AIBU to want multiple pregnancy scans?

[Pregnantpolly]

AIBU to decide to have a pregnancy scan every 4 or 5 weeks in 2nd half of pregnancy?

I'm a super anxious person and know the scan only shows you what's happening that day but I also have an anterior placenta so less likely to feel movement.

I have no more NHS scans so I'll foot the bill and have private ones. I'm not expecting DH to take time off work.

It's costly and the money can be better used preparing for baby. The money would be coming out of my account not the shared account. I don't buy clothes/bags/shoes or spend lavishly in general.

There's no studies showing ultrasounds contribute to defects or harm baby. I just think I'm being unreasonably and crazy now and want confirmation either way!

I had multiple private scans in the first 16 weeks, and scans every 4 weeks on the nhs because I was having twins. I was really surprised that there’s next to no scans for a singleton pregnancy!

Personally, I think that paying for scans if it will make you feel comforted is fine - pregnancy is stressful enough and anything that gives you comfort or something to look forward to is great as long as you can afford it. I would suggest though that you speak to your MW/GP and try to get some support for your anxiety, because it can really ramp up once your baby is born and the early days are hard enough as it is!

I didn’t take my own advice about the MH side of things and suffered unnecessarily because I was too tired/ashamed/scared to seek help.

What are you hoping to discover by getting these scans?

You’ll know from your previous scans that baby has formed normally, and that there aren’t any problems. You can feel that baby is moving and kicking.

After a missed miscarriage with first pregnancy (found at 11.5 weeks) I paid for private scans at 8, 16 and 24 weeks with my first child. I personally found that it did help me to know that baby was still alive in there. Yes, its just a snapshot but my worst fear was something going wrong and walking around totally oblivious to it again. I had an anterior placenta and honestly never had a pattern of movement all the way up to 38+ weeks (when inducted). Friends thar had anterior placentas did develop more reassuring patterns so you may well do too. This was just my experience.
After 3 more miscarriages I got pregnant with my second. This time I had a posterior placenta and had an early scan on nhs due to my history then paid for 1 more privately (randomly at about 12 weeks as my awful sickness had eased off). Once I started feeling movements I was reassured by that (and amazed at how strong and regular they were compared to my first). So what I'm trying to say (in a really convoluted way!) is you do what you have to do to get you through. Everyone thought I'd go heavy on the scans in second pregnancy too but the movements reassured me so once you start feeling those you may not need the scans for reassurance.

Sorry, that did have paragraphs when wrote it out

I do sympathise with the anxiety as I'm pregnant through IVF after 2 miscarriages and it can be a mental effort. I've also got an anterior placenta but have been told to expect movement to feel stronger by 25 weeks.

Rather than using private scan clinics which have their own process for measuring and checking your baby (which can cause more anxiety) I would first recommend speaking to your midwife and asking for extra support. I know every area is different, but I have been given a 1-2-1 midwife who listens to my baby's heartbeat every week for my reassurance.

I had extra NHS scans as they were concerned over several aspects of DDs development ie they though her head was growing rugby ball shaped etc. When Dd was born it turned out none of the things they were worried about were actually an issue and were either iffy measurements or had righted themselves. I think if I was predisposed to anxiety it would have made me feel awful.

It's been a while since I had kids but in the second half of my pregnancies I had more regular midwife meetings where they would listen for a heartbeat which gave me reassurance things were ok. Have they stopped that now?

If private scans will help you then go for it but I would definitely tell your midwife you are anxious.

I paid for one a month purely because I enjoyed seeing him. Tbh if something it going to happen it will. You could have a scan walk out the place then something goes wrong.

A scan is just a snap shot picture on that day, the baby's movements are the indicator that you need to follow to seek guidance. My worry is that some people might think "oh I don't want to bother the hospital, she is moving its just a bit quieter than normal and I seen her moving about on the scan yesterday"

I had my second baby abroad and had weekly scans from 24 weeks and weekly CTGs from 37 weeks. It was supposed to take 30 mins once a week but mine was abnormal because he was wrapped in the cord 8 times. So it took 3 hours every day and every time I was sent up to the main hospital for another hour. Then they stepped it down to twice weekly but baby had reduced movements 3 times in between so I was up at the hospital for hours then too. I can honestly say I have never been so anxious in my entire life. It didn't change their plan of care and because of the nature of it (obgyn led all guided by insurance) I didn't feel like I had the authority to request an induction. I was scheduled to be induced at 39 + 5 but he thankfully came the night before. All that extra scanning/CTGs etc and I was told by the head obgyn that they can't actually tell if the cord was around his neck from the scans. They can just suspect. I just kept thinking that if this was the NHS I wouldn't have had a scan after 20 weeks and it would have saved me all the worry at the end. He came out when he was ready any way.

Also...with both of mine I had 8 weeks scans in UK. The clinic was poor. Very pretty but ran late, scanning room was not clean. Sonographer had very poor communication skills and was on his phone the entire time to a friend. He wrote something illegible on the bottom of the sheet and said all looks great, this is the heartbeat. When I was 10 weeks I had a hemmorhage (thankfully not a miscarriage) which was caused by a subchorionic haematoma. He had seen it on the scan but didn't tell me so I had no idea there was anything wrong until I had that pretty horrific experience.

So all in all as an anxious person I understand your want to have this extra intervention but from my experience it wouldn't be something I would do.

It’s your money so you can do whatever you want with it.

But it’s very unlikely the other scans will not show any issues that they proper scans haven’t picked up on already.
And if they do show any problems - what will you do about?
I don’t believe an unborn child can have any treatment in the womb anyway.

Are you happy about this pregnancy or was it a surprise?

I have a relative in France - they have monthly scans as part and package of routine care.

My daughter who is expecting twins (had 24 wk scan yesterday) has had a scan every four weeks. It's very reassuring for her.

If you want to book well-being scans privately - there's nothing to stop you.

I know growth concerns, from 28 wks, can arise from the tape measure method (one of my daughters had to have a growth scan due to this). Many say that the tape measure method is not that accurate - especially as lots of women don't get the same midwife to measure them at consecutive appointments. When these concerns are pointed out by the midwife you won't get many refusing a scan and saying ' no, I can still feel movement, I'm fine'. This will plant that seed of anxiety and they will rightly have the scan.

My daughter (now having twins) had a 3D scan privately at 30 wks with her first and found something out that is undetectable before 28 wks and she had measured true to dates at her 28wk midwife appointment - so no growth concerns detected by palpation.

Some are better at suppressing anxiety than others - have a monthly scan if it's reassuring.

Just to give another perspective - I was horribly anxious while pregnant with DD (pregnancy after a miscarriage and quite a lot of complications). That anxiety went away the second she was born and I could see and touch her.

Obviously I have no idea if it will be the same for you, and I do think it's worth considering whether the scans will just feed extra anxiety - but it's possible that for you, as for me, the fear is around pregnancy rather than the baby.

Wishing you all the best

OK I cried down the phone to the midwife a short time ago. I had intended just to ask calmly for a referral to perinatal mental health but ended up spilling my guts.

I have an appointment with her this upcoming week and she advised me to go on the sick from work as well. I need to contact gp on Monday too . I feel that I at least have a plan of action.

I can't have another 20 weeks feeling like this. Saturday marks half way. I've never been on medication or felt this way before.

To be honest in my mind worrying in pregnancy is not good for you so I would ask myself this. Does having the scan allow me to get on with my day and not worry ? If it does then have them. I do think though that it may be worth chatting to someone about your anxiousness as when the baby arrives life is one worry and you don’t want to worry unduly. Take care

I am not an anxious person, but with my twins I needed scans every two weeks and it made me constantly anxious. I would feel okay the week after the scan, but the week leading up to it, I was a mess. Convinced that this time something would be wrong.

It was horrible, so wouldn’t recommend it as a way to manage anxiety. Speak to your midwife and get a referral to the dedicated mental health midwife, they have experience with this and can help you.

Well you're not being unreasonable if you think it would help your anxiety during your pregnancy. Personally I think not scanning again from 20 weeks is poor form anyway and I'd be having at least one more if it was me.

For the posters saying you'll be much worse when the baby is here that's really not true, I was much worse during my pregnancy. I love her more than I could have even imagined and I still have a lot of anxieties but I think pregnancy is another kettle of fish. At least here I can try and control the situation a bit better.

If you think pregnancy scans will help then by all means do it.

As a side note I had anterior placenta and it didn't affect how much I felt her, so it's not always the case that you feel less movement. I felt movement early on too.

I was under the mental health team with my last pregnancy. I had never had mental health problems before. They were fantastic in my area. Nothing was too much trouble. When I went into labour, the staff knew about my plan and did everything to help me get things right. I felt so much better once I had the first appointment. Good luck, hopefully you are feeling less anxious soon

Oh op I feel you, I was the same in my 2nd pregnancy because my first ended in a traumatic miscarriage. I ended up having almost weekly monitoring +- scans by 28 weeks because my anxiety was that intrusive. I was under the perinatal MH team too, they were very reassuring about my concerns but my worry would only alleviate for the 24 hours after my scan. At 36 wwwks we planned a weekly review with view to induce as I was struggling so much. But I delivered naturally on my due date in the end. But the support from the NHS was fab (this was peak covid round 1 too)
this pregnancy now (25 weeks) I’m so different which has made me realise quite how unwell I was! Definitely seek and accept as much MH supooort as you can, keep yourself busy!

best of luck! Xxx

@Pregnantpolly

Fully understand the anxiety, and I started off doing this.

As the pregnancy progressed though the midwife and doctors check the baby's heart each time using a Doppler - which was reassurance enough.

I was paying for scans to see the back of a baby that refused to show her face or any part of the body that we wanted to see. When I had her gender scan she kept her legs crossed for 2 hours.

Honestly, speaking from experience - I'd just get yourself a 4D one at around 30 weeks (I think that's when they say to have it, can't remember)

Oh, come on. How is that helpful? Women have babies in war zones for goodness' sake.

I’m sorry you are struggling, but I’m glad you have now asked for some help @Pregnantpolly.

I think that's what you needed to do, let it all out. Pregnancy can bring out all kinds of feelings that can be hard to manage. The main thing is to seek help which you've done so hopefully things will start to improve.

Personally I think not scanning again from 20 weeks is poor form anyway

why is it “poor form”? There’s no evidence to suggest scans after 20 weeks improves maternal or foetal outcome.

after 20 weeks there is very little in the way if development, it’s mainly growth. So any issues would be caught on the 20 week scan, it would be very unlikely anything would change that wasn’t growth related, which can be picked up at m/w appointments.

Because 20 weeks is a long time not seeing the baby. I remember for me, the fact I couldn’t see what was going on was really difficult. The anxiety around a baby is a hot different, I can go and check on my baby whenever I want and can see and hear they’re well. And if they’re not I can get appropriate help. Pregnancy though, I found terrifying because I couldn’t see them. There was nothing I could do. I think if only for reassurance purposes, an extra scan should be offered.

Anterior placenta doesn't mean you won't feel movements. I've been kicked and punched from 17wks with a high Anterior placenta.
I totally get the urge for repeat scans. We had some issues flagged up on my 20wk scan and we now have to wait until 28wks for the next scan. DH is desperate to go for a 24wk scan but reading the rcog guidelines, there is no point because it won't change anything and won't necessarily give us reassurance.

Focus on your baby's movements and learning what is normal for him/her. Some of my movements are really subtle and at first I wasn't sure if it was baby or wind 🤦‍♀️ but even the faintest movements still count. It depends what position she is in as to how strongly I feel her.

Download the kicks count app and have a look at their website as well.