Sonographer pushed really hard - worried

[Monki85]

After some unexplained severe cramps I booked a private 'reassurance' scan, which ironically has me more worried than I was before. I was 9weeks + 3 days, their website said it was internal before 10 so on arriving at the clinic I went to the loo to empty my bladder. However when I went in for the scan she informed me they only do internal if they can't get it externally. I also have a retroverted uterus. So she pushed the scanner really hard into my pelvis to find the baby, which she did find. It wasn't painful, but she really dug it in. I was so distracted by seeing the baby and heartbeat, and presumed it must be normal? I was in and out of the room within 10mins. But now I'm really worried that the pressure could have hurt the baby? At such an early stage of pregnancy could it of damaged it's development? I have a friend with a severely disabled little one, and I fear it could have caused something similar. edited by MNHQ

You'd already had painful cramps OP, so chances are that's where the discomfort is coming from.

These private scans should be banned, they are profiting from maternal anxiety. Stick to the NHS ones, they are done for medical purposes only. There are good reasons why they don't keep doing them for you, it's reassured you for around 5 minutes. Then you're back to worrying.

I had an early scan at 7 weeks as well as wasn’t sure how far alone I was. I was also very surprised at just how hard she was pushing into me. I didn’t empty my bladder and this combined made it slightly uncomfortable, but I knew they wouldn’t do any damage.

Quite normal and even at my 12 week scan they had to do some deep pushing! X

Please try not to worry, (although I know it’s easier said than done!) the sonographer wouldn’t have done anything that would cause a problem, they are very well trained. If it makes you feel better, I was doing burpees and Pilates/yoga where you lie on your front until 12weeks pregnant (which is advised as safe until that point) so effectively my body weight compressing my abdomen and baby is absolutely fine, 8 months old and no issues!

I'm a radiographer, haven't trained as a sonographer but we learn about it in undergraduate years. The pressure for any scan is due to allowing the signal to transmit through all the soft tissue layers,to give a clearer picture.

For what it's worth I can remember the pressure and how uncomfortable it felt and my last pregnancy was nine years ago!

It's normal to worry and you're going to worry much more over the next few years because that's what parents do, let this one go now,the baby wont have been harmed at all

Baby will be fine, don't worry.

Thanks for all the comments (in the most part!). Reasurring to hear it's quiet common and normal. My mind had definitely run away with worst case scenarios! x

Op I think it is normal to worry about this sort of thing (at least I would have too and def had a couple of unnecessary trips to GP/hospital over 3 pregnancies) I think you have to make a conscious effort to not worry about things though unless there is clearly something wrong. Ask on mumsnet - get some reassurance then stop worrying.

BTW I don't think you necessarily need to ask for a planned c section - it is different type of pain in labour, but working on keeping calm will help, also as mentioned reading funny pregnancy books etc

You will hear ‘try not to worry/don’t worry’ from everyone and we’re trying to help 👍🏻
BUT at the same time don’t you feel bad for worrying!

My heart goes out to those who have had severe struggles with fertility/IVF as I know how much I’ve worried throughout this pregnancy despite conceiving the first month DH and I tried! I can’t even imagine what it must be like the fear/anxiety by the time you’ve waited years for it to happen and fear it won’t happen easily again should anything go wrong! Only women who have gone through that are actually going to understand how you feel OP and there are threads on here where you’ll find women who have gone through your journey!

Despite having had HG and a pretty wank time these last 15+5 I will never stop considering myself extremely lucky!

I really hope everything works out for you ❤️

What a lovely post, Disney.

Thank you so much for your understanding post @DisneyMadeMeDoIt
After a 3yr journey I guess it's not surprising that I might panic. I'd pretty much decided it wasn't meant to be for us, I was so shocked it worked this time. IVF takes over your life, it's such a relief to know it's hopefully over.
All the best with the rest of your pregnancy xx

Maybe easier said than done but if you start to panic about something, think through it rationally and you will generally find it should snap you out of it.

In this case, sonographers are trained professionals. They know what they are doing and how to do it safely. They don’t need patients telling them how to do their job. If they went around slap dash heaving into everyone’s pregnant stomachs with wild abandon AND there was a possibility this caused problems then the natural outcome would be lots and lots of law suits. Which there are not. Because it’s not an issue.

I’m not a sonographer but had the joy of dealing frontline with patients for 25 years. I generally find, not just with this example but in any aspect of life, if you work a problem through you find there is either no problem or at least you can deal with the part you need to without the panic.