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The results come in stages. I was experiencing some light bleeding for the past few days. 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. I want to be happy again. BabyCenter. I went away and came back, and she couldn't get a good picture. 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. 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. It was over. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. I wrote a few things down last night when we were trying to go over things, just to remind myself. Just that really! Did you, how did that scan make you feel? I didn't want to be convincing him to agree with me. 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. As soon as we arrived, we were shown to this little room. 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). All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. So he went out for a walk. . My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. But he was wrong. I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. And they, sort of two of them were looking at the scan machine and then they sort of switched everything off and said, 'Oh, I think we have, might have a problem'. Everywhere you look, there are happy, fat, smug pregnant women. I faced another internal scan where I began to feel helpless and alone. They said the brain was okay -, We were in there for a matter of minutes, literally -, In and out. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . Went off for the 20-week scan, which you didn't, you weren't there, were you, for the first scan? It is a noise that will stay with me for ever. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. It was sick. 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. I didn't sleep that night I don't think. We don't know, but it's not looking good'. He sounded like a wild animal in pain, deep pain. This was on the Friday. Nights were impossible. And so began the most bizarre day of my life. It feels very lonely and isolating. 17/12/2020 17:13. Eventually, the midwife said to us very sweetly, "I think we should deliver the baby now." And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. It was, 'Oh we'll come back to that'. For example, you may be offered further tests that have a risk of miscarriage. 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. 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'. That he was small. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. The thing that I have a very strong memory of is this child's face in amazing detail. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. I thought I was going to burst into tears. You do not have to have the scan. 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 know I can't hurry up the process of grieving. 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'. So we decided that, to have the scan and we went along I think early in the week for that, and spent quite a lot of time with the consultant after that. 13/12/2020 20:45. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. 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. 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. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. Still, the consultant thought things would be OK. 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 same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. I had no idea if we were doing the "right" thing. 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 was then told yet again bad news. And they took us out of the scanning room, into a more quiet room while they typed up the report. The consultant explained that this was just very bad luck and not, as far as they knew, genetic. The same unique expression he had when he saw our two year old born. There was cause for concern. Three midwives came and went. And she sort of got up and walked out of the room and called someone in. Laura miscarried her twin babies in February. The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. The 18 -20 week fetal anomaly scan is a watershed in most pregnancies because for the majority of women it will be the last time they are scanned before giving birth. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. I hated my body and hated every feeling I was having. Purpose of screening. Can you remember that minute. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. If you are not sure, you can contact them and ask. 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. And I can just remember flashing a look at you as if to say, 'Have I made a mistake here somewhere? I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. Wishing to be anywhere, but here being told the same agonising truth over and . And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. I was willing the results to be normal. For five months my body had known there was something wrong, yet I had felt fantastic. You've had your, you know, you've had your triple test and everything was fine. Likely to have serious medical problems all his life. Rather sharply, my partner tried to explain. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. But it is a soft marker for Edwards' syndrome. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". We must have had one before that as well, we must have had one before that, but it came back quite normal. I didn't have a clue. 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. I had a horrible feeling of relief. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. The ultimate betrayal. It sounds crazy, but I just knew. The screen may be directly facing them or at an angle. I don't know how we got through the next couple of days. 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. 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. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. Forcing my hand to my mouth to take the tablet was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). By this time, we were tired. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. Thinking back, I don't know how we left without him. Again, we weren't understood. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. The scan will look in detail at your babys bones, heart, brain, spinal cord, face, kidneys and abdomen. My partner was away working and was waiting to hear whether he was having a son or daughter. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. Yeah, yeah. I can't remember the exact words but she said, 'There might be some fatal problems with your baby'. We bought little outfits, teddies, and researched all the vitamins and foods that I could eat. And it was Christmas Eve and at the time I didn't think, the sonographer did spend a little bit of time scanning us and queried my dates several times and then explained that she couldn't quite see the baby's heart properly and would we come back in a couple of days? x. We decided that we wanted medication to help me. We couldn't say we'd lost the baby, because he was still kicking away, but we couldn't pretend everything was fine, either. Several parents said they would have preferred being told something, even it was vague. However, at the time neither of us could articulate that. 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. I give pregnant women dirty looks. But they didn't. I took my vitamins, stuck to the healthy diet and put on a brave face. 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. 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. The consultant showed us the letter with our result on and, yes, there were the words "Down's syndrome". And in this instance the scan was very evident that there was something very seriously wrong. Well, at the regional hospital it was a 3-D scan. For example, some babies have a condition called open spina bifida, which affects the spinal cord. All my plans were beginning to fall down. Specialist scans I didn't really know what that was. 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. In fact, interestingly enough, going sort of. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. At this point it wasn't looking great. We were told to go to the hospital immediately. or sort of light chat that we'd, we'd experienced before with previous scans. As I waited for the doctor back on the EPU unit. The baby was very, very small. Have I misunderstood what's going on?' The "why me?" 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. 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. Actually you could tell from the brain development as he scanned up through the chambers of the brain, that one quarter of the brain, one chamber was not evident. I had to be rescanned latter. So I trusted him. So I took the test and jumped in the shower. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. 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. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. Can't seem to find info on the Internet. It was a bit worrying but on the plus side I got an extra couple of scans and an extra couple of pictures. Despite this new discovery, the sonographer was still concerned. It is extremely rare for these pregnancies to reach term as they typically spontaneously miscarry early in pregnancy. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. No one else but my partner saw how similar he was to our son. It took 20 minutes to push him out. Because, when you're angry with the world for dealing you such a shit time, you begin to hate the people who populate it. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. We had to discuss what we wanted to do with the little body after delivery. Two days, after on Christmas Eve, (my 12 week date) I had more blood tests. I know it is still early days. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. I didn't think my instincts were worth much. But on, in the middle of March, 10th March it was, we had a 20 week scan. 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. 'Soft markers'. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. I want to be nice again. 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. 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. So that just left the talipes. 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. She describes having to make a . Life expectancy of 30 or 40. I could hardly breathe. The same rush of excitement. And I knew there was no way out. . 26/09/2019 22:46. And I, my husband and I both ran our own business at the time so we were desperate to get back and do some work, and things were going really well, so.. Apologise for somehow doubting their right to be in this world. No sort of questions about, 'Do you want to know whether it's a boy or a girl?' 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 that was it. Unfortunately I was not met with a compassionate sonographer. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. We didn't feel we could tell anyone what was happening. We scattered his ashes over a bunch of snowdrops. We were denying him his life. 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. 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. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. And then all of a sudden, I was still laughing and we were all very upbeat, and then suddenly, he suddenly said, but I was still, still laughing, and he said to me, 'Oh, there might be a problem, there might be a problem with the, I think this baby has hydrocephalus'. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. I guess the morphine made it easier. We've got the same battle scars. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. 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. Later, I did see and hold our baby. But it was very evident. For many other women, the 18-20 week scan was the point at which they discovered the baby had serious problems. I think there might be a problem'. . Has anyone been told the sex incorrectly at their 20 week scan? Is it the same scan or is it the same equipment? 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 had my little leaflet, printed off leaflet about choroid plexus cysts. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. 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 just want to be normal again. I'm trying to understand because I haven't seen a 3-D scan, what it tells the parents? They would then re-test me in two days time. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. 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'). The scan will find about half (50%) of those babies who have heart defects. Then I picked myself up. And thank God I did. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. It felt as if we had gone power crazy. So, in the end, we said we would arrange our own funeral. 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. On the next shift, the new midwife asked us again. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. It was positive, and I felt elated. Nice people shouldn't hear about what we'd done. 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'. The week that followed was an agonising wait. Last reviewed July 2017. Slightly marked from our peers. The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. It was horrible. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. See you in -. Let a mum know you're thinking of them send one of our personalised Mother's Day cards today, Home The sonographer will be able to tell you the results of the scan at the time. And, faced with feeling sorry for myself or feeling sorry for my child, I know which I'd choose. 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. 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. So it was quite common, this is what happens. 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. The consultant at the time wasn't really that interested in that imagery. 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. 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. Which is what I'd seen. I sat and waited to be called for my scan.