Silly question about full bladder and scan

[blondiejess1982]

I have my first scan on Friday and I have read that you should have a full bladder. My scan is at 8:30am so we will leave home about 7:40 (allowing for getting there, parking etc) I will probably get up at 6:45 and erm go to the toilet when I get up now is this okay? Or shall I try and hold it in? Or will drinking loads of water on the way to hospital be okay? Sorry for stupid question (I do have a brain in my head normally - honestly!!)

Recommendation I had was to drink a pint of water in the hour before the scan :-). So yeah, drink on your way to hospital and you'll be fine. Hope it goes well, its very exciting:-)

Thank you Plonkie. I am so nervous that I couldn't bear it being re booked because I went to the toilet too soon ! I will drink loads of water on the way

Drinking on the way to the hospital is a good plan. If your bladder wasn't full enough, they might offer you a vaginal ultrasound scan rather than the usual abdominal scan rather than just rebooking things.

I always drunk on the way and once when I hadn't had enough they asked me to drink some more in the waiting room, never any mention of having to rebook.

About 1 pint, 1 hour before, but my appointment was 20 minutes late and it was absolute agony!

I would recommend 1 pint maybe 45 mins before to allow for lateness. Maybe sipping instead of downing a pint in one go.

They will ask you to wee a little bit out if it's too much pain and they're running late, which I had to do, and it was horrible. I wish there was another way!

Hope your scan goes well, good luck! x

At my 12 week scan they were running behind and my appointment was over 30 minutes delayed and by the time I got called in I was bursting for a wee! I explained to them there was no way they could put pressure on my belly to scan me without me weeing myself and they sent me straight to the toilet, thank god! They had no problem scanning me after with an empty bladder

I've always emptied my bladder right before a scan (I hate needing a wee and having to concentrate) and it's never been a problem. I am slim-ish but by no means tiny if that makes a difference.

At my last scan they had me empty my bladder as it was too full.

Does it say in the letter you need a full bladder?

I've never needed a full bladder in any of my scans, always been fine. I think it depends on the scanning machine.

If your hospital requires a full bladder it will say in your letter.

Check with your hospital whether you need a full bladder. I had 2 children in different hospitals, and one asked for a full bladder, while the other specifically said that a full bladder is not required. No idea why there are differences in that though.

I have 3 children. I only needed a full bladder for my 20 week scan with my first one - that was at a different hospital from the other two.

If they say you do need a full bladder, then weeing first thing and then having a drink before you go in should be fine.

I could never get it right with my scans. For my first one I drank loads but my bladder was too full so I got sent to the loo to do ??half a wee' . Then at my second scan my bladder wasn't full enough so I was sent back out to the waiting room with a big glass water and scanned again half an hour later.

Don't hold your overnight pee, you'll be bursting and iirc it can contribute to utis if it's been in there overnight.

Pee, have a pint/big glass of water a little bit before you leave, you'll be fine.