1st Scan - Why so long?

[Roxycross]

I have my 12 Week scan on Wednesday on my letter it says I'll be seeing my consultant and I'm expected to be there all afternoon - 4+ Hours. Why would it be so long?

[Dellarobia]

Are you a high risk pregnancy due to age or for a medical reason?

[Roxycross]

I have a Low BMI so I've been switched to consultant lead care - My first pregnancy so it's all new to me

[RaeSkywalker]

I guess it'll be scan, other assessments/ discussions based on the reason you're consultant-led, then off to have blood tests?

I've got my 12 week scan on Wednesday too! Hope yours goes well

[talkingtoclarry]

its the same at our hospital. For our first scan we arrived at about 2pm and left just after 5. We ended up seeing around 3 different nurses before the actual scan. Blood tests, blood pressure, weight and height.It's incredibly inefficient and me and OH we're very confused by it all. But we soon forgot all the faff when we saw the scan!

[Roxycross]

Thank you RaeSkywalker I hope yours goes perfect for you also 🚼🙏

[Roxycross]

Talkingtoclarry Gosh I was hoping my scan would be the first thing they done as the need for the loo is extremely strong atm lol guess I'll just have to grin and bear it - Thank you for the response

[missybct]

No specific reason perhaps - I'm consultant led too and we were definitely there 2 hours + - I think it depends on your hospital, they may be advising you that you can expect to be there all afternoon rather than you're expected to be there. Not sure if that makes sense, but I think they tell you to allow for more time than is necessary - ours letter stated between 2-3 hours (which was right) so if you're needing to leave work, you can give them adequate notice.

Hope it all goes well

[Northernlurker]

I think they might be allowing for running late. If they have complicated results to explain to anybody it ca n really make the whole clinic run late. Much less annoying for people to get out sooner than they expect than be late, especially if you've arranged childcare or planned to go back to work after the appointment.

[LumpishAndIllogical]

At my hospital we had bloods, weight, blood pressure then scan was 45 minutes long. We had to wait an hour and they gave us blood results (combined risk of chromosomal issues). We were at the hospital for 3 hours.

Didn't need to have a full bladder for scan, specified in the letter. Not sure if it's needed for 12 week scan?

[scienceteachergeek]

Hi there

I was booked in last week for 8.40am, left at 12.10pm.

I had the scan, then the blood tests, then weight and blood pressure, then a chat about how I was doing, then the consultant (I'm having twins so have to see a consultant regularly). Each one of these had their own waiting times.

If there's an emergency then that significantly slows things down. Unfortunately there was one last week.

I wish they'd warned me of a 4 hour wait, our letter said expect to be 2hrs!

Good luck

[Roxycross]

Thanks all for the resplies, Guess I didn't realise they'd be doing all the other tests like I Said it's all new to me. But yeah my letter says I need a full bladder so I'm definitely hoping for the scan to be the first thing done but thank you again for the well wishes, Very excited