chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet
I couldn't really believe what they were saying. I had to wait for a doctor to explain the situation. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. He felt doing more blood tests would only cause me more discomfort and false hope. The only thing you're thinking now is the birth, and what if something goes wrong in the birth? Last reviewed July 2017. I faced another internal scan where I began to feel helpless and alone. The doctor gave her consent, and I took the four little tablets. I hated my body and hated every feeling I was having. 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. I didn't want to go through anymore scans. And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. My son's congenital heart defect was detected at the 20 week scan and he had 2 other markers, no . 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. Just that really! So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. It was exactly like the labour I had with my first child. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. I couldn't work out what was taking so long and put it down to the doctor being young and inexperienced. It was positive, and I felt elated. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. 13/12/2020 20:45. The scan will find about half (50%) of those babies who have heart defects. The decision to terminate the pregnancy was my partner's and mine. We had amnio and then spent a week in absoute anguish waiting for the outcome which was no trisomies. 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. Do you have any thoughts about that? He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. Except for the persistent, nagging doubts. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. I mean the lady who was scanning was very quiet for a long time. An hour passed and I started to panic. But the closeness has remained after the drama has died down. 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 travelled to work that day feeling amazing. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. 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. Many parents were shocked by findings from the 20-week and later scans. But for those few days they were torture. 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! For example, some babies have a condition called open spina bifida, which affects the spinal cord. My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. And I'm glad I did and she's glad she didn't. 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. So we left it there, and we didn't actually think that there was anything really to worry about after that scan. Most scans are carried out by specially trained staff called sonographers. The thing that I have a very strong memory of is this child's face in amazing detail. I know its hard- but i really wouldnt worry about it too much as the worry will stress you and your body out. The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. The consultant explained that this was just very bad luck and not, as far as they knew, genetic. He had to come to the decision by himself. 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'. 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. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. Sam followed and I broke down. . We've got the same battle scars. The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. He looked fine. And I can just remember flashing a look at you as if to say, 'Have I made a mistake here somewhere? Scans cannot find all conditions. Perhaps because we are alone in this, it has brought my partner and me very close. And so we talked about it euphemistically, never saying the word "research". Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. When he came back, he agreed on a termination. What would we like to do with the body? I wasn't ready to make a decision straight away, and I was told I could call them in the morning. 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. She didn't say at the time that it was a major problem or that it was something to watch out for. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. Seeing your baby on a screen can be really exciting. I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. But they didn't. And my husband, we never got to sit next to each other in the consulting room, my husband was across the room from me, and I was sat next to the consultant, and we were laughing and joking with him about, you know, the home delivery, and everything was going to be, 'Are you still on for the home delivery?' It was horrible. I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. It doesn't remove the guilt, but I don't know what else to do. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. I had no idea if we were doing the "right" thing. It feels very lonely and isolating. 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. He felt strong and fit and healthy. But with time although we will never forget, I know we will be ok again. 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). 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. And it's like, I really wanted to see it and I didn't, and it was it was very mixed. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. At this point it wasn't looking great. So once again we were right back down, really no, really not knowing what to expect. 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. At the time the same thing had, exactly the same thing had happened to my friend a month before, and her scan was absolutely fine. I was experiencing some light bleeding for the past few days. I was wondering if anyone has been is this situation and can give me a glimmer of hope. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. 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. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales company number 3266897. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. . We don't know, but it's not looking good'. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. That was the first time I had heard him cry. We're still not at the end of our journey, but we're much further along. My baby might have Down's syndrome. [Husband] couldn't make it. And they took us out of the scanning room, into a more quiet room while they typed up the report. 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. 'Soft markers'. And thank God I did. We were bound to each other because of the blood that was on both our hands. Cardiac surgery can do some amazing things. It was all going wrong and I wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. b>Bad news at 20 week scan. This article was amended on 24 November 2015 to anonymise the writer. I want to stop having such horrible thoughts. That was an extremely difficult day. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. Which is what I'd seen. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. 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. I remember thinking, 'that doesn't look quite right'. She asked me how far gone I thought we were, and if I could have been mistaken. And I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. Dont include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. I went home feeling crushed; Sam and I both felt helpless. When I think about how long it took them to deliberate ultimately, maybe not, but it just felt like a bit of a fast food situation, didn't it? Spina bifida can usually be seen clearly on a scan and of those babies who have this condition, around 9 out of 10 (90%) will be detected. 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. In a small number of cases some very serious conditions are found. 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. I ran into the bedroom to tell Sam, who was ecstatic. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. She describes having to make a . This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. Again, we weren't understood. It is also sometimes referred to as the mid-pregnancy scan . She advised I be referred to the EPU to be assessed. 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. I took my vitamins, stuck to the healthy diet and put on a brave face. And I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being selfish. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. I had hope that the little bumps inside me were fighting just as much as I was to stay with me. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. We just couldn't use the words. That he was small. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." It was a bit worrying but on the plus side I got an extra couple of scans and an extra couple of pictures. Your mind has closed to the possibility that there could be anything wrong. Another sick joke. Thinking back, I don't know how we left without him. It felt as if we had gone power crazy. But you could see there was something wrong? Slightly marked from our peers. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. Baby loss support He told me that they may want to do blood tests, but that 'he didn't see the point'. The doctor didn't come. In most cases the scan will show that your baby appears to be developing as expected but sometimes a condition is found or suspected. I'm trying to understand because I haven't seen a 3-D scan, what it tells the parents? This time, they discovered the baby has a two vessel cord (only one vessel from placenta to baby instead of two) and I've been monitored to make sure the baby grows properly and kidneys aren't damaged. So at least then we went to that next stage prepared for the worst really. Eventually, the doctor finished the scan and said that some of the baby's measurements were very small. I broke down and started hitting my disgusting body that had done this. I think there might be a problem'. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. And this baby sort of floated, and occasionally there was a slight movement, but it was very you could almost see that he was really poorly just from looking at the screen. My wife turned the screen away from her. 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. The sonographer then passes a hand-held probe over your skin to examine the babys body. We talked about the different sorts of pain relief I could have and I opted for a morphine drip, which I could control. And I knew there was no way out. 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. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. See you in -. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. I mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. I tried not to sit still for too long, because then I became too aware of the little thing inside me. It felt as if we'd gone underground, that we were part of the criminal fraternity. DS had 2 soft markers: talipes (club foot) and 'echogenic locii' somewhere - heart I think. And they took me to another room and they explained that the baby had what they thought was ventriculomegaly or something. We talked all night and thanked God for crap television. Last updated July 2017. 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. Any delay in receiving more information about the abnormality and its implications will be distressing for women and this should be acknowledged. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. Abortion has never raised any moral dilemmas for me and I am an atheist, so there are no religious issues. So that was it. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. I just feel very unlucky. The baby was kicking so hard that I began to believe him. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. 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. On the next shift, the new midwife asked us again. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. No discussion, no quiet contemplation. With my oldest it turns out she has a minor thing that affects 1 in 1000 of the population and wont harm her at all it's just "there" and with my second the issue turned out to be nothing. 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. 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'. I think what everyone is saying is that most likely outcome is that there are no problems at all.
