18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. We strongly advise readers not to take drugs that are not prescribed by your qualified healthcare provider. So had to come back in a week's time for a scan, which again is quite a common thing I found out. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier diagnostic tests (e.g. Instinctively, did it feel right? My baby might have Down's syndrome. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. I came back probably about 17 weeks pregnant and had the anomaly scan at 20 weeks and like most people expected everything to be fine and to come away with a lovely picture but unfortunately that isn't what happened. We didn't feel we could tell anyone what was happening. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. 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. Specialist scans The screen may be directly facing them or at an angle. And that was Monday afternoon. They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. And you know, we were laughing and joking. That he was small. And still we asked to see a, Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans. Intellectually, I knew this was not the case. He then told us what the prognosis would mean for the child. Others, including those who had been given leaflets to read about the scan beforehand as well as some who were health professionals, said that they had been nave about the 20-week scan. That's fine. We walked all the way home. This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. I was given a leaflet and told to return four days later to see the consultant. I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan Which she reassured us that she'd be absolutely fine, this was a one-off. Hugely upset that to think that the baby was so poorly. I had a horrible feeling of relief. I think at that time she had come to terms better with the fact that this baby was going to be terminated, and I don't think I was quite there. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?! But other than that everything was fine. Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. I pray it's just her heart but I can't see anything else is wrong as I have been scanned by a consultant since I was 14 weeks and every time he has said everything looks okay and she is growing consistently. . It is extremely rare for these pregnancies to reach term as they typically spontaneously miscarry early in pregnancy. Tears started to roll down my face. Can you remember that minute. x. Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. Most hospitals do not allow children to attend scans as childcare is not usually available. I have horrible thoughts. No one else felt him kick. Anyway we went in for the meeting with the consultant on this particular time, and we'd got to, I was 30 weeks pregnant by then. And I thought that if I were faced with the possibility of having an amnio, hours of discussion would follow - I would spend days mulling it over. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." I had to wait for a doctor to explain the situation. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. Slightly marked from our peers. But now that's changed. I know I could have delivered him in a quarter of the time, but I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving me. I just feel very unlucky. And it all seemed so near at hand, you know, 31, 30 weeks, you feel like you're nearly, you're on the home stretch. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. . 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. It can be such a shock so do whatever you need to feel better. the amniocentesis) and the pregnancy had already ended, or because the scan was not routinely offered in their region 5 or more years ago. I should stop being dramatic and pessimistic. We both thought we would like some good to come out of this horrible experience, so wanted to talk to somebody about the possibility of using the body for research purposes. Although the anomaly scan is often called a 20-week scan, you may have it any time between 18 and 22 weeks, although it's usually done between 18 and 20 weeks. Very occasionally this second scan cannot be completed, for example because: In this case you will not be offered another screening scan but you will offered an all over physical examination for your baby after birth. I wasn't ready to make a decision straight away, and I was told I could call them in the morning. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. But for those few days they were torture. Which is what I'd seen. I used to think the feeling of your baby kicking inside you and the sight of a foot poking against your skin were the most fantastic things in the world. Sometimes women were told that the sonographer had found a 'marker' or sign of a chromosomal condition and had to wait for an amniocentesis to confirm the findings. Some of the conditions that can be seen on the scan will mean the baby may need treatment or surgery after it is born, for example cleft lip. We needed closure, to allow us to grieve properly. I know it sounds odd that you want to hear that it's wrong, but you, you know it's wrong, and you, you want to be reassured either that it's okay or is there something seriously wrong. He was sure the consultant on Monday would see that the measurements were completely normal and that there was nothing to worry about. Usually, sonographers will ask a senior sonographer colleague to confirm findings and this should be done immediately. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. We're still not at the end of our journey, but we're much further along. There was cause for concern. The consultant showed us the letter with our result on and, yes, there were the words "Down's syndrome". I faced another internal scan where I began to feel helpless and alone. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. It is essential that all practitioners performing fetal anomaly ultrasound screening should be trained to communicate abnormal findings to women, as such information is likely to have significant emotional impact. 15/02/2014 08:02. She brought up a picture of the heart on the screen. We were bound to each other because of the blood that was on both our hands. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Sometimes doctors will wait to give the baby more time to develop and carry out repeat scans - this had confused several parents we talked to who had gone for repeat scans not knowing that the baby might have a problem. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. This does not mean there is anything to worry about. The ultimate betrayal. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. The scan will find about half (50%) of those babies who have heart defects. 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. DS had 2 soft markers: talipes (club foot) and 'echogenic locii' somewhere - heart I think. From losing my dad to his battle with cancer, to then having to face another battle with cancer and my mum; thankfully she pulled though. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. 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. You've had a scan, you've had the blood tests, you've been good. Just wonder whether anyone had ever been told? Despite this new discovery, the sonographer was still concerned. I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. 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. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. It wasn't measuring at all the right measurements for the age - there was a heart defect, the limbs were sort of distorted, the arms were, you know - you could see that the arms were very sort of contracted, the hands were contracted. But with time although we will never forget, I know we will be ok again. Except for the persistent, nagging doubts. Severe chromosomal conditions such as Edwards' syndrome are now often picked up in the first trimester antenatal screening but itwill usually be more obviousat the 18- 20 week scan, though usually a firm diagnosis will not be made until one or two specialists have weighed up all available evidence about the baby - which usually means that another expert needs to scan the baby again, or until the woman has had an amniocentesis. So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. Those two weeks were agonising for us both. Originally I hadn't wanted to go down that road. Others said they were shocked because all the early diagnostic tests (e.g. We understand the real meaning of "shit happens". And the local hospital wanted to send us off to the regional hospital to actually confirm that, and were not really prepared to say at that time that there was something very seriously wrong. Perhaps because we are alone in this, it has brought my partner and me very close. If you choose not to have the scan you can still have all other parts of your routine antenatal care. Health professionals use the 18-20 week scan to examine the baby's size and position, and also to check if his/her brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs are developing as expected. And it was Christmas Eve and at the time I didn't think, the sonographer did spend a little bit of time scanning us and queried my dates several times and then explained that she couldn't quite see the baby's heart properly and would we come back in a couple of days? For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound scan. She didn't say at the time that it was a major problem or that it was something to watch out for. The weeks since that day have been very weird. And they actually asked my husband to come in before they spoke to me. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. Specialist scans are performed in specialist fetal units and if clinicians feel that there might be problems scanning will be done up to 32 weeks. 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. But the consultant had found more spots on the heart and the measurements were the same. I didn't want to be convincing him to agree with me. I was told this was common as my body and hormones still thought I was pregnant. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. Within two days I was waiting in my local EPU unit for further tests. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. Back on the EPU unit, a doctor organised for me to be admitted into the ward, to take the medical management under supervision as the sac was now to big for me to safely miscarry on my own at home. I had to be rescanned latter. I had my little leaflet, printed off leaflet about choroid plexus cysts. Because we knew that that wasn't normal, that wasn't what we'd experienced before, it wasn't just the, 'There's the arm, there's the leg, oh look the baby's moving'. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). I think what everyone is saying is that most likely outcome is that there are no problems at all. 17/12/2020 17:13. The blood test confirmed it was twins. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. 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). Could you tell? A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales company number 3266897. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. It was just a few little things like the kidneys were hard to find, and the stomach was hard to find, but that might be because it wasn't filled with fluid. I think it's the same - in fact I think it was probably the same room, same consultant - and [sighs] I suppose it felt upsetting because at the dating scan you're full of hope and this scan we knew wasn't going to be good, we knew it was maybe the last time we would see the baby moving around. But on, in the middle of March, 10th March it was, we had a 20 week scan. So we decided that, to have the scan and we went along I think early in the week for that, and spent quite a lot of time with the consultant after that. Maybe our son would have overcome his problems, survived his illnesses, led a happy life. And with each one we had to have the same conversations. And I, and, I felt the weight of deciding what to do about it. When I told him what had happened, he refused to believe anything was wrong and said he'd sort it out when he came home. Instead, we were shown to a room slightly away from the rest of the ward and the midwife stayed with us to talk through what was going to happen. 'I was having nightmares and panic attacks. He felt strong and fit and healthy. The thing that I have a very strong memory of is this child's face in amazing detail. It is as though our pain means we've earned the right to be taken more seriously. 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. Though the 18-20 week scan can detect when certain parts of the baby's body have grown abnormally, it may not be possible for clinicians to identify why it has happened or make a firm diagnosis based on the scan alone. She describes having to make a . So I was, they couldn't actually finish the scan then, the baby was moving around too much, so they couldn't scan the heart and the stomach. And there [sighs] was a very dark patch over one, where the eye socket was, and they didn't know it, in the Edward's babies sometimes the eyes don't develop properly, or it might have been bleeding, they weren't very sure. These were said to be soft markers fo a range of trisomies, 2 of which were incompatible with life. I had to take a tablet there and then, under the supervision of a nurse, to end the pregnancy. I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. The same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. Thankfully I was met by an amazing sonographer, she was compassionate and understanding. The doctor didn't come. Again, we weren't understood. My wife turned the screen away from her. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. My partner's face was lit up, seeing the baby for the first time. I want to be happy again. By this time, we were tired. There, I would give birth. We would terminate the pregnancy. Then I picked myself up. Previous scans in this pregnancy and with my first child had been fun - a chance to see the baby wriggling around and perhaps find out its sex. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. I hadn't thought about the mechanics of such a late termination, but had assumed it would mean some kind of operation. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. The scan will look in detail at your babys bones, heart, brain, spinal cord, face, kidneys and abdomen. Others, including those who had been given leaflets to read about the scan beforehand as well as some who were health professionals, said that they had been nave about the 20-week scan. We talked about the different sorts of pain relief I could have and I opted for a morphine drip, which I could control. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. This was on the Friday. 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. The thing about that which I felt was difficult is that we could tell when being scanned that there was something very seriously wrong. And I wish that I'd been told at that point, that somebody had actually turned round to me and said, 'Look, I'm sorry, but I think there's something very wrong. That he - I think I was 21 weeks and 3 days, and he was coming up at 19 weeks and 4 days, or something like that. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. 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'. Last updated July 2017. Everywhere you look, there are happy, fat, smug pregnant women. And so began the most bizarre day of my life. But worse was to come. Nights were impossible. I give pregnant women dirty looks. I think there might be a problem'. Fine, go on my own. And thank God I did. 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! The first midwife seemed to understand what we were trying to say, and said she would ask the doctor to come and talk to us. It would have been nice to see someone straight away because I was in such shock. 13/12/2020 20:45. Picture every packed football staduim up and down the country - all healthy pregnancies and births. The termination would be averting a tragedy. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. Some people want to find out if their baby has one of the 11 conditions and some do not. All my plans were beginning to fall down. SO much upset and needless angst has been caused by 'soft markers' found at scans. But it was very evident. And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. (See. And also what the prognosis would mean for our two year old: now a very happy child, he would have a completely different childhood with such an ill sibling. Rather sharply, my partner tried to explain. You do not have to have the scan. So that was it. I didn't really know what that was. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . Desperately trying to hold onto the glimmer of hope we'd been given. If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. The doctor explained the options I had to manage my miscarriage. I know its hard- but i really wouldnt worry about it too much as the worry will stress you and your body out. I didn't want to go through anymore scans. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. And at the end of the day however much we talked about it - that it was going to be the two of us to make the decision and me to actually you know, go through it and decide that that was what was going to happen for him - and I just, I didn't want to do it. The nursery I had selected for our two-year-old son; my maternity leave; the bunk beds; the summer holiday suitable for a newborn baby. So it was just, we were coming up to the 20-week scan and I was just getting more relaxed, just actually starting to look at maybe baby catalogues or, you know, going down the baby aisle at the shops, which I'd always avoided. I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. It was interesting - well it was fantastic to see this fetus and to see this child that was yours that was horribly ill - but you didn't really get much opportunity to see that because the consultant was more about measurements and all sorts of blood flow and various other screens coming up. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. blood tests, CVS) were clear - and as one woman put it, 'after the triple test* (Down's syndrome screening) you stop thinking anything can go wrong'. It was horrible. It would be a personal tragedy for my partner and me, but that is all. It was positive, and I felt elated. So at 20 weeks I went for my scan with my husband, with my daughter, to get our photographs. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. Mm-hm. But he was wrong. And again, you know, you read all the books and it tells you 'this is the diagnostics', but after a while you don't hear that inside your head any more No, no, no, I'm fine - because everything's perfect. For once in my life, I had been organised. Another sick joke. Never lacking a sense of the dramatic, it felt as if we shared the responsibility for the terrible, dirty act that we had committed. I wanted to let nature take its course. I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. We had amnio and then spent a week in absoute anguish waiting for the outcome which was no trisomies. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. The doctor wanted to do another blood test to confirm a significant drop in my hormone levels. Only this time, no cry came. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. Many described how sonographers and doctors were very restrained and didn't speak at all until they had analysed all the baby's details. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong.
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