What happens at the 20 week scan?

[Newmummytobe79]

Getting nervous/giddy as my 20 week scan is two weeks today! We don't want to know baby's sex ... is it obvious and should we not look at certain points or can only a trained eye tell?

Is baby shockingly bigger than the little wriggler we saw at 12 weeks?

x

[Binkybell]

Hey Newmummytobe79

I had my 20 week scan 2 weeks ago (this is my first pregnancy), and have to admit I was slightly disappointed. I was expecting to be able to see everything and for it all to be really clear - and it wasn't!! I still needed the sonographer to point out the bits she was looking at!!! Saying that, it's still exciting to see your little baby moving around.

As for the sex, I can only talk from my experience, but we didn't want to know either, and I had been wondering whether it would be really easy to tell - it wasn't!!! I still have no idea what I'm going to be having.......

Other mumsnetters might be able to give you different experiences, but my ultrasound really wasn't very clear at all. Although the sonographer seemed happy as she was able to check everything she needed to, so I guess to the trained eye it was.

I hope you have a great experience and a clearer one to me, but whatever happens it's still lovely to see your baby, however clear it might be!!
Good luck.

[Newmummytobe79]

Aw thanks Binkybell! Glad to hear everything went well - even though baby wasn't too clear! I know I'm daft but I keep thinking we'll be able to see baby wave! :) Did you get a scan picture? x

[BikeRunSki]

At mine (3 years ago now, but DC2 now due too) the sonographer looked at the screen first and checked everything was OK before showing it to us. I guess this is to be able to prepare us for bad news if need be. Before turning the screen round he asked if we wanted to know the sex (we did) so he pointed things out. I wouldn;t have known if he hadn't (not a big obvious willy or anything).

I thought it was quite clearly a baby (albeit with unclear genitals!) and he danced around and waved a bit too. Show off. Still the same.

DH cried a bit too.

[JumpingForJuly]

Aw I loved my 20 week scan, was amazing and baby had changed so much and we could see her little profile perfectly.
At the 12 week scan, bless her, she looked like a prawn but at 20 weeks she actually looked like a proper little baby

Towards the end of the scan the sonographer asked if we wanted to find out the sex, there was nothing glaringly obvious on the screen that made her look like a girl but I'm sure the sonographer would tell you to look away if there was anything which would give away the sex.

We got about 10 pictures and on a few of them you can actually see her umbilical cord thats how clear everything was.

As Binkybell said its just amazing to see your baby again no matter how clear you see them x

[glizzle]

Mine was a naughty baby so didn't get good images except of his willy (we wanted to know though) and his little hands and feet which were really cute! The rest the sonographer talked us through so "here is the heart - all fine" etc. I found it all a bit nerve wracking waiting for each bit to be ok, we got some pictures but not good ones just due to the position. But overall a positive experience and much more detailed than the 12 week scan. Good luck!

[bumble34]

my 20 week scan was amazing The unit has had tv screens put in so that you aren't all craning around the much smaller screen on the scanner and it made a massive difference to the detail we could see. Not only could you see all 4 chambers of the heart and it beating but the heart valves opening and closing with every beat.

Mine kept waving his hand around in front of his face which was really cute As for knowing the sex i think if you don't want to know they will be careful about avoiding that specific area, but think it's unlikely you'd know without someone pointing it out. The first shot they showed us was only clear when it was pointed out however when they had a second look little man had moved and it was like a classic graffiti drawing No doubt at all.

They will explain everything as they go and it really is amazing...enjoy

[nunnie]

My sonographer spent the best part of both my 20 week scans checking and measuring the screen was turned once she had finished and was happy everything was okay with DD, with DS there was a problem so was a little different.
With dd it was a case of this is this and this is that we asked about the sex and was told it. Then we left and waited for photo and report to be printed.
Was a very clear image.

[Piffle]

Well at the scan for our ds2 I had tummy pain and they checked and checked, gave us an unexpected 4D pic, which clearly displayed gender!

He then said no idea about pain, scanned again and said go to your more local hospital, your appendix looks a bit concerning...
3 days later, made it home after appendectomy at 20 wks

[MrsBloomingTroll]

Most of our 20-week scan (DC2's was yesterday) was involved with checking heart function (they do this amazing thing with colours on the screen to show the blood flow between 4 chambers of the heart...so so clever), and that all organs (brain, kidneys, stomach, etc) are visibly present and seem to be functioning. The organs show up as dark splodges so you can start to spot them yourself.

For the rest of it the sonographer was checking key bone structure like the spine, thigh and arm bones, measuring leg bones, measuring size of head and stomach. They count the number of fingers and look for club foot and cleft palate, also check the eyes seem correctly formed. You get a print out showing where your baby's measurements sit according to average.

She also checked the position of the placenta and the amount of fluid around the baby.

This is IF the baby is in the right position...our little so-and-so wasn't, so I have to go back next week for another scan to finish the stuff she couldn't see!

The baby does look bigger than at 12 weeks. The photos we got are only down to the bottom, the legs didn't fit on!

As for the sex being obvious, no it's not. With DD1, DH and I were convinced we saw meat and veg, but apparently the female genitals are very big at that stage. She was a girl, obviously. We didn't see anything obvious yesterday - the sonographer asked at the outset if we wanted to keep it a secret (we did) and so may well have stayed away from the key areas.

[MrsBloomingTroll]

FWIW, we had a private scan at 18 weeks with DD1 and then the NHS scan at 20 weeks, and the scans were exactly the same.