Scans in Wishaw General, Scotland

[daddy2be]

We are about 6 weeks preggers and just had our first appointment with the midwife this morning.

The girlfriend is an older mum at 36, and has had a lot of health issues in the past. We are, therefore, concerned to ensure the health of our baby and check for Downs etc.

We were very surprised, and dissappointed, by the midwifes assertion that the Wishaw General will not do a scan until week 14, and that the scan will not actually test for anything other than a heartbeat. No blood tests or anything else will be performed until week 16 at earliest.

This is terrible. Everything we read on the internet says you should be scanned at 8 weeks and then at 12 weeks. Everyone I know (albeit none in North Lanarkshire)that are pregnant or have been pregnant recently was scanned at 12 weeks.

I thought the whole thing about waiting 12 weeks to tell people you are pregnant was because by that point you will have been scanned and determined if the baby has developed normally?

To get peace of mind, we are now going to go down the expensive route of paying for the scans at the Nuffield. Surely this can't be the only option open to us?

I'm at The Royal in Glasgow, and i didn't get a scan till 16 weeks either, it seems pretty daft to me when you get the 20-week scan so soon after, but this seems to be the norm in this neck of the woods.

I did get a scan at 7 weeks at the early pregnancy unit though because i had some severe stomach cramps.

Can you contact the early pregnancy unit and see if they will see you based on your concerns? There's an early preg unit at monklands and wishaw and at the royal so i'd phone round them and see if anyone will see you. (i'm clearly a royal pain in the arse though, but if you're really worried it might be the best thing) You'd still need to pay for blood tests in that case.

I'm sure you've got nothing much to worry about. Remember that while you're in a higher risk category, that risk is still pretty small.

Not been to Wishaw but am not too far from you and this sounds completely normal for Scotland. At my local hospital we are offered a dating scan at 12ish weeks (this will be your 14 week scan, not unusual for it to be this late), and then an anomaly scan at about 20 weeks. When I had DS 2 years ago, the anomaly scan wasn't even on offer, you only got a 12 week scan. I think my local hospital is now doing the nuchal scan (Downs screening) as part of the dating scan, but not 100% sure of this and again it wasn't on offer when I had DS.

I have had an 8 week scan this time round, but that is only due to 2 previous miscarriages. I am not sure if there are any other situations in which you'd be offered a "routine" 8 week scan. Obviously you are likely to get an early scan if there is any sign of problems with the pregnancy (bleeding).

Hope this helps, it really does sound to me as if your being offered the usual level of care.

Congrats daddy2be

I'm in West Lothian and I have my 12 week scan next week. If you use the date of my last period it would be a 14 week scan if you see what I mean? know exactly where I am because of a scan I had at the fertility clinic. It was 8 weeks since my last period but the scan showed a six week pregnancy.

The first scan is usually a dating scan to confirm that the dates being used for the edd are accurate as every womans cycle is different. A scan is really the only way to confirm how far along you are.

The blood tests for downs etc are done at 16 weeks because AFAIK the thing they are testing for doesn't always show up before 16 weeks.

I know that weeks seem like years at this point in pregnancy, but I don't think the level of care your DP is getting is too far off the norm.

Good luck with everything :o

I'm 37, and I'm under the care of Wishaw too, and to be honest, they actually provide excellent care. And in fact a lot of places only give you one scan in total (unless theres a reason for more). I have never heard of any health area where you are scanned at 8 weeks as a matter of routine - everyone on mumsnet seem to be scanned early only if theyve had previous pregnancy problems.

I've had 2 miscarriages, so I got a couple of early scans at the early preg unit at Hairmyres, EK. If you phone any of the EPUs, they may take you in for an early scan if you explain your concerns.
HOWEVER - and I warn you, I am going to be very blunt here - the reason that pg women are not scanned routinely before 12 weeks is that the scans can give false hope, as MOST miscarriages happen within those first 12 weeks. With one of my miscarriages, we saw a healthy, strong heartbeat at 8.5 weeks and felt over the moon. I lost the baby at 9 weeks, so I know all about false hope, believe me. In the end, the scan didnt prove anything or reassure me in any way. It just made me negative about having early scans this time round.

I dont mean to scare you at all, because there is a much higher chance of everything being fine with the baby, so try not to worry about every possible problem that could happen. I know thats not easy. But really, there is no reason to get lots of scans at all - they will not change the outcome in any way.

We also got a high risk of Downs, but - touch wood - the scans since have reduced the risk, as all seems to look ok with the baby. But I now wish I hadnt had the blood tests, as I would still have continued with the pregnancy regardless. My point again is, monitoring the pregnancy at 13, 16 and 20 weeks is enough to be able to check that all is ok, and if it's NOT, then you will be offered more tests/scans etc if need be. There is also a reason why they wait till 16 weeks to check for Downs and spina bifida, but i'm not sure what the reason is, to be honest.... Probably worth Googling.

NOTE - when I got my scan date, I phoned them and said that I would be nearly 15 weeks when I got my scan, so they changed it to 13 exactly. When you get the date through, give them a ring and say youre on holiday or away or something, and they'll bring the date forward a bit. I agree that 14 weeks is daft.

Best of luck to you both :)

i got scanned at wishaw general, 6 weeks- as i was admitted with hyperemesis, 14 weeks and 20 weeks. And im sure it says somewhere why they need to wait so long for blood tests etc...