What is a chemical pregnancy?
A chemical pregnancy is a miscarriage that occurs in the first five weeks of pregnancy. An embryo develops and may even embed in your uterine lining (implantation), but then it stops. Chemical pregnancies occur so early that many women who miscarry are unaware of it.
A chemical pregnancy loss can be devastating, especially if you’ve been trying hard to have a kid. Having one chemical pregnancy does not exclude you from carrying a child to term. Many women who have had early miscarriages have subsequent successful pregnancies.
What is the difference between a chemical pregnancy and a clinical pregnancy?
Chemical pregnancies are named after the substances in your body, or hormones, that cause a positive pregnancy test result. The embryo will create human chorionic gonadotrophic (hCG) hormone within the first five weeks.
Because it’s too early to show evidence of your developing foetus on an ultrasound, hCG hormone levels are the only real indication that you’re pregnant at this point. When the embryo ceases to develop, your hCG levels plummet.
Your hCG levels will grow throughout a clinical pregnancy. By weeks six or seven, your healthcare professional will be able to detect evidence of your fetus on an ultrasound and hear a heartbeat.