(See 'Resources'). 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. factor is very strong. An hour passed and I started to panic. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. Many described how sonographers and doctors were very restrained and didn't speak at all until they had analysed all the baby's details. I think there might be a problem'. As I waited for the doctor back on the EPU unit. 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. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. For once in my life, I had been organised. No one else but my partner saw how similar he was to our son. I was becoming numb to the whole process. At first the closeness came through a sense of guilt. I did think it was a bit strange that she wasn't talking, and then she sort of said, 'Oh, I think there's a problem. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". And I can just remember flashing a look at you as if to say, 'Have I made a mistake here somewhere? 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. I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. 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. We walked all the way home. 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. Baby loss support The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. This was a ray of hope for us. But I was struggling mentally with the anguish, grief and endless hospital visits. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. He had to come to the decision by himself. My partner went out with him, wanting to see him. And having read, since read my information on Edwards' syndrome, a good 85 per cent have problems with the heart. I want to stop having such horrible thoughts. Picture every packed football staduim up and down the country - all healthy pregnancies and births. Some things can be seen more clearly than others. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. On the third day, we got a phone call. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. I was sat on the sofa working, my son was at nursery and my partner was in the bath. 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). I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. I had to wait for a doctor to explain the situation. Could she possibly have something that's not been detected? Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. I was then told yet again bad news. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. This article was amended on 24 November 2015 to anonymise the writer. It was positive, and I felt elated. Why me and not you, you bastard? 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. The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. I sat and waited to be called for my scan. 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 you choose not to have the scan you can still have all other parts of your routine antenatal care. 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 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?' This image shows a baby's face and hands at 20 weeks, and gives you an idea of what you'll be able to see at this scan. She advised I be referred to the EPU to be assessed. I didn't think my instincts were worth much. 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. Forcing my hand to my mouth to take the tablet was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan Away you go'. We decided that we wanted medication to help me. And I know I can't hurry up the process of grieving. 13/12/2020 20:45. And everybody knows and everything is right. Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. She wanted to have a look at the skull, which was the main thing, but she couldn't see it from where the baby was. Our position in our families has shifted. 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. The first result, which tells you if the baby has Down's syndrome, is ready in three days, but the other chromosomal problems cannot be eliminated for up to three weeks. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. Last updated July 2017. So, in the end, we said we would arrange our own funeral. 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. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. I could hardly breathe. Thinking back, I don't know how we left without him. 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. He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. 1. I was willing the results to be normal. The same rush of excitement. . And with each one we had to have the same conversations. I want to be nice again. 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'. ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENT AT 20 WEEK SCAN. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong. And they actually asked my husband to come in before they spoke to me. Which is what I'd seen. During the examination, sonographers need to keep the screen in a position that gives them a good view of your baby. Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. But here I was, minutes later, lying down, waiting. or sort of light chat that we'd, we'd experienced before with previous scans. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. He sounded like a wild animal in pain, deep pain. Scans cannot find all conditions. Everywhere you look, there are happy, fat, smug pregnant women. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. Never lacking a sense of the dramatic, it felt as if we shared the responsibility for the terrible, dirty act that we had committed. You have rejected additional cookies. And in this instance the scan was very evident that there was something very seriously wrong. Maybe our son would have overcome his problems, survived his illnesses, led a happy life. No one else felt him kick. And it turned out the baby's heart wasn't forming properly, the chambers weren't forming properly. And I went for, I went for a normal 12-week scan, at my local hospital and everything, they said everything was fine, there was no problem. Yeah - in, stomach, out. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. 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. 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. 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 . 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. 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. Others said they were shocked because all the early diagnostic tests (e.g. The chances that anything bad will be discovered are v v small. 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. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . 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 sonographer then passes a hand-held probe over your skin to examine the babys body. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. Desperately trying to hold onto the glimmer of hope we'd been given. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. In some very serious rare cases, where no treatment is possible, the baby will die soon after it is born or during pregnancy. 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'. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Did you, how did that scan make you feel? I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. . It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. 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. We were convinced everything would be OK. I went away and came back, and she couldn't get a good picture. 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. And I assumed my partner would feel the same. There was cause for concern. 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). That was an extremely difficult day. And it's, I can't remember exactly what it was now, it's about where the brain is supposed to form. Life expectancy of 30 or 40. 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. Parents get a chance to emotionally adapt to news and plan. We thought it would all be over very quickly but, in fact, it was another 11 hours before the baby was delivered. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. They would then re-test me in two days time. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. You get extra care and monitoring as appropriate and baby is proactively treated. I took my vitamins, stuck to the healthy diet and put on a brave face. 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. As though I went power mad for a week, killing my innocent unborn child, and now I am tainted for ever. You will be able to discuss this with your midwife or consultant. Our baby was beautiful. So I no longer trusted my instincts. 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. It sounds crazy, but I just knew. He suggested he perform an amniocentesis immediately, to rule out any chromosomal problems. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. You've had your, you know, you've had your triple test and everything was fine. I think what everyone is saying is that most likely outcome is that there are no problems at all. 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. So we hid in our house. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. 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'). I wanted to let nature take its course. That they could have spotted something, or not? 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. I had to be rescanned latter. See you in -. And so we talked about it euphemistically, never saying the word "research". 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? I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. Possibly with hindsight we could have been more worried about it, but was probably a good thing we weren't, because we weren't worried about anything basically. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk. The hardest thing I have ever done. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. By the time I left the hospital, I was in shock. I then had to wait in the room along with many other patients for an hour so they could observe me. Read full disclaimer. 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. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). 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. So it was quite common, this is what happens. Cardiac surgery can do some amazing things. My wife turned the screen away from her. Purpose of screening. . I mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. The doctor gave her consent, and I took the four little tablets. We strongly advise readers not to take drugs that are not prescribed by your qualified healthcare provider. 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. I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. I am a darker, harder version of myself. We had amnio and then spent a week in absoute anguish waiting for the outcome which was no trisomies. I had hope that the little bumps inside me were fighting just as much as I was to stay with me. 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.
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