Registered office: Nicholas House, 3 Laurence Pountney Hill, London, EC4R 0BB. Seated in the antenatal clinic with lots of expectant mothers with baby bumps. I was sat on the sofa working, my son was at nursery and my partner was in the bath. 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. 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. I felt I needed proof of what was wrong before I take such a huge decision and that I couldn't do it based on what someone had written on, on the paper. We needed closure, to allow us to grieve properly. Eventually, the doctor finished the scan and said that some of the baby's measurements were very small. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. But he was not sure. I think there might be a problem'. (See 'Resources'). I had to stop myself from yanking out the needle. And that was extraordinary to see the detail that that could offer. We had so much power, we could decide that this little thing should die. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. I went home feeling crushed; Sam and I both felt helpless. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. It was a bit worrying but on the plus side I got an extra couple of scans and an extra couple of pictures. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. For women who have been given distressing news about their baby during the scan, there should be a health professional available to provide immediate support. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". There was complete silence during the scan. They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. The blood test confirmed it was twins. Still, the consultant thought things would be OK. There's nothing wrong, you know, we've had all the tests, everything's fine,' and being very upbeat about it all. This was on the Friday. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. 80 percent of my pregnancies have ended in death and I felt like they were telling me those babies didn't matter. I was becoming numb to the whole process. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. And so we talked about it euphemistically, never saying the word "research". 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. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. She asked me how far gone I thought we were, and if I could have been mistaken. My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. I was another one who did get bad news at the 20 week scan. 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. 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. The hardest thing I have ever done. Yeah, yeah. So had to come back in a week's time for a scan, which again is quite a common thing I found out. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. So it was quite common, this is what happens. It seemed inconceivable that we would not be having a baby in May. He felt doing more blood tests would only cause me more discomfort and false hope. I didn't want to be convincing him to agree with me. 1. We're going to go and see them. She didn't say at the time that it was a major problem or that it was something to watch out for. Could she possibly have something that's not been detected? We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. And I can just remember flashing a look at you as if to say, 'Have I made a mistake here somewhere? . So that just left the talipes. My heart goes out to you OP. I ran into the bedroom to tell Sam, who was ecstatic. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. But now that's changed. The chances that anything bad will be discovered are v v small. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. The scan will look in detail at your babys bones, heart, brain, spinal cord, face, kidneys and abdomen. . I want to be happy again. I just want to be normal again. 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). It was all going wrong and I wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. All pregnant women should be given the booklet by their midwife or GP Screening tests for you and your baby by Public Health England, which gives detailed information about the types of scan offered and what they are looking for. factor is very strong. So we hid in our house. Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. The hormone levels had dropped, but they wanted to scan me again. When I see a child with Down's syndrome, I have a tremendous need to explain myself and apologise a million times over. Sam reassured me, but the guilt had hit me along with the feeling that our world was falling apart. I didn't really know what that was. Have I misunderstood what's going on?' On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. Our baby was beautiful. For once in my life, I had been organised. The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. Slightly marked from our peers. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. Within it are a number of recommendations for the communication of findings from ultrasounds. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. It can be such a shock so do whatever you need to feel better. Most hospitals do not allow children to attend scans as childcare is not usually available. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. Rather sharply, my partner tried to explain. It was sick. I remember thinking, 'that doesn't look quite right'. I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. No one else felt him kick. The 18 -20 week fetal anomaly scan is a watershed in most pregnancies because for the majority of women it will be the last time they are scanned before giving birth. And then all of a sudden, I was still laughing and we were all very upbeat, and then suddenly, he suddenly said, but I was still, still laughing, and he said to me, 'Oh, there might be a problem, there might be a problem with the, I think this baby has hydrocephalus'. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. 15/02/2014 08:02. Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. Just doing it. Cardiac surgery can do some amazing things. 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]. I was young, I didn't need one. I just feel very unlucky. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. So, in the end, we said we would arrange our own funeral. Many parents were shocked by findings from the 20-week and later scans. As I left the room to compose myself. 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. Later, I did see and hold our baby. 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. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. The pain was excruciating, but nothing compared to how I felt inside. It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. And in this instance the scan was very evident that there was something very seriously wrong. Some things can be seen more clearly than others. You get extra care and monitoring as appropriate and baby is proactively treated. I think I was about 20 weeks cos they, the hospital I think did the 12 and the 20, that was their standard thing and, yeah, so I got the 20 weeks one. The "why me?" That they could have spotted something, or not? My partner went out with him, wanting to see him. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. 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. These opinions do not represent the opinions of Tommys and are not advice from Tommy's. I want to stop having such horrible thoughts. 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. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. Away you go'. The screen may be directly facing them or at an angle. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. If you choose not to have the scan you can still have all other parts of your routine antenatal care. 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. Purpose of screening. It's part of our family. 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. Originally I hadn't wanted to go down that road. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. Where we were living then at the time you only had a scan at 20 weeks. So we had to go in and out a couple of times, and we were just waiting around for ages and ages. 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. At first, I still had to deal with the physical implications of having given birth. They would then re-test me in two days time. I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. The sonographer then passes a hand-held probe over your skin to examine the babys body. There was cause for concern. We left for home feeling completely numb. So we went back the day after Boxing Day, the 27th, and the consultant greeted us, which made my alarm bells go, and she started scanning us and I think her lines were, 'What concerns me about this baby is that they've got a diaphragmatic hernia, which has meant that part of the stomach of the baby was in its chest cavity.'. 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. How common is it for 2nd baby to come early..? 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. Saturday came. SO much upset and needless angst has been caused by 'soft markers' found at scans. If you are not sure, you can contact them and ask. It felt as if we'd gone underground, that we were part of the criminal fraternity. 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. The ultimate betrayal. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. 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. We felt as if we were in limbo. 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. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. You can change your cookie settings at any time. No one else attended and we didn't have a service. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. 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. The consultant explained that this was just very bad luck and not, as far as they knew, genetic. It is extremely rare for these pregnancies to reach term as they typically spontaneously miscarry early in pregnancy. Then I picked myself up. Never being able to look after himself. 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. . After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. It doesn't remove the guilt, but I don't know what else to do. You may like someone to come with you to the scan appointment. And I remember, the first thing I remember when something might be wrong, was I saw, I finally, we finally saw an image of the skull on the screen, and there appeared to be a sort of black hole shape in the middle. 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. And everybody knows and everything is right. So we went home really and I sort of had to think about it all night. So he went out for a walk. Picture every packed football staduim up and down the country - all healthy pregnancies and births. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. I wasn't unduly worried at all. Two days, after on Christmas Eve, (my 12 week date) I had more blood tests. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." The consultant had said it wouldn't be like a normal delivery. Went back a week later for the scan and, you were with me for this one, weren't you? 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'. 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. He looked fine. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. Try to relax and take it easy. b>Bad news at 20 week scan. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. So carried on with the plans, and, you know, planning for the, another baby to come along and then we went for a 20- week scan which is obviously the big one and very exciting, seeing all the arms and legs and once again everything was going fine, 'Look here's the baby, here's the length of baby'. 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). But they didn't. Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. That he was small. 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. Well send you a link to a feedback form. And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. But at the 20 week scan, which was on a Wednesday, we saw the nurse at the local hospital, the sonographer, and she did a scan and she found that the femur length was quite short in the, in the fetus. Others said they were shocked because all the early diagnostic tests (e.g. We need to have your opinion'. 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. In this information, the word we refers to the NHS service that provides screening. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. By this time, we were tired. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. So at least then we went to that next stage prepared for the worst really. 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 was positive, and I felt elated.
Do Hutterites Drink Alcohol, Articles C