chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet

Some things can be seen more clearly than others. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. 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. Nights were impossible. I had to stop myself from yanking out the needle. The doctor wanted to do another blood test to confirm a significant drop in my hormone levels. I was booked back in to discuss management options, if nothing had happened. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here), tbh, they never give you good news at scans. Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. I was becoming numb to the whole process. No, we really didn't, with hindsight we probably should have, but not at all, it never occurred to us to be worried about it. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. And at that point I don't think we, I don't think we realised that there might have to be a decision, because we'd talked about it with, with Down's and the other possible problems, but at this point it was, well okay what can be done to fix the problem - because yes the heart's not developing properly but there must be something we can do. And I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. She describes having to make a momentous decision very quickly, and the ferment of relief, guilt and grief that followed, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. It is impossible to escape them and each one underlines your loss. I could hardly breathe. Again the legs were quite twisted, they said that the baby's sternum was very short - things weren't in proportion you know - the head was quite large, the neck was very thick, there wasn't really like a neck as such it was just things were kind of - there were lots of things that obviously the consultant could see that we weren't aware of. 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. Cardiac surgery can do some amazing things. He looked excited. As you felt that, you know, it was probably going to show lots of problems and it just wasn't what we wanted, but at the same time we needed to sort of see it and, we needed to prove it I suppose. The people who did know what was going on seemed far too sure that we were doing the right thing, that there was really no choice to be made. 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. Had 34wk scan last week and all is well - of all the babies found to have a two vessel cord, was told less than 6% experience any growth issues etc. My heart goes out to you OP. 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. 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. Which is what I'd seen. So it was quite common, this is what happens. So we went home, me to rest in an attempt to prevent miscarriage, my partner to reassure us both. 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. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. You have accepted additional cookies. 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'. [Husband] couldn't make it. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. And that was scanning up from the above the head, then you were coming up through the child's head, so you were seeing the chambers in the brain, sort of it was evident in all four chambers of the brain, then suddenly one chamber was empty. 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. Later, I did see and hold our baby. My partner was away working and was waiting to hear whether he was having a son or daughter. I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. I then had to wait in the room along with many other patients for an hour so they could observe me. Or, at the very least, heart problems. 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 couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. An appointment should be arranged as soon as possible and ideally within three working days. This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. The termination would be averting a tragedy. 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. 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. . Wishing to be anywhere, but here being told the same agonising truth over and over again. I believed at this point I had miscarried, they wanted me to come back I'm for a follow up scan. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. He had to come to the decision by himself. I didn't really know what that was. We must have had one before that as well, we must have had one before that, but it came back quite normal. I think the whole experience has made me a pretty nasty person. It's part of our family. Those two weeks were agonising for us both. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. No, you couldn't see there was anything wrong. And at that, I let out a scream I think. Eventually, the midwife said to us very sweetly, "I think we should deliver the baby now." 12/12/2012 22:41. It sounds crazy, but I just knew. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. 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). Your mind has closed to the possibility that there could be anything wrong. And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. 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'. Except for the persistent, nagging doubts. You may need to have a full bladder when you come for the appointment. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. We went, I went in to the scanning room and they're quite bland facially anyway, whether everything's fine or not they just look at the screen to start off with and do measurements but I very quickly realised that the woman's demeanour wasn't, even for a bland face, was concerning. You do not have to have the scan. Perhaps because we are alone in this, it has brought my partner and me very close. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. You will be able to discuss this with your midwife or consultant. As I say, I'm not a very nice person at the moment. It was all going wrong and I wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. Mm-hm. Specialist scans But I was struggling mentally with the anguish, grief and endless hospital visits. I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. 13/12/2020 20:45. Saturday came. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. He told me that they may want to do blood tests, but that 'he didn't see the point'. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENT AT 20 WEEK SCAN. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. 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. There is more detailed information about the main conditions that are looked for during this scan on NHS.UK. The doctor didn't come. Fine, go on my own. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. By this time, we were tired. No one else felt him kick. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. 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. And it turned out the baby's heart wasn't forming properly, the chambers weren't forming properly. The same anticipation. Desperately trying to hold onto the glimmer of hope we'd been given. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. The sonographer will be able to tell you the results of the scan at the time. It doesn't remove the guilt, but I don't know what else to do. Maybe. 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. 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. You've had, you've had your Down's Syndrome check and that's okay. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me - Tommy's However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. . During the examination, sonographers need to keep the screen in a position that gives them a good view of your baby. It was horrible. An hour passed and I started to panic. I would be put to sleep, and when I woke up I wouldn't be pregnant any more. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. I didn't have a clue. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. My wife turned the screen away from her. The first words I said were: "If there's anything wrong then it's my fault", I had been working 70, nearly 80 hours the previous weeks and pushed myself hard. And I knew there was no way out. My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. For many other women, the 18-20 week scan was the point at which they discovered the baby had serious problems. I thought I was going to burst into tears. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. After she had taken all the measurements, the sonographer told us that she was concerned with the length of the baby's limbs in relation to the head. He was sure the consultant on Monday would see that the measurements were completely normal and that there was nothing to worry about. In some very serious rare cases, where no treatment is possible, the baby will die soon after it is born or during pregnancy. Parents get a chance to emotionally adapt to news and plan. the amniocentesis) and the pregnancy had already ended, or because the scan was not routinely offered in their region 5 or more years ago. My son's congenital heart defect was detected at the 20 week scan and he had 2 other markers, no . I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. Thick milky discharge at 14 weeks.tmi pic attached. What happens at the second midwife appointment? I wrote a few things down last night when we were trying to go over things, just to remind myself. The thing that I have a very strong memory of is this child's face in amazing detail. I popped out from work, telling my boss I'd be back in half an hour. Enough for two weeks after he had been cremated. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?! I wanted to let nature take its course. And they, sort of two of them were looking at the scan machine and then they sort of switched everything off and said, 'Oh, I think we have, might have a problem'. I had no issues at my 20wk scan with DD - and neither did any of my antenatal group (9 mums). I endured 12 hours of medication and in the early hours February 7, 56 days after my first scan (at nearly 18 weeks), I miscarried our babies. 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. I give obsessively to charity, especially those linked to sick children. The same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. Sam squeezed my hand and told me it was ok. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." For instance a couple who knew their baby was 'on the small size' were told he was fine at the 18-20 week scan, but discovered at 32 weeks that he had microcephaly. And, for a few hours, I'm convinced I've made a terrible mistake. 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. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. Hugely upset that to think that the baby was so poorly. And I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being selfish. How common is it to find anomolies at the 20 week scan? - Netmums So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. I want to be happy again. 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. The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. And she said that, you know, as the, if the baby did develop further there would probably be other problems with internal organs that weren't really that visible at that stage. And they took me into another room. No one else ever met the object of my grief. Bad news at 20 week scan, please help. | Mumsnet I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. I give pregnant women dirty looks. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. 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. As I left the room to compose myself. And I felt like a murderer. We thought it would all be over very quickly but, in fact, it was another 11 hours before the baby was delivered. Not marginalised into being a victim. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound scan. I had to wait yet another sleepless night. I felt the dread run through me. At that point, I got very not upset but quite sort of strongly severe sort of with the people at the hospital saying, 'Look, you know, that's 24 hours, possibly a 48 hours' wait - that's not something that's tenable. This does not mean there is anything to worry about. Bad news at 20 week scan | Mumsnet I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. Just that really! 20 week scans look for 11 different anomalies as a rule, however, indicators (markers) are not terribly reliable and in all the literature I found, the targets set for stonographers look like they only pick up around 50% or less of these variants. These opinions do not represent the opinions of Tommys and are not advice from Tommy's. It seemed inconceivable that we would not be having a baby in May. However, at the time neither of us could articulate that. 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. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. I think there might be a problem'. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. Seeing your baby on a screen can be really exciting. What were babys measurements at 20 week 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. So instead, I was advised to go home and let nature take its course. So he went out for a walk. 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. There, I would give birth. 15/02/2014 08:02. A few people recalled how frightened and alarmed they became when they sensed that the atmosphere in the scanning room changed in an instant from 'jokey' to serious when the baby's problems were detected. All my instincts were to protect my belly, yet here I was allowing someone to stick a huge needle into it. (See. My wife had been very, very healthy, more healthy than the first pregnancy, and of course was shattered by the fact that the news, the news was appalling, very serious faces. I know I could have delivered him in a quarter of the time, but I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving me. 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. And before they gave me any of the results she asked a colleague to come and told me she wanted to check something, with a colleague, and by then I was getting very concerned because I'd never had that happen before. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. I am a darker, harder version of myself. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. 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. If you choose not to have the scan you can still have all other parts of your routine antenatal care. Despite this new discovery, the sonographer was still concerned. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. 17/12/2020 17:13. After half an hour of lying on the bed, I was starting to get nervous, but was excited to find out that the baby would be a boy and that I could see his little heart beating strongly. On the next shift, the new midwife asked us again. And then I can't remember an awful lot more about that scan apart from that feeling of searching of how to react in an unknown situation - your brain's kind of trying to work out what to say, what to do, but I had no idea what to say or what to do and I think my first thought was, does that mean our first daughter's okay? or sort of light chat that we'd, we'd experienced before with previous scans. I wasn't ready to make a decision straight away, and I was told I could call them in the morning. So once again we were right back down, really no, really not knowing what to expect. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. But here I was, minutes later, lying down, waiting. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. 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'. The week that followed was an agonising wait. 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. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. I had no idea if we were doing the "right" thing. Chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet Apologise for somehow doubting their right to be in this world. I remember thinking, 'that doesn't look quite right'. I was saving my child from pain and suffering. 2022. The screen may be directly facing them or at an angle. I was experiencing some light bleeding for the past few days. I went home feeling crushed; Sam and I both felt helpless. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. 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. Next most likely is that baby doesn't co-operate and they can't see some parts of anatomy and call you back 2 weeks later just because they couldn't see (i had this but because twin pregnancy I was due to be scanned 2 weeks later anyway). Some people want to find out if their baby has one of the 11 conditions and some do not. I guess the morphine made it easier. The results come in stages. I hated my body and hated every feeling I was having. But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. I agreed to an internal scan as the sonographer said we could get a better picture of what was happening. I did. 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.

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