6 weeks pregnant but low blood hcg levels

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this...

I am currently 16 days late for my period and have had very faint positives from 3 at home pregnancy tests this week. According to my calculations I should be between 6 and 7 weeks pregnant as my last period started on the 29 September and my suspected ovulation date was around the 17 October give or take. I went to the Dr on Thursday and they got a very faint positive result also, in fact it was so faint the nurse initially didn't see it and sent me for bloods. The nurse phoned the next day to say the blood hcg level was only at 250 which would put me in the 1-2 week range according to her which is pretty much impossible as the last time we had sex was the 20 October. I have to go back and get more bloods on Monday but it doesn't sound good and I was wondering if anyone had any experience in this? It would be my 2nd pregnancy and I had no problems whatsoever with first one. I have also never miscarried so don't know what to expect.
Hope someone has had some experience with this

As Spitfire said… it's the second blood test that will tell all.
Some people do have very low HCG levels initially, this can still be within the normal range at this early stage. What is a lot more important and will indicate whether things are progressing normally or not is the doubling time. This is where the HCG should double every 48 hours in the initial stages of pregnancy. If it's rising more slowly than that it can often indicate that the pregnancy is not progressing as it should. Unfortuantely until you have that second blood test result you won't know either way.

Try and stay positive for now   your blood test early on Monday if you can so that you don't spend another night worrying. Good luck

So I've now had 3 blood results - 14/11 HCG was 230, 18/11 it was 970 and today it was 3600. Does that seem an ok increase or still on the low side? Nurse still says that reads between 3 and 5 weeks but I still think I should be closer to 7 weeks? So confused!

Weeks of pregnancy
after last menstrual period     Days after conception     Approximate hCG levels
for single baby pregnancy (mIU/ml)
Week 3      7      0 to 5
Week 4      14 (next period due)      5 to 430
Week 5      21      180 to 7400
Week 6      28      1,100 to 56,500
Weeks 7 to 8      35 to 42      7,600 to 230,000
Weeks 9 to 12      49 to 70      25,300 to 290,000
Weeks 13 to 16      77 to 100      14,000 to 243,000
Weeks 17 to 24                    4,000 to 165,000
Weeks 25 to birth of baby           3,200 to 90,000
4 to 6 weeks after birth           Less than 5


These should be used as a guide only.
hCG levels double approximately every 48 hours during early normal pregnancy. It reaches a peak at about 10 week of gestation (since last menstrual period). At which time the average hCG levels in samples is around 60,000 mIU/ml. There is a very big variation in individual hCG concentrations. At this time, the extremes of normal levels are approximately 10,000 to 250,000 mIU/ml.

In the next 10 weeks (10 to 20 weeks of gestation), hCG levels decline, reaching a average concentration of about 15,000 mIU/ml. Again, wide variation is found among individuals, concentrations ranging from 3,000 to 90,000 mIU/ml. The hCG concentrations remains at around this level, and with this variation from this time until term (20 to 40 weeks of gestation).

That calculator is amazing, thanks so much for posting, I've been looking for something like that to put my mind at rest. I guess I'll just trust that what will be will be and try not to stress about silly hormone levels haha. Thanks again :-)

Just read this pollobf. Very interesting really, but I guess as long as a healthy bub growing there all is well! I just had my bloods done today too so not sure of the reading yet.
Best of luck for the rest of your journey and the next 7months go without a hitch!

I'm so sorry to hear that things haven't worked out for you!! Wish you all the best with your next pregnancy!

Hi all. I would like to ask what do you know about the symptoms of pregnancy at 6weeks

Edited by Polina21225227 - 26 September 2017 at 2:20am