20w scan - what to expect?

[emeraldgirl1]

I have got so focussed on the whole gender discovery thing that I haven't actually thought about the serious aspects of the scan!

What are they looking for at this stage? Just general healthy growth and all body parts looking normal?

I'm due to be scanned next week and feeling very nervous today for some reason. MUCH more so than the 12w scan, which may be counter-intuitive.

Yep - they'll spend a lot of time measuring stuff. Back of the neck for Downs indicators (and that takes ages so don't stress), length of spine, limbs, stomach size, skull and other bits to see if it is all on target.
You'll see much more definable body parts than the splodgy 12 week blob which is really cool but won't get a view of the entire baby (too big now on the screen.
You'll get a print out (in the UK anyway) afterwards with the measurements and where they are as an average. Not sure how reliable they are as an indicator of final birth size though. Both my DC came up super large on stomach size and leg length which has been borne out by height and appetite but I don't know if a large head at 20 weeks would necessarily be something to start stressing about :-)

i wouldnt be worrying as oscar said they are just measuring and checking baby is healthy, i actually enjoyed 20wk scan much more you can see the baby much more clearly and movements ect

I enjoyed mine as the sonographer talked me through the measurements she was taking and explained all the steps. She took measurements, checked the structure of the brain, chambers of the heart, placenta position, number of vessels in the umbilical, presence of kidneys, stomach fluid (to show baby can swallow), amniotic volume, lips for cleft lip, feet for club foot, number of fingers and toes, nasal bone... everything really.

I also paid for a 4D scan as I couldn't resist. The pictures are amazing - I can actually see what my baby looks like, not just a grainy cross sectional splodge. She has the chin and facial structure of her paternal granny.... which is really quite strange to know!

I was terrified before mine, so that's normal. We all know the list of anomalies they are looking for so we all worry about what they might find.

Thanks everyone!! wow panicnotanymore, the 4D scan sounds amazing!

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who was nervous beforehand, makes me feel a lot better - thank you! :)

emerald - I've put a copy on my profile.... I won't keep it up for weeks, but take a look if you want to see what technology can do. It is pretty amazing.

Twitchy - that all sounds completely lovely (and glad everything went fine!).

Love the idea of meeting the baby for an update and a coffee!! :)

I had mine on Monday and I was more nervous about this one than the first one because it's where they really look for abnormlities.

Luckily she's perfect and I enjoyed the scan more in a way because you get to see so much more, they start at the head and take so many measurements, they point out everything to you, all the organs etc, the only thing they dont do is count the fingers and toes but they count the long bones to make sure they're all in place.

The picture is much clearer too, someone earlier said they didn't get a view of the whole baby but we did, she did a full body look first then worked her way through and at the end went back to full body to take the scan photos. Maybe it depends on the babys position?