Doing my research

Although I found through the American Pregnancy website that my baby's heartbeat should be normal at this stage, I did find a study that had a lot more information. Click here for the full study. It breaks up the slow fetal heart rate into smaller categories (slow and borderline) and compares the chance of demise in each category. Then they list the chance of demise for an initial slow heart rate followed by a normal heart rate at 8 weeks. Because my baby's heartbeat was 90 bpm, I was in the borderline category (90-99 bpm). That means I have a 17% chance of demise in the first trimester. Those odds don't see bad at all considering a normal heart rate still has a 9% chance of demise. Now if my baby's heart rate is normal at 8 weeks (or maybe even the next ultrasound) then its chance of demise drops to 7.6%, which is almost the same odds as those pregnancies who had normal heart rates at 6 weeks and normal heart rates at 8 weeks.

I am still somewhat concerned because a "slow" heart rate is considered to be less than 90 bpm and the chance of demise in that category is 60%, which is reduced to 25% if the 8 week ultrasound shows a normal heart rate. Those odds are pretty crappy. Because my baby's heart rate is right on the border, I can only hope that my doctor counted the heartbeat right (or maybe even undercounted).

On the positive side (if there is a positive side), the study said that the demise often occurs within one week of the first detection of the slow fetal heart rate. So if I can make it through this week without any issues then hopefully I can continue to enjoy this pregnancy instead of worrying all the time.