On the third day, we got a phone call. . But my brain had been given a train of thought that was impossible to stop. It would have been nice to see someone straight away because I was in such shock. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. 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. Finally, Monday came and we went back to the hospital. In a small number of cases some very serious conditions are found. Not marginalised into being a victim. And I know I can't hurry up the process of grieving. That was the first time I had heard him cry. Well send you a link to a feedback form. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. Away you go'. I had to stop myself from yanking out the needle. I didn't really know what that was. It was far too much power; neither of us wanted it. And with each one we had to have the same conversations. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. 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. The consultant explained that this was just very bad luck and not, as far as they knew, genetic. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. So instead, I was advised to go home and let nature take its course. You have rejected additional cookies. 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?' . I tried to show him the notes and the photos. I tried not to sit still for too long, because then I became too aware of the little thing inside me. There was complete silence during the scan. 80 percent of my pregnancies have ended in death and I felt like they were telling me those babies didn't matter. I felt the dread run through me. I think I don't everything just seems a real blur because it was, it was such a strange experience. Some stories I hear are amazing! 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. My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. The same anticipation. Scans cannot find all conditions. This does not mean there is anything to worry about. Any delay in receiving more information about the abnormality and its implications will be distressing for women and this should be acknowledged. The chances that anything bad will be discovered are v v small. This might be uncomfortable. Can't seem to find info on the Internet. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. And as soon as she said those words, both of us were like, 'Well what's wrong?'. I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. 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). Our position in our families has shifted. We were denying him his life. I wanted to let nature take its course. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. Just doing it. 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. You've had a scan, you've had the blood tests, you've been good. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. He looked fine. He felt strong and fit and healthy. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. But other than that everything was fine. The scan can provide information that may mean you have to make further, important decisions. 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. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . She didn't want to see the baby. And I felt like a murderer. No one else but my partner saw how similar he was to our son. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. The appointment usually takes around 30 minutes. I popped out from work, telling my boss I'd be back in half an hour. We walked all the way home. After the triple test you stop thinking, you stop thinking that anything can go wrong. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. Last reviewed July 2017. Is it the same scan or is it the same equipment? Specialist scans
And I, and, I felt the weight of deciding what to do about it. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan
I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. Public Health England (PHE) created this information on behalf of the NHS. Why me and not you, you bastard? But even if I was there, I still think I would have wanted to see the detail on the scan. Try to relax and take it easy. 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. At first, I still had to deal with the physical implications of having given birth. That was an extremely difficult day. Well, at the regional hospital it was a 3-D scan. It felt so wrong.
And I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. I had no issues at my 20wk scan with DD - and neither did any of my antenatal group (9 mums). It was exactly like the labour I had with my first child. And it turned out the baby's heart wasn't forming properly, the chambers weren't forming properly. I have horrible thoughts. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. BabyCenter. Wishing to be anywhere, but here being told the same agonising truth over and . I wrote a few things down last night when we were trying to go over things, just to remind myself. And then, so I went to my next scan, which was the 20-week abnormality scan, and we took our first child with us, I think he was 17 months old at the time. 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. But on, in the middle of March, 10th March it was, we had a 20 week scan. 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. And I'm glad I did and she's glad she didn't. Desperately trying to hold onto the glimmer of hope we'd been given. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. I would be put to sleep, and when I woke up I wouldn't be pregnant any more. the amniocentesis) and the pregnancy had already ended, or because the scan was not routinely offered in their region 5 or more years ago. 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. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. 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. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. 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. And so we talked about it euphemistically, never saying the word "research". I give pregnant women dirty looks. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. We bought little outfits, teddies, and researched all the vitamins and foods that I could eat. Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. If this happens, you will be offered one further scan by 23 weeks of pregnancy. But now that's changed. I had my little leaflet, printed off leaflet about choroid plexus cysts. 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'). You've had your, you know, you've had your triple test and everything was fine. Instead, we were shown to a room slightly away from the rest of the ward and the midwife stayed with us to talk through what was going to happen. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. You do not have to have the scan. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. She describes having to make a . I mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. Has anyone been told the sex incorrectly at their 20 week scan? 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. How common is it to get bad news at 20 week scan? | Mumsnet Thinking back, I don't know how we left without him. My heart goes out to you OP. The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. You're in and out and that was it. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". Where we were living then at the time you only had a scan at 20 weeks. I sat and waited to be called for my scan. Seeing your baby on a screen can be really exciting. . 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. The consultant showed us the letter with our result on and, yes, there were the words "Down's syndrome". 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'. At first the closeness came through a sense of guilt. It is a noise that will stay with me for ever. So I trusted him. 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'. 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. No, you couldn't see there was anything wrong. Most scans show that babies seem to be developing as expected, and none of the 11 conditions are found. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. 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. By 7pm, I still hadn't delivered the baby. 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? So obviously quite relaxed. I travelled to work that day feeling amazing. 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 suggested he perform an amniocentesis immediately, to rule out any chromosomal problems. There's nothing wrong, you know, we've had all the tests, everything's fine,' and being very upbeat about it all. We need to have your opinion'. However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. 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). We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. Fine, go on my own. It was positive, and I felt elated. And, faced with feeling sorry for myself or feeling sorry for my child, I know which I'd choose. 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 . But they didn't. She asked me how far gone I thought we were, and if I could have been mistaken. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. The pain was bearable but uncomfortable, the hospital rang me a few days later and asked me how I was. But for those few days they were torture. And they took me to another room and they explained that the baby had what they thought was ventriculomegaly or something. We talked about the different sorts of pain relief I could have and I opted for a morphine drip, which I could control. 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? It sounds crazy, but I just knew. . Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). I had to take a tablet there and then, under the supervision of a nurse, to end the pregnancy. I can't remember the exact words but she said, 'There might be some fatal problems with your baby'. For once in my life, I had been organised. My partner tried to remain calm, and at my request rang my mum. But with time although we will never forget, I know we will be ok again. 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. 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. Please note that the opinions expressed by users in Tommys Book of #misCOURAGE are solely those of the user, who is unlikely to have had medical training. 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 swallowed the tablet and we left the building. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. 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'. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. No sort of questions about, 'Do you want to know whether it's a boy or a girl?' Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans
Can you remember that minute. 20-week ultrasound (anomaly scan) - BabyCenter Australia unfortunately the 20 week anomaly scan can pick up serious issues, hearing heart beats at midwife appointment doesn't let us know what's going on inside the body in detail. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. In fact, interestingly enough, going sort of. 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. I was becoming numb to the whole process. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." You will be able to discuss this with your midwife or consultant. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me - Tommy's I did. The next day, it was confirmed that my bloods had again dropped. 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. We left the hospital a couple of hours later. So I no longer trusted my instincts. Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. Likely to have serious medical problems all his life. An appointment should be arranged as soon as possible and ideally within three working days. It was over. He sounded like a wild animal in pain, deep pain. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. I agreed to an internal scan as the sonographer said we could get a better picture of what was happening. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. Yeah, yeah. I didn't sleep that night I don't think. And I'd been on the internet looking up all sorts of things and everything was so negative, it was very depressing, because I thought, 'Well, maybe they've made a mistake, or maybe it's something they can fix, I don't know'. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. The "why me?" All my plans were beginning to fall down. The screen may be directly facing them or at an angle. And so we had to go out a couple of times, [wife] had to walk around, and she had a drink of water, which is supposed to sort of change things inside, or help the baby turn around or something because the sonographer couldn't get the measurements she wanted. Apologise for somehow doubting their right to be in this world. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. I should stop being dramatic and pessimistic. No one else felt him kick. Laura miscarried her twin babies in February. Find more information and details of support groups on NHS.UK. No one else attended and we didn't have a service. 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. But that was too easy. Thankfully I was met by an amazing sonographer, she was compassionate and understanding. The blood test confirmed it was twins. The first words I said were: "If there's anything wrong then it's my fault", I had been working 70, nearly 80 hours the previous weeks and pushed myself hard. 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. I was told this was common as my body and hormones still thought I was pregnant. What would we like to do with the body? 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. And everybody knows and everything is right. During the examination, sonographers need to keep the screen in a position that gives them a good view of your baby. For example, you may be offered further tests that have a risk of miscarriage. And I assumed my partner would feel the same. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. No, we really didn't, with hindsight we probably should have, but not at all, it never occurred to us to be worried about it. And it's, I can't remember exactly what it was now, it's about where the brain is supposed to form. It's part of our family. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." The doctor didn't come. It can be such a shock so do whatever you need to feel better. Again, we weren't understood. And at that point I don't think we, I don't think we realised that there might have to be a decision, because we'd talked about it with, with Down's and the other possible problems, but at this point it was, well okay what can be done to fix the problem - because yes the heart's not developing properly but there must be something we can do. When he came back, he agreed on a termination. I took my vitamins, stuck to the healthy diet and put on a brave face. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. I think there might be a problem'.
She describes having to make a momentous decision very quickly, and the ferment of relief, guilt and grief that followed, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. (See 'Resources'). I was sent home with a leaflet, strong painkillers and two types of antibiotics. From losing my dad to his battle with cancer, to then having to face another battle with cancer and my mum; thankfully she pulled though. And they took us out of the scanning room, into a more quiet room while they typed up the report. I had to wait yet another sleepless night. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. 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. We needed closure, to allow us to grieve properly. By my own hand, I had to end the pregnancy. Except for the persistent, nagging doubts. Intellectually, I knew this was not the case. The thing about that which I felt was difficult is that we could tell when being scanned that there was something very seriously wrong. And that was Monday afternoon. But I was struggling mentally with the anguish, grief and endless hospital visits. Many parents were shocked by findings from the 20-week and later scans. See you in -. But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. So we went home really and I sort of had to think about it all night. What happens at the second midwife appointment? We scattered his ashes over a bunch of snowdrops. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. But he was wrong. However, at the time neither of us could articulate that. So I suppose from that aspect, mind you having not been told that or sitting there, I wouldn't have thought necessarily that was odd. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. So I was, they couldn't actually finish the scan then, the baby was moving around too much, so they couldn't scan the heart and the stomach. It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. But it is a soft marker for Edwards' syndrome. 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'. I hated my body and hated every feeling I was having. Within two days I was waiting in my local EPU unit for further tests. The hormone levels had dropped, but they wanted to scan me again. In order for the sonographer to get good images of your baby, the scan is carried out in a dimly lit room. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. And they took me into another room. I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. I mean the lady who was scanning was very quiet for a long time. hi ladies. I don't know how we got through the next couple of days. Many described how sonographers and doctors were very restrained and didn't speak at all until they had analysed all the baby's details. But the closeness has remained after the drama has died down. But before he could speak, he, too, had broken down.