Scans

[Cookiemg]

I am 13 weeks pregnant and on Friday we had a great dating scan....everything in it's place etc.

I see my midwife on Wednesday but was just wondering when are all the tests done for Down's, Spina Bifeda etc and is it true that Edinburgh only give you one scan?

many thanks

Elizabeth

Sorry Howdie perhaps I should have made myself clearer - I meant potential issues that might mean treatment is required immediately after birth for example. I didn't mean termination and not sure where you got that from in my post. Certainly my friendly consultant wouldn't have meant that either although I take your point that he would be used to seeing complications rather than normal healthy pregnancies (he has 2 kids of his own who are utterly delightful btw and is one of those "miracle of childbirth" types who is just so ENTHUSIASTIC about how great pregnancy, birth and children are. He's a gem)

Now I don't know what to do! I was literally just about to book a 21/22 week anomoly and sexing scan and now I don't know if I should! This is my third child, my youngest is only 1 (last month! - thankfully my oldest is nearly 8! - and I'm thinking I should get an anomoly scan incase there are any serious problems and also to find out the sex (which we have never done before) in order for us to help prepare and plan, especially given that this one was a surprise to say the least! My first was born in Wales (DH Welsh) and we only had a 21 week scan and it was very thorough and reassuring, but it was a long time to wait for a scan as we didn't get the 12wk one. Last year, I was back in Edin and I just got the 12wk for DD2. I came back with low risk for downs both times and have done again this time round. My initial 12wk scan with this one looked fine too, but I am concerned given that my youngest is so young, I don't want her care, and obviously that of my oldest, to suffer if we have a severely disabled child. I'm not saying that we would automatically terminate at all, I can't imagine that at this stage but it would give us a lot to think about. I'm also aware that these scans do not give any definitive answers. DH thinks it is unlikely there will be any serious problems and I hope he is right but now having read some of the posts I'm not sure what to think now. (Am 20 wks)

P.S. Hi Meep!

With my first baby (34) I had a very high possibility of Downs so had an amnio etc, all fine, now a healthy 22 month old...but I was really worried and it was a horrible time.

With second pregnancy, I paid for a nuchal scan at health care now and had no Downs scare.

This can be done at 15 weeks approx I think, and although you have to pay over £100 for it, it was worth having my mind put at rest.

I had the 20 week scan privately too, and am really happy that I did.

Good luck with your baby!

Can I add that having an amnio does not mean that you would terminate a poorly/disabled child. It might be that you want to prepare yourself, your family and friends and set up a support network before having the baby.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had a VERY high chance of giving birth to a disabled child, Howie? Or do you just give out advice?

Hambo wrote: "Have you ever been in a situation where you had a VERY high chance of giving birth to a disabled child, Howie? Or do you just give out advice?"

Hi Hambo. That's quite a loaded question and I'm not sure how entirely relevant it is given that every pregnant woman faces risks of some sort or another in her pregnancy. Your post suggests that I have personally offended you Hambo - that was certainly not my intention and if offence was taken then I sincerely apologise. I was happy to read that in your case everything worked out ok for your child and the test was wrong. Incidentally, this blood test is notoriously unreliable and has a very high false positive rate so many many women are put in the same worrying position that you were.

I am not saying that the only reason people have anomaly scans are to make decisions about terminations, please read my post again. I am saying that people should think very carefully about the reasons why they are having a scan and certainly wanting to know about a possible problem to prepare for this is a valid reason if it applies to you. A large proportion of women, however, want to have a scan just to see the baby and they assume that scans pick up every single abnormality. As I previously mentioned, we simply do NOT know how safe scans are so the general advice is that they should be done if there is a clinical indication to do so. Some women who have a potential problem picked up at scan then worry for the rest of their pregnancy and are not re-assured or prepared for it and that problem then turns out to be not nearly as problematic as they had worried about.

There are a whole variety of scenarios that we could mention here but I think the crux of what I am trying to say is, do not blindly accept things and question the value of everything "offered" in pregnancy. and think carefully about the implications of the results of any test or scan you choose to have.

Hi Howdie

You never offended - I think I came accross more grumpy than I intended.

You are definately correct when saying that women worry when they have a potential problem picked up during a scan.

Sometimes I think less information is less stressfull.

I had loads of scans incase of various problems but had a perfectly healthy baby. If I had been around 30 years ago I would not have had this potential picked up, but would have had a much more enjoyable pregnancy.

No problem Hambo, glad you weren't offended.

Yes, I think ignorance can be bliss sometimes. I certainly felt that being pregnant with my third child as a midwife having had my first two children as a non-midwife! LOL.