placenta check at 36 weeks - how do they check?

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Just wondering what to expect tomorrow... do they do a normal ultra sound or will it be an internal? I need to psych myself up

[willilearn]

I had one last week due to growth chart crossing over a percentile line, it was a thorough scan, no internal and a follow up two weeks later. Guess it depends on why they are checking, but hopefully you will have the same? Can you get hold of your midwife and ask? Good luck, hope all goes well.

[juniorcakeoff]

Its a doppler scan of the placenta, experience is much like a normal ultrasound, the scan shows the blood flow through the placenta and they can see whether there are 'notches' / restrictions....iirc there are also different colours which also mean either the blood is flowing through nicely or whether it is too slow/blocked.

I'm assuming you are measuring behind or have a history of blood clots or something?

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Sorry, just realised how brief my op was! Its for positioning as the placenta was very low at 20 weeks.

[BitsinTatters]

I think maybe an internal one - only because I had a scan late in PG and they decided to check doing a trans vaginal one ...

[hubbahubster]

It's a normal ultrasound, but if that scan shows the position is a bit borderline, they'll do a vaginal one too. That's what happened at my scan for the same thing anyway. The sonographer did say I could refuse the vaginal scan if I wanted (I was nearly in tears at the idea as it brought back loads of memories of when my MMC was detected - damn pregnancy hormones...) so if you can't bear the idea, you don't have to have the internal.

[JustDanni]

Its a normal scan just yo check that placenta has moved up and isnt blocking he cervix xx

[Sweetpea86]

I had mine at 36 weeks last week and I thought I'd have to have an internal but was just a normal ultra sound, my placenta had moved up so maybe she just didn't need to investigate any more :) don't worry you will be fine

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Thank you all for replying, I can relax a bit now :)