Week 9 - An empty sac



Now that I've gone to the clinic and did my first checkup, I can say that I understand why some people waited until the first trimester is gone and over with before announcing the good news to friends and family. 

I didn't think about it much yesterday - was just joyful that the clinic further confirmed that I was indeed pregnant - and the early ultrasound scan showed a small gestational sac.

However, I had irregular periods and if it was really week 7/8, we should be able to see the fetus by now... but we didn't. So, either it's much earlier than expected... a quick Google search indicates that I might still in Week 5... or that - horror! - the sac might be empty.

Didn't know about this until today but apparently, there's such a thing called "blighted ovum". What it means is that the mother (me) would experience all the symptoms of a successful pregnancy but only the sac which functions to sustain the baby would grow but the fetus itself didn't.

Usually, at one point (wk 7 to 12), the body would realize that the fetus isn't growing and that growing a placenta and a womb would be pointless now, and a miscarriage would happen. It can be completely symptomless or you might experience strong abdominal pain or bleeding down under. Currently, I'm completely symptomless I'd say. Even the nausea is subsiding quite a bit for me, which is a huge relief. Last week was a nightmare though!

Now, I'm not particularly sure which is which for me, but the doc did schedule another ultrasound scan in 3 weeks' time in hopes of spotting the fetus and determining a more accurate date of delivery. 

If not, well.... sigh. I guess I'll leave the blog around and see if I'm ready for another shot at motherhood.


P/S: I should add that there is no known reason behind a blighted ovum, though it's likely caused by some genetic abnormalities that prevented the fertilized ovum from multiplying. Not sure how common this issue might be but fingers crossed that this isn't what I'm experiencing 😟

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