Early scans

[CleverWittyUsername]

Hello my first post over here. Just found out I'm about 6 weeks pregnant - still a bit scared to type those words since it is so early!

I'm tempted to book in for an early scan. H seems to think these early scans are some kind of money making scam as the sites all say 'may do X, may Y' and nothing seems definite. Has anyone had one and was it worthwhile - in that you could see something definite, heartbeat etc? Thanks.

Congratulations. We had one at 8 weeks. Was only £40, we couldn't see much but we saw baby was there and everything was as it should be, it had a heartbeat and that there was only one ie not twins.

Was the best £40 I have ever spent. Would recommend to anyone.

Thanks paddy. The ones I have found through googling in my area all seem to be £95 or £99 so a bit more expensive. But I don't mind the cost and I know H wouldn't if we would really be able to see something that will reassure us. He is just very suspicious about it for some reason!

I dunno if it's the same as the ones around here but try putting some of the names of them into Facebook, they all seem to offer half price codes on there.

I can kind of understand your H feelings, with the NHS we are not used to private medical services.

It will be a Sonogropher who does the scan though and they are very well qualified. They also gave us a rough measurement and advised how far along they thought the baby was. Some of them offer a free rescan if they can't see anything as well.

I looked into early scans too and they were a similar price to yours. My DH was totally against it, he was of the opinion that they were a money making scheme praying on the anxious and he felt the money would be better spent on something for the baby. I was gutted, not to mention paranoid for weeks. I really struggled to believe there was anything growing in there. Every little twinge had me worrying.... suddenly at about 10 weeks I seemed to be a little more rational about things. I still worry but I am able to trust my body a bit more. My 1st scan is in about 10 days time and I'll be 13 weeks. It's been a long wait but i'm now excited rather than worried. its such a personal thing, for me in the end I'm glad I'm waiting.

I have had scans at 6,7,8 weeks for various reasons. I think 8 weeks is a good time to have one as it is midway between bfp and 12 week scan, and if a heartbeat is seen then there is a 98%chance of the pregnancy being successful (versus about 78%at 6 weeks). They can never guarantee what you will see as it depends to some extent on anatomy but I have never not seen the foetus.

Be aware that early scans are usually internal.

Congratulations! I wouldn't get a private scan done prior to 8 weeks if you want to see a heartbeat etc, although bear in mind it will just look like a bean rather than like a baby at this stage. Also your odds of the pregnancy being successful are fairly high following a good scan but it still doesn't offer any guarantees that things won't go wrong after this stage. Depends really on what your reasons are for wanting it, only you can decide if its money well spent or not :)

We had a scan at 9 weeks (primarily because we were seeing family shortly afterwards and kind of had to tell them - they'd have guessed immediately if I wasn't drinking - but felt we needed to have seen a scan first before sharing the news).

• I found it massively reassuring. I really had no faith everything was OK until I saw a little baby-shaped blob with a heartbeat. That will be a moment I will always treasure.

-our sonographer was great, but the clinic was in other respects pretty basic. I'm not convinced the support would have been there had we had bad news, and if there's something they're uncertain about they can't just refer up to a consultant.

• you may have a 'transvaginal' (internal) scan but I've had one of these and it's nothing to fear

• it was nice to have seen the baby at this stage when it was tiny, because it really puts into perspective the amazing amount it develops in the next few weeks.

• I've heard lots of people say not to have a scan before 8 weeks (unless of course there's a medical reason). Particularly around the 6 week mark there is a chance they won't see a heartbeat even if everything is developing just fine, which would just add to worry. By 8 weeks the chance of miscarriage if you've seen the heartbeat drops to reassuringly low levels.

• that said for the unfortunate few everything will look fine at 8 weeks but problems will emerge later. When we had high risks following the 12 week scan I did have a moment of wishing we'd not had the 'false reassurance' of the earlier scan. I was glad that off the back of the earlier scan we'd only told close family who we'd have been happy to know if we'd subsequently had bad news.

Overall I'm glad we did it. Whether I'd do the same thing again a second time round I don't know - it would depend how I felt at the time.

From another angle - I had a missed miscarriage discovered at 9 weeks with an early scan. I was glad I did it - it would have been even more heartbreaking if I had carried on with the 'pregnancy' for almost another month before it was discovered.

With this pregnancy I had 2 early scans (because of the mmc). I saw a little heartbeat at just under 7 weeks, and shortly after the 9 week marker it looked much more like a baby. I found it very reassuring after my previous experience.

Sorry if my story worries anyone.

I had early NHS scans with my later PGs owing to previous complications.

It's say wait until at least 8 weeks, if you want to be reasonably sure of seeing a heartbeat. And do remember, scans are diagnostic procedures and you need to go in with an awareness of all the possible outcomes.

I had a scan at 7.5 weeks, it was about £50 I think.

At the time it was amazing to see, very reassuring etc but in hindsight it probably wasn't worth the money. All it looked like was a jelly bean that flickered, nothing baby-like at all. Also, as has been said it doesn't over ant 'real' reassurance that everything will be fine, just the knowledge that it is fine so far. Ironically, the day after my scan I started bleeding and had to go to my EPU 2 days later and have an NHS one anyway.

I guess their worth is just dependent on why you are doing it? I completely understand why woman who've had recurrent miscarriages have them but for me and DH is was purely because of how excited we were to be pregnant......far too impatient to wait for the 12 week scan.

Overall, in this instance I'm glad we had it done because it was nice but if I got pregnant again I probably wouldn't bother.

Wait till 8 weeks if you must. Dates are so off and no guarantee of a heartbeat before then. I had an awful time at 7 weeks (not private) and was told to expect to miscarry, only to have my care transferred to a different hospital and had to wait till 13 weeks and all was fine. That was a horrendous 6 weeks wait particularly as I have mc before. Then was told by all my Drs that anything before 8 weeks is very hit and miss. It can cut both ways!

It will almost certainly be a transvaginal scan as it's very hard to see much with the stomach ultrasound (although it is possible). Mmc is heartbreaking but less than 1% of pregnancies end this way. Awful though they are the odds are very firmly on your side.

Is there a medical reason why you are anxious? If so you can sometimes get early scans on the NHS. I had early bleeding in both my pregnancies so was scanned at 5wks and again at 7wks (they saw a sac bit no heartbeat at 5 wks) and at 7wks in my second when the same thing happened again. Medically this was to rule out an ectopic pregnancy but I found it very reassuring. I now have two beautiful DC. Some centres allow self referrals too.

The scan we had at 8 weeks was external. I think earlier scans may be internal or if they struggle to see anything.

At 8 weeks if you see a heartbeat there is obviously still a chance of a miscarriage later on as there always is, but it is very similar to the chance of a miscarriage in trimester 2. At that point we felt comfortable enough to tell immediate family.

I had two early scans due to pain, one at 6+1 and the other at 7+5. All they could tell me with the first one was that the pg was in the right place (as opposed to in my tubes) and the right size. No heartbeat was visible. I was booked in for another scan as there were two sacs and they weren't sure if I was having twins. The second scan enabled me to see the heartbeat and revealed that the 'twin' had disappeared.

I had a scan at 8 weeks 4 days as we got pregnant through the use of Clomid. Obviously we didnt pay for this as it was through the fertility clinic, it was AMAZING, made it all seem so much more real and really put our minds at ease. This is our first pregnancy and we had been worrying everytime I had a cramp etc. I will def pay for one in future if I am lucky enough to conceive naturally!

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I'm excited more than anxious as it is our first. However I do get concerned just because I don't feel any different! (Other than achey boobs). I suppose I'm worried that the hormones aren't doing whatever they are supposed to do and we'd both like a little bit of reassurance. From what you've all said it seems more worthwhile to wait a couple of weeks anyway so we can think it over and DH can do a bit more research. Strangely he won't take 'but the forum says it's OK' as actual evidence!