could they have missed a pregnancy?

Question

My friend had her annual exam earlier this month and the Nurse practitioner did not mention anything about her being pregnant. Yesterday after being a week late she took a pregnancy test and it was positive. She said her and her husband have not had sex since her appointment so she knows it would have had to be from before. She spoke to one of her friends who is a nurse and he told her there was no way they could have missed that and she must have a tubal pregnancy and that she needs to get it taken care of or she could die. Its a weekend and right before new years eve so the clinic is closed for a few days. Is it true even if your only a day pregnant that they could tell? Is it possible the Nurse practioner missed something or is her friend the nurse just having a doctor complex?

Answer 1

If she is just a week late she has been pregnant for no more than 3 weeks --- was the exam before that?

Even if the nurse exam was two weeks ago, she may not have had enough internal signs (swelling of uterus, change in cervix) for the nurse to tell. Pregnancy testing is not a standard test for an annual medical so urine/blood tests for pregnancy would not have been done.

Tubal pregnancy would be accommpanied by pain. Your friend needs to contact her doctor or the nurse again for a prenatal assessment. No rush.

Answer 2

It depends on a few things.

Let's say your friends had sex the day before (or maybe a couple days before) the exam, its entirely possible that she hadn't conceived yet, and therefore her hormones weren't at the correct levels to detect pregnancy. Or, she could've conceived, but it was just too early to tell.

Another possibility is that the nurse didn't get the results back at that particular time (different offices give results back at different times according to the lab capacity).

I doubt she has a fallopian tube pregnancy, the test works by checking hormone levels, so a positive result isn't indicative of that sort of pregnancy.

I'd make an appointment for a blood test to check for pregnancy once the offices open again, there isn't any need to panic.

and there is also the possibility of a false positive from the test.

Answer 3

It is possible that it was missed and if it were a tubal pregnancy she would be ill and in pain. She needs to see her GYN and not the same nurse practioner, for a blood test.