was I pregnant and possibly the baby didn't attach correctly? — Worried Want-to-Be Mommy in Atlanta, GA | | | ANSWER |
September 11, 2001 | | | Dear Worried Want-to-Be Mommy,
What probably happened is something called a chemical pregnancy--as you described, the pregnancy hormone hCG began to go up as a very early pregnancy developed, but it didn't establish itself, causing the pregnancy hormone to drop back down. While emotionally it can feel like quite a loss, medically it is more like a cycle in which you didn't get pregnant than a real miscarriage. It is one of the main reasons I recommend that people wait until after they have missed their period to take a pregnancy test. Otherwise it can give you false hope and then increase the disappointment that you aren't yet pregnant.
The fact that it got that far does give you some good information--the egg and the sperm met, and fertilized. Remember to take your folate and keep trying--success is probably just around the corner!— by Marjorie Greenfield, M.D. |
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