chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet

Some hospitals do offer earlier anomaly scans of the baby, but they will not show as much detail as scans performed between 18 and 20weeks. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. Nights were impossible. 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. 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. The "why me?" The consultant explained that this was just very bad luck and not, as far as they knew, genetic. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. 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. On the third day, we got a phone call. If you are offered further tests, you will be given more information about them so that you can decide whether or not you want to have them. I didn't think my instincts were worth much. We understand the real meaning of "shit happens". But it's bloody hard being miserable the whole time. He then told us what the prognosis would mean for the child. The hardest thing I have ever done. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. And with each one we had to have the same conversations. I felt the dread run through me. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales company number 3266897. . Sometimes a post mortem was needed to confirm the 20-week diagnosis to see if the baby had inherited a genetic problem (such as Fowler syndrome - see 'Resources'). So obviously quite relaxed. The doctor or midwife looking after you will let you know before you come. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?! And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. 13/12/2020 20:45. 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. 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 of course some other measurements she needed to take like the width of the skull, which she couldn't take because the fetus was in the wrong position. It sounds crazy, but I just knew. The pain was bearable but uncomfortable, the hospital rang me a few days later and asked me how I was. It felt as if we'd gone underground, that we were part of the criminal fraternity. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. I was wondering if anyone has been is this situation and can give me a glimmer of hope. We had amnio and then spent a week in absoute anguish waiting for the outcome which was no trisomies. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. I had an appointment with my consultant 2 days later, and again he said, you know, 'Very common - shouldn't worry about it too much, you know, if, the problem is if they find anything else wrong'. 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'. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. I felt crushed, I wanted him to at least acknowledge what had been found already. So he went out for a walk. So I was a bit ignorant of the kind of things, you know, what the scans were really doing - maybe it was, a bit na've I think. 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. These opinions do not represent the opinions of Tommys and are not advice from Tommy's. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. He was sure the consultant on Monday would see that the measurements were completely normal and that there was nothing to worry about. I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. 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. 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. 80 percent of my pregnancies have ended in death and I felt like they were telling me those babies didn't matter. We thought it would all be over very quickly but, in fact, it was another 11 hours before the baby was delivered. I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. During the examination, sonographers need to keep the screen in a position that gives them a good view of your baby. 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. Likely to have serious medical problems all his life. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. Just that really! And they took us out of the scanning room, into a more quiet room while they typed up the report. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. I had no idea if we were doing the "right" thing. 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. 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. 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. We had to discuss what we wanted to do with the little body after delivery. I didn't want to be convincing him to agree with me. 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 mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. We've got the same battle scars. I believed at this point I had miscarried, they wanted me to come back I'm for a follow up scan. My partner's face was lit up, seeing the baby for the first time. Picture every packed football staduim up and down the country - all healthy pregnancies and births. We talked all night and thanked God for crap television. Which she reassured us that she'd be absolutely fine, this was a one-off. 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. 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. I don't know how we got through the next couple of days. Which is what I'd seen. 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. Another sick joke. We, I was with my mum, and they scanned and found choroid plexus cysts on the brain, which is just a mark, it's a marker on the brain, it's a, what they call a 'soft marker'. 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 popped out from work, telling my boss I'd be back in half an hour. 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. Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans Within two days I was waiting in my local EPU unit for further tests. 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. It was all going wrong and I wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. I felt more informed, and I felt that that was what I needed in my head to see you know, that I've got to accept now that this, all these things are real on the screen and this was really my baby that's suffering all these things [sighs], but I was sad as well. Many described how sonographers and doctors were very restrained and didn't speak at all until they had analysed all the baby's details. So we decided to book an early 10 week private scan. It was horrible. I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. 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. Sam reassured me, but the guilt had hit me along with the feeling that our world was falling apart. No one else attended and we didn't have a service. Yeah, yeah. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong. Nice people shouldn't hear about what we'd done. 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 parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. 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 I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. When he came back, he agreed on a termination. 1. Try to relax and take it easy. And, so they sent me home at that stage because they said the specialist wasn't available till the following day, which was awful. Life expectancy of 30 or 40. Most scans show that babies seem to be developing as expected, and none of the 11 conditions are found. Tears started to roll down my face. 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. 2022. I tried not to sit still for too long, because then I became too aware of the little thing inside me. Sam followed and I broke down. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. We just couldn't use the words. But for those few days they were torture. We were bound to each other because of the blood that was on both our hands. I think what everyone is saying is that most likely outcome is that there are no problems at all. You have accepted additional cookies. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. 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. I know I could have delivered him in a quarter of the time, but I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving me. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? On the next shift, the new midwife asked us again. So we went home, me to rest in an attempt to prevent miscarriage, my partner to reassure us both. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. At first, I still had to deal with the physical implications of having given birth. Specialist scans Could you tell? But even if I was there, I still think I would have wanted to see the detail on the scan. You're in and out and that was it. The scan will find about half (50%) of those babies who have heart defects. . Usually, sonographers will ask a senior sonographer colleague to confirm findings and this should be done immediately. Instinctively, did it feel right? Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. He bluntly told me, he wasn't interested in whatever was seen before, he was only going to go by what he saw that day. She endured many agonising rounds of scans and tests, and unfortunately met with some unhelpful attitudes from some healthcare professionals. But here I was, minutes later, lying down, waiting. I did. And as soon as she said those words, both of us were like, 'Well what's wrong?'. At this point it wasn't looking great. Well send you a link to a feedback form. 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. Dont include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. See you in -. I was becoming numb to the whole process. 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. Do you have any thoughts about that? But worse was to come. 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. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. I didn't have a clue. My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. It was over. I can feel my child kick, it responds when he shouts at football - I mean literally, this baby used to dance around whenever he'd like scream at a goal - and there cannot be anything wrong with this child because it's part of us already. But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. And that was Monday afternoon. I didn't really know what that was. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. That was the first time I had heard him cry. 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. Thinking back, I don't know how we left without him. It was sick. You get extra care and monitoring as appropriate and baby is proactively treated. Somehow, I walked from the sofa up to the bathroom and told my partner. We're still not at the end of our journey, but we're much further along. So it was quite common, this is what happens. (See. 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. It's quite common, perhaps 1 in 10 they find these, and within a few weeks they disappear. The same unique expression he had when he saw our two year old born. The hormone levels had dropped, but they wanted to scan me again. He had to come to the decision by himself. 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. 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. As I waited for the doctor back on the EPU unit. It seemed inconceivable that we would not be having a baby in May. And I felt like a murderer. Despite this new discovery, the sonographer was still concerned. We were denying him his life. Most scans are carried out by specially trained staff called sonographers. I travelled to work that day feeling amazing. The consultant at the time wasn't really that interested in that imagery. 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. I'm trying to understand because I haven't seen a 3-D scan, what it tells the parents? I couldn't bring myself to push. Any delay in receiving more information about the abnormality and its implications will be distressing for women and this should be acknowledged. And the doctor - because it was a doctor rather then just the, a sonographer or whatever the correct term is - was scanning my wife, and she hovered over the heart of the baby and said, 'Oh there's the heart, we'll come back to that'. b>Bad news at 20 week scan. Can't seem to find info on the Internet. This article was amended on 24 November 2015 to anonymise the writer. I had to take a tablet there and then, under the supervision of a nurse, to end the pregnancy. 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. 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. The blood test confirmed it was twins. BabyCenter. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. 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). 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. As I say, I'm not a very nice person at the moment. 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. Find more information and details of support groups on NHS.UK. 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. In some very serious rare cases, where no treatment is possible, the baby will die soon after it is born or during pregnancy. We had the baby cremated. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, 'it didn't look good' and that 'my womb looked raggedy'. 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. factor is very strong. It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. It was exactly like the labour I had with my first child. Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. Finally, Monday came and we went back to the hospital. It took 20 minutes to push him out. Where we were living then at the time you only had a scan at 20 weeks. However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. We were convinced everything would be OK. 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. And my partner and I would have a completely different life from the one we'd imagined. Two days, after on Christmas Eve, (my 12 week date) I had more blood tests. In some cases concerns in utero fix themselves sometimes needs treatment. And the next day we went back to the hospital and we had another scan with a specialist, and he confirmed it was a condition called holoprosencephaly, which I'd never heard of any of these words before, they were just such long words. The doctor explained the options I had to manage my miscarriage. And as, and as soon as I saw the pictures of the scan, having had two normal pregnancies, even I could see that there was a marked contrast between this pregnancy and the pictures that I'd had previously. I was sent home with a leaflet, strong painkillers and two types of antibiotics. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. And even at that early stage it was beginning to sink in that there was something really not right. He suggested he perform an amniocentesis immediately, to rule out any chromosomal problems. Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. You know there's always that bit on the bottom of the thing, 'These are diagnostics, do not bring other children,' - blah, blah, blah.. it's not, you know, it's not a family outing kind of thing, but it feels like it. Read full disclaimer. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Public Health England (PHE) created this information on behalf of the NHS. 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'. Within it are a number of recommendations for the communication of findings from ultrasounds. The scan will look in detail at your babys bones, heart, brain, spinal cord, face, kidneys and abdomen. You may need to have a full bladder when you come for the appointment. Scans cannot find all conditions. You've had, you've had your Down's Syndrome check and that's okay. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. The anomaly scan, also called the 20 week scan or mid-pregnancy scan, is used to detect pregnancy irregularities significant in diagnosis of any of the following conditions: In most instances no serious issue will be found during the scan and many parents-to be will come away knowing that all is progressing nicely and, perhaps, having found out . Parents get a chance to emotionally adapt to news and plan. The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. The 18-20 week antenatal scan and further tests. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. So we hid in our house. He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . We strongly advise readers not to take drugs that are not prescribed by your qualified healthcare provider. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. The thing about that which I felt was difficult is that we could tell when being scanned that there was something very seriously wrong.