HCG Levels

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Home Pregnancy Ask Heidi HCG Levels

HCG Levels
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Question: "I'm six weeks pregnant. My doctor

told me that the hCG level in my blood is 8,500 mIU/ml. My sister said hers was over 20,000 at the same point. What does that mean? Is 8,500 too low?" When you're pregnant, it's normal to want to swap notes about every twitch and test result with other moms and moms-to-be. But when it comes to hCG, the hormone detected in pee-on-a-stick home-pregnancy tests and more precisely in blood tests, trading tales may just make you spin your wheels with worry. That's because the levels can vary enormously from day to day, person to person, and even pregnancy to pregnancy. A brand-new placenta starts pumping out hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, a few days after the budding embryo implants in the uterine wall. Although the level of hCG will initially be quite low (it's just starting to show up in your system, after all) it'll soon begin to soar, doubling every 30 hours (give or take). The rapid increase peaks somewhere between seven and 12 weeks after the last menstrual period (LMP), and then starts to decline. While it might sound like a predictable increase, when it comes to producing predictable levels, it's not even close. Experts have found a huge variation in hCG levels on even the first missed day of a woman's period. Some women have no measurable hCG (in other words, a level of 0 mIU/ml), while others have readings over 400. Either way, this is perfectly normal and has to do, in part, with exactly how long it took your egg to get fertilized, make the trip down to the uterus, and get snuggled in; some embryos are simply zippier than others. It's also perfectly normal for that wide range in levels to persist throughout pregnancy. So, what should you expect? Experts have found the following ranges of hCG levels to be

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HCG Levels

http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/ask-heidi/hcg-levels.aspx

normal:

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Weeks from LMP (Last Missed Period 3 weeks 4 weeks 5 weeks 6 weeks 7 to 8 weeks 9 to 12 weeks 13 to 16 weeks 17 to 24 weeks (second trimester) 25 weeks to term (third trimester) After several days postpartum

Amount of hCG in mIU/ml or IU/l

0 to 5 5 to 426 18 to 7,340 1,080 to 56,500 7,650 to 229,000 25,700 to 288,000 3,300 to 253,000 4,060 to 165,400 3,640 to 117,000 nonpregnant levels (<5)

What Members Are Saying

I think they could just be high! The ranges are quite large, there is actually a

You may have twins on your hands :-) I got my levels checked yesterday. They should oh i dk... doesnt sound good my last period was june 20th im 7 wks now. when i was 4 There's no real way to know how far along you are by hCG levels. however, what I

What Members Are Reading

If your readings fall outside these ranges, don't worry: It's still quite likely that everything's fine. (Your due date might just be off.) As long as your pregnancy is progressing normally, you don't have to obsess about these numbers (especially once you've past the first trimester), but if you are concerned, talk with your practitioner about your results.
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