can't hear fetal heartbeat…?
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at
2:25 pm
I had my second OB appt today and I’m 13 weeks pregnant. My doctor could not hear the baby’s heatbeat with the doppler and I got worried. She did an ultrasound and we saw it beating and the baby was moving a little bit so I guess the baby’s fine. Is it normal to not hear the baby’s heart at 13 wks? Does that mean the baby’s heart is beating too weak?
Filed under: Fetal Doppler FAQs
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You sound like me…..
On all my pregnancies I was around 11 weeks on each one when my doc tried to hear the heartbeats….and couldn’t. I had ultrasounds for all my pregnanies at 11 weeks to confirm everything. We saw the heartbeat 2 out of 3 times..(my first miscarried)
he said that the baby just sits too far in my back to hear it then. Once you see it though your chances of a misarriage are less than 2%. So no worries!!!
EVERYTHING SHOULD BE JUST FINE! I bet you will here your little one your next appointment. I was about 15 weeks before I could hear any of my children on a doppler and then the heartbeats were REALLY strong!
yes it can happen when the baby is so low down in the pelvis if the ultrasound was fine then nothing to worry about
That happens a lot that early in pregnancy. It’s just because the baby is facing in a position that makes it difficult to pick up the heartbeat with the doppler. You’ll hear it loud and clear when you pass 16 weeks or so.
I’ve never heard of not being able to hear it at 13 weeks BUT… there could have been a problem with the doppler… if you saw the heart beating and saw your baby moving and your doctor is not concerned, you should not be either. I’m sure as your baby grows you will be able to hear it
good luck !
No, it just means that the doc couldn’t find it with the doppler. Sometimes if you have an anterior placenta, it’s harder to hear it, or if the baby was facing away from your tummy. It could have just been the position that the baby was in. I wouldn’t worry about it since you had an u/s and saw the heart beating. Good luck and congrats!
Dont take offense but if your overweight, this could affect hearing the FHB via doppler until your a little further along.
It doesnt sound as if your OB is worried.
It depends, I am overweight and with my second pregnancy it took a lot longer to hear the heartbeat because of all the fat. Stinks but thats they way it is sometimes!
I think this is normal, If they done the ultrasound and you could see it beating babies fine. I was told it could be from the way the baby is laying. And with the baby moving too it was probably hard to get a track on it. If you are still concerned about this see if you can have another done. Just call the Dr. up let them know this really concerns you and for your sanity you would like them to do another one. Good Luck
Very normal. It means that the baby is in a difficult position. At all my appointments, the midwife spent 1/2 hour chasing the baby round trying to hear it! Every time she found it the baby moved!
Its not uncommon but very annoying and worrying.
if your doctor is not worried and you saw it beating and saw movement then everything is fine it just depends on the babies position .
No, it doesn’t really mean anything. The baby is so little that it is hard to find the heartbeat. The further you are along the better the chances of hearing the heart beat. If your doctor didn’t get concerned then theres nothing to worry about. ESPECIALLY if they did an ultrasound and there was a heartbeat and the baby was moving.
my guess is that they cant find where the baby is ,or what position the baby is in,at 13weeks your baby is still pretty small,so as long as you have seen your babys heart beating ,you are both doing well
goodluck
This would be a good question for your doctor. Usually they will tell you if something is wrong. With each of my children we could not hear the heart beat with the doppler at 12 weeks. We had to do an ultrasound to see if there was a heartbeat. My uterus is tipped back (which yours might be as well) and that is why it is hard to detect the heart beat until I am farther along. Usually the doctor will use the ultrasound to locate the heartbeat and then measure how many beats it sees in a few seconds. From that they can determine how fast the heart is beating, and if it is within a normal range. If you doctor did this and didn’t say anything to you then I am sure everything is fine. I usually always ask what the heartbeat is. This reassures me. But I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. If you are worried, don’t be afraid to call the doctors office and ask them to tell you what the fetal heartbeat was. They should have this in your record. They are used to moms being concerned, so they are more than willing to put you at ease. They don’t want you to be stressed because it is not good for the baby.
I’ve heard it was normal, I go tomorrow for my second appointment, they are supposed to try and hear the heartbeat, so I’m hoping they can find mine. I don’t get an ultrasound until 20 weeks, so I"m hoping I get to hear the heartbeat at least.
Since they did an ultrasound and saw the the heartbeat and the baby moving, I’m sure you are both fine. Congrats
Your baby is fine. Mine was hard to hear yesterday and I am at 17 weeks. We found it but she said that the baby was hanging out at the back or my uterus! I got a little worried at first but it came in loud and clear.
Congrats and don’t worry! :o)
I’m expecting my third and first saw my midwife at 13 weeks. She wasn’t even going to bother listening with the doppler as she said it’s often hard to find the heartbeat at that stage and just causes the mums to worry.
I asked her if she would try anyway, and sure enough she couldn’t find anything. I wasn’t worried as I still had strong preg symptoms but unlike yourself I hadn’t even had an u/s yet.
If you have a heartbeat showing at 13 weeks then the chances of anything going wrong are massively reduced so please try not to worry and enjoy looking forward to your baby.
Good luck :-))