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What Causes Absence Of Fetal Movements And Heart Beats During Pregnancy?
Question: I'm 16 weeks pregnant, yesterday during the doppler I was told that they couldn't find a heartbeat & then they followed up with an ultrasound which didn't show the baby moving so I was told that I needed to schedule a surgery to have the baby removed because I had an ultrasound. I am sitting at home & my husband was sitting here with me & my stomach started feeling like there was kicks & so I had him feel (because I know that I am upset about the loss & didn't want to be imagining it) & he felt it too. I'm guessing that it was just a muscle spasm but I wanted to see what you would think because it seemed a little bizarre to me.
Brief Answer:
possibly uterine muscle spasms or contractions
Detailed Answer:
Hi, I have gone through your question and understand your concerns. Absence of fetal movements in ultrasound with absence of fetal heart beat on Doppler ultrasound is a confirmatory sign of fetal demise ( death of the fetus in the uterus).
The kicking movements you are perceiving may be due to the spasms of the uterine muscles, which may be initiated by the fetal death. Once the fetus dies in uterus, the uterus tries to expel it out by its contractions. This is a natural response of uterus. The fetal movement is not possible after fetal demise.
Moreover, you don't directly need a surgery to deliver the fetus, first the medical method should be tried, if it fails then surgery( hysterotomy) has to be done.
I would suggest you to discuss with your doctor the possibility of medical method of termination of pregnancy.
Hope you found the answer helpful. Please do get back for further queries.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Wishing you good health.
Regards,
Dr Deepti Verma
possibly uterine muscle spasms or contractions
Detailed Answer:
Hi, I have gone through your question and understand your concerns. Absence of fetal movements in ultrasound with absence of fetal heart beat on Doppler ultrasound is a confirmatory sign of fetal demise ( death of the fetus in the uterus).
The kicking movements you are perceiving may be due to the spasms of the uterine muscles, which may be initiated by the fetal death. Once the fetus dies in uterus, the uterus tries to expel it out by its contractions. This is a natural response of uterus. The fetal movement is not possible after fetal demise.
Moreover, you don't directly need a surgery to deliver the fetus, first the medical method should be tried, if it fails then surgery( hysterotomy) has to be done.
I would suggest you to discuss with your doctor the possibility of medical method of termination of pregnancy.
Hope you found the answer helpful. Please do get back for further queries.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Wishing you good health.
Regards,
Dr Deepti Verma
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Pradeep Vitta
Answered by
Dr. Deepti Verma
OBGYN, Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Practicing since :2009
Answered : 5064 Questions
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