He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . Our position in our families has shifted. So at 20 weeks I went for my scan with my husband, with my daughter, to get our photographs. It feels very lonely and isolating. Yeah - in, stomach, out. I felt crushed, I wanted him to at least acknowledge what had been found already. Specialist scans had a powerful effect on some parents because they could see the baby more clearly and in some cases people recognised which parts of the baby's body were not working properly. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. I can't remember the exact words but she said, 'There might be some fatal problems with your baby'. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. I had hope that the little bumps inside me were fighting just as much as I was to stay with me. But it was very evident. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. I've still had no cramps or bleeding so fingers crossed everything is ok I just couldn't believe I fell down the stairs, I can't remember the last time I ever did that! But it's bloody hard being miserable the whole time. Nights were impossible. The hardest thing I have ever done | Health | The Guardian You can change your cookie settings at any time. Dont include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. We left for home feeling completely numb. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. And I'd been on the internet looking up all sorts of things and everything was so negative, it was very depressing, because I thought, 'Well, maybe they've made a mistake, or maybe it's something they can fix, I don't know'. Within two days I was waiting in my local EPU unit for further tests. My belly was growing and I was feeling great. You may need to have a full bladder when you come for the appointment. So even if anomolies are found, they don't always mean a problem.. x. I had issues at the 20 weeks scan with both of mine. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. He had to come to the decision by himself. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. It is also sometimes referred to as the mid-pregnancy scan. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. For many other women, the 18-20 week scan was the point at which they discovered the baby had serious problems. I was disgusted - disgusted that such a tablet existed, let alone that I should have to take it. As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. What happens at the second midwife appointment? For five months my body had known there was something wrong, yet I had felt fantastic. And so this one can't tell you anything, it's pictures, you're going, you're going to see your baby, you're going to get pictures. Find more information and details of support groups on NHS.UK. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. I then found that soft markers means 'vague unproven suggestion of a link', and that echogenic locii are small concentrations of calcium which are incredibly common and harmless. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?! And I said, I was still laughing, and I thought he was joking with me, and he said now I sort of could tell from his face that by that point he wasn't really joking anymore. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. You could see her face, and the major aspect that was, that was the indication of what was wrong was the thickening at the back of the neck in this instance, which, when you're looking at a fetus is, you know, sort of half a centimetre thicker or not is completely immaterial to me, and would look like a completely normal neck, but from the point of view of the consultant was severely abnormal. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. Reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment from a qualified health care provider. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. Just doing it. I give obsessively to charity, especially those linked to sick children. I thought I was going to burst into tears. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. It felt as if we had gone power crazy. In fact, interestingly enough, going sort of. I am a darker, harder version of myself. Specialist scans had a powerful effect on some parents because they could see the baby more clearly and in some cases people recognised which parts of the baby's body were not working properly. 'I was having nightmares and panic attacks. I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. And so we talked about it euphemistically, never saying the word "research". But they didn't. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound scan. I was booked back in to discuss management options, if nothing had happened. I'd had the scan in the scanning room, I can't remember what they call it now, it's silly, it's gone from my head. And I know I can't hurry up the process of grieving. So when that happened to us I really didn't worry, I thought, you know, it was literally the baby was in awkward position, they couldn't see the heart and that was why. My partner spent the weekend trying to convince me that things were OK. I sat and waited to be called for my scan. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. He told me that they may want to do blood tests, but that 'he didn't see the point'. Your mind has closed to the possibility that there could be anything wrong. We scattered his ashes over a bunch of snowdrops. But you could see there was something wrong? It was far too much power; neither of us wanted it. But for those few days they were torture. It was horrible. And my partner and I would have a completely different life from the one we'd imagined. So it was, there was very, very little movement from the baby because I remembered first time round by that stage, you know, that the baby was quite big and it moved around a lot at a later scan. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. It was sick. I was then told yet again bad news. The following is a quote from their report: If the scan reveals either a suspected or confirmed abnormality, the woman should be informed by the sonographer at the time of the scan. I feel empty and incomplete. Went back a week later for the scan and, you were with me for this one, weren't you? But with time although we will never forget, I know we will be ok again. Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. She didn't want to see the baby. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. And so we had to go out a couple of times, [wife] had to walk around, and she had a drink of water, which is supposed to sort of change things inside, or help the baby turn around or something because the sonographer couldn't get the measurements she wanted. It's part of our family. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. I didn't think my instincts were worth much. Some things can be seen more clearly than others. We needed closure, to allow us to grieve properly. We left the hospital a couple of hours later. And it was just a bit of a shock because it's not really what you want to hear - you don't really expect that. ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENT AT 20 WEEK SCAN. She endured many agonising rounds of scans and tests, and unfortunately met with some unhelpful attitudes from some healthcare professionals. I remained positive, we researched lots of cases of mistaken dates, inconclusive scans, and compared them to our situation; scrutinising everything to try and believe it was all one big misunderstanding. And then, so I went to my next scan, which was the 20-week abnormality scan, and we took our first child with us, I think he was 17 months old at the time. And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. I mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. Possibly with hindsight we could have been more worried about it, but was probably a good thing we weren't, because we weren't worried about anything basically. So instead, I was advised to go home and let nature take its course. This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. No one else felt him kick. My wife turned the screen away from her. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. Actually you could tell from the brain development as he scanned up through the chambers of the brain, that one quarter of the brain, one chamber was not evident. It's a bit at the back of the brain and - no I can't remember what it is - it's called, it's something that's called Dandy-Walker mal, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have produced a report on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales (May 2010). I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. We'd just spent some time away on a, on a summer holiday and come back expecting to have this scan and be told, 'All fine. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. And so, yeah we got to, carried on with the pregnancy, kept seeing the consultant, kept sitting in the waiting room outside, because there was a terribly long waiting time sometimes, depending on what time you had the appointment. Some say this estimate is really below the reality, and the out-of-pocket average costs are higher. So we'd gone through the Down's syndrome or worse scare, we'd had conversations about what we would do, if it was confirmed that it was Down's syndrome or another syndrome, another sort of chromosome abnormality. In order for the sonographer to get good images of your baby, the scan is carried out in a dimly lit room. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. Sam followed and I broke down. All women are offered a dating scan, and an 18- 20 week fetal anomaly ultrasound scan, in line with NICE and UK National Screening Committee recommendations. News stories, speeches, letters and notices, Reports, analysis and official statistics, Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports. So we went home, me to rest in an attempt to prevent miscarriage, my partner to reassure us both. . The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. I didn't sleep that night I don't think. Just wonder whether anyone had ever been told? At first, I still had to deal with the physical implications of having given birth. There's nothing wrong, you know, we've had all the tests, everything's fine,' and being very upbeat about it all. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. BabyCenter. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. We'd sort of put those discussions to the back of our mind, and then all of a sudden there are other abnormalities so yeah it was a bit a bit of a shocker [laughs]. What would we like to do with the body? Slightly marked from our peers. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. Well send you a link to a feedback form. Baby loss stories But she told us, she told us, she gave us some more detail, she said, 'There's this, there's a big gap in the brain where there shouldn't be'. You're in and out and that was it. We didn't feel we could tell anyone what was happening. Read full disclaimer. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. 10/03/2021 16:13, @Cormoransjacket There was a very marked lack of amniotic fluid which made it difficult, not even for the scanners to see, that made the picture of the scan look very, very different. And everybody knows and everything is right. The baby was kicking so hard that I began to believe him. When he came back, he agreed on a termination. I was another one who did get bad news at the 20 week scan. As I waited for the doctor back on the EPU unit. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. I had a horrible feeling of relief. By this time, we were tired. And they took us out of the scanning room, into a more quiet room while they typed up the report. There are no known risks to your baby or the mother from having an ultrasound scan but it is important that you consider carefully whether or not to have the 20-week scan. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. If an abnormality is confirmed or suspected, referral is usually required, although some obvious major fetal abnormalities, such as anencephaly, may not require a second opinion (this should be decided by local guidelines). I was told that while bad news at the 12 w scan is often of the life or death kind, bad news at the 20 week scan is often of the 'needs an operation in childhood' or 'needs to wear a brace for a year' kind. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. Then, three days later, I would go to the labour ward - the ward I had been expecting to visit in two and a half months. My son's congenital heart defect was detected at the 20 week scan and he had 2 other markers, no . My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. I broke down and started hitting my disgusting body that had done this. But my brain had been given a train of thought that was impossible to stop. He felt doing more blood tests would only cause me more discomfort and false hope. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. She describes having to make a . You may like someone to come with you to the scan appointment. It doesn't remove the guilt, but I don't know what else to do. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. They said the brain was okay -, We were in there for a matter of minutes, literally -, In and out. But the consultant had found more spots on the heart and the measurements were the same. . The same unique expression he had when he saw our two year old born. In the case of a suspected abnormality, women should be seen for a second opinion by an expert in fetal ultrasound, such as a fetal medicine specialist. An appointment should be arranged as soon as possible and ideally within three working days. At which point they turned round and said, 'Well, there is something very seriously wrong with the baby, we don't know exactly what, but you do need to have a more in-depth scan at your regional hospital to find out the detail'. I'm trying to understand because I haven't seen a 3-D scan, what it tells the parents? It's, I mean you can't tell from these scans what you're looking at really, but I remember thinking, 'it just doesn't look quite right' or something, but I didn't give it much thought. This was a ray of hope for us. Living in this world must be unbearable for them. I was experiencing some light bleeding for the past few days. So we decided to book an early 10 week private scan. This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-tests-for-you-and-your-baby/11-physical-conditions-20-week-scan. The consultant had said it wouldn't be like a normal delivery.
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