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. Yeah, yeah. By my own hand, I had to end the pregnancy. He looked excited. As I waited for the doctor back on the EPU unit. 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 '. This was on the Friday. Within it are a number of recommendations for the communication of findings from ultrasounds. However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. 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. I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. . 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. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." 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. 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. You may need to have a full bladder when you come for the appointment. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. We didn't name him. 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. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. 13/12/2020 20:45. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. 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 publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. We're going to go and see them. We need to have your opinion'. I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. (See. For once in my life, I had been organised. I can't remember the exact words but she said, 'There might be some fatal problems with your baby'. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. 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? I then found that soft markers means 'vague unproven suggestion of a link', and that echogenic locii are small concentrations of calcium which are incredibly common and harmless. It was real. Where we were living then at the time you only had a scan at 20 weeks. These opinions do not represent the opinions of Tommys and are not advice from Tommy's. I went home feeling crushed; Sam and I both felt helpless. It is extremely rare for these pregnancies to reach term as they typically spontaneously miscarry early in pregnancy. I tried to keep positive. 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. She endured many agonising rounds of scans and tests, and unfortunately met with some unhelpful attitudes from some healthcare professionals. Find more information and details of support groups on NHS.UK. We were denying him his life. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. 20-week ultrasound (anomaly scan) - BabyCenter Australia 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. This was a ray of hope for us. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. So I no longer trusted my instincts. I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). The same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. And it's, I can't remember exactly what it was now, it's about where the brain is supposed to form. She didn't want to see the baby. 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. 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. So that was it. Somehow, I walked from the sofa up to the bathroom and told my partner. Eventually, the doctor finished the scan and said that some of the baby's measurements were very small. All my plans were beginning to fall down. 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. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. I think the whole experience has made me a pretty nasty person. I would be put to sleep, and when I woke up I wouldn't be pregnant any more. My wife turned the screen away from her. The same sense of expectation. This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-tests-for-you-and-your-baby/11-physical-conditions-20-week-scan. Seated in the antenatal clinic with lots of expectant mothers with baby bumps. Yeah - in, stomach, out. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. It sounds crazy, but I just knew. The doctor or midwife looking after you will let you know before you come. She brought up a picture of the heart on the screen. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. Then I picked myself up. 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. It can be such a shock so do whatever you need to feel better. . I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. And nothing prepares you at all. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. But other than that everything was fine. And, for a few hours, I'm convinced I've made a terrible mistake. 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. It was over. If this happens, you will be offered one further scan by 23 weeks of pregnancy. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. 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. My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. So that just left the talipes. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan I was becoming numb to the whole process. 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. 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. The consultant had said it wouldn't be like a normal delivery. So he went out for a walk. Why me and not you, you bastard? Another sick joke. BabyCenter. Bad news at 20 week scan | Mumsnet And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong. Maybe. Last reviewed July 2017. And at that, I let out a scream I think. 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. Sam squeezed my hand and told me it was ok. However, at the time neither of us could articulate that. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. You do not have to have the scan. 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'. You've had a scan, you've had the blood tests, you've been good. In a small number of cases some very serious conditions are found. We understand the real meaning of "shit happens". 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. Parents get a chance to emotionally adapt to news and plan. I then had to wait in the room along with many other patients for an hour so they could observe me. I give pregnant women dirty looks. How was that scan different from the dating scan? My heart goes out to you OP. The 18-20 week antenatal scan and further tests. It was exactly like the labour I had with my first child. Fine, go on my own. News stories, speeches, letters and notices, Reports, analysis and official statistics, Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. It was just a few little things like the kidneys were hard to find, and the stomach was hard to find, but that might be because it wasn't filled with fluid. 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. As I say, I'm not a very nice person at the moment. He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. 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 use some essential cookies to make this website work. Unfortunately I was not met with a compassionate sonographer. Registered office: Nicholas House, 3 Laurence Pountney Hill, London, EC4R 0BB. 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. Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. And you know, we were laughing and joking. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. But even if I was there, I still think I would have wanted to see the detail on the scan. I have horrible thoughts. It seemed inconceivable that we would not be having a baby in May. 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. They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. 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. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. Life expectancy of 30 or 40. 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.
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