talk to me abt 20week ultrasound why important? what if it's 'late'

[bebemooneedsabreak]

just that...
Why is it important to have?
I know the basics: i.e. checking for anomalies in the baby... is there anything else?
I mean if there were problems you'd then presumably have the option to terminate, is there some illness which could be treated at this time, which could not be treated/caught later? is there any other reason for this scan?

and what happens if it's late? like at week 24?

I'm not a medical professional so the below is my understanding - nothing else.

At 20wks the chances of seeing anything is about right. If you wait too long then sometimes you have a lesser chance of seeing some stuff.

You're right when you say that it offers you the option to terminate if something really bad was shown up. There are things which can be treated in utero. I think mostly that it's because most of the scans are done at 20-22 wks there are most measurements etc available for those weeks so more markers of 'normality'.

Why do you want to wait? I shouldn't think it would make that much difference TBH but someone else may be along shortly to say otherwise...

Oh, meant to say that your option to terminate would be lost if you waited until 24 wks. That may, or may not, be important to you.

You can actually terminate after 24 weeks for medical reasons so it wouldn't be lost.

20-22 weeks is usual, partly because that's what the head circumference and growth 'norms' are calculated on and party because at that stage the baby is developed enough for everything to be visisble but small enough for everything which needs to be seen to fit on the screen. I had mine at 23 weeks which still gave enough time for any anomalies to be double checked and termination to be an option if we wanted (which we wouldn't have).

It also checks the position of your placenta and you may need another scan in your third trimester if you have a very low-lying placenta at your 20 week scan to check what delivery options will be available.

It depends on the timeline of your hospital - if your baby has a problem and you need to move to, say, consultant led care or a specialist hospital then ideally that shift should take place as soon as possible, especially if there's a possibility of intra-uterine surgery.

See. I told you someone would be along who knew more than me. And explained it better!

I'm not a medical professional, I just ask lots of questions And I was out the country at 20-22 weeks, wanted it done before but they said no because there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to see everything they wanted so I wanted to be sure that 23 weeks was okay.

I think my MW is fed up of me saying 'why?'.

On my 20 week scan, it found an issue with my little mans kidney, which needed to be treated at birth, he was put on antibiotics on his first night and has had numerous tests since and will remain on antibiotics until he is 3 or over when they will recheck to see if issue is still present.

Definatly worth it for me as I can't tell by looking at him he has a issue with his bladder and kidney but it could have made him poorly.

I have been told to have my 20 week scan (due on my exam day) at 19 weeks not 21, she said something about because my BMI is low it shouldn't be a problem. We will see if I have to go back it will have to be 21 weeks.

Frak I have visions of your MW looking at you the way mums do with their toddlers after a whole day of 'why'!

When I went for my 20 week scan, I was told that I may have a shortened cervix. Luckily, it was just due to an anomaly on the actual scan picture (I went for a 2nd scan the next day which showed that all was normal, and I'm now 35 weeks), but had it not been, I would have needed to have a cervical stitch put in asap, as the risk of membranes rupturing gets higher the number of weeks that you are. I'm not sure what the cut off date would be for the procedure, but the sooner it is picked up the better.

it's not that I want to wait.. it's that I too am out of the country and when I went in today at the German MW they said they don't/won't do it unless I have German insurance. BUT I'm back in th Uk just before Easter so was thinking I might be able to do it then...

Are you booked in with maternity services in the UK? You may not be able to choose your scan date. Can you not get it done privately in Germany if the rest of your ante natal care is there?

It's 600euros apparently (I asked)

I've technically booked in with the UK MW at my local GP but because I said I'd be gone we didn't get any further than that. I have a general MW appt when we get back just to touch base -I'm not back official in the UK until July (month before baby is due)

600?!

Are you there with work? If so, does you employer have a health insurance scheme for employees who aren't covered by the Geeman system because they're there temporarily? Or if a UK employer can you claim your time off for ante-natal care?

If you need to have it done in the UK you'll need to tell them ASAP.

Good luck - balancing maternity care between 2 countries is tricky at the best of times.

600euros for 30minutes of time- yeah I know- wrong line of business... if you want to make Money in German I've learned be in real estate or Ultrasounds...

Basically agreed to come with DH and we were told we'd be covered with German insurance thru his employer and then found out day before we left that actually no we weren't going to be covered...decided to come anyway thinking we'd be able to sort things out once we got here...and have not really been able to successfully...