Problems at 20 week scan

[NikkiNoodle91]

Hi, went for my 20 week scan yesterday and sonographer told us that the baby's arms and legs arnt growing as they should and I got upset so she left it at that. But when we got home and read my notes she had written a few other things down too, "all long bones appear short, feet abnormal" something to do with the spine. I am so upset. Got to go for a more detailed scan and to see a specialist on weds. Has anybody else's little one had anything like this and are they ok? Xx

Sorry you are so worried. My ds had bilateral talipes on my 20 week scan and they didn't give me my much detail at first. . (club feet) Not sure if this is a possibility for your lo. If it is feel free to get back to me x x

Thank you. Just so horrible not knowing what's wrong and if they can do anything. Going to be a long few days until we find out. Xx

At my 20 week scan (I am 27 weeks now) I was told that my baby had Talipes of the right foot and had some minor concerns regarding her heart - at the time I was really upset, I was all prepared to go for a scan, find out the gender then be sent on my way.

It's my nature to ask a lot of questions though, and I think I managed to get myself in even more of a state because every worse case scenario was playing out in my head - as midwife said thet Talipes and heart issues are soft markers for Down Syndrome. So perhaps the sonographer did you a favour by giving you space to digest this new information ahead of your fetal medicine appointment.

I would try and write down all the questions / worries you have before you go because in the moment you may forget to ask them when a simple answer from the doctor could have crossed them from your list.

What also helped for me is I talked to my husband about what we would do if it WAS worse case scenario - so I felt prepared for bad news as well as good - and knew we were on the same page about everything. It is a hard conversation to have and think about, but I found everyone elses "I'm sure it will be okay" approach annoying (though I understood they were well meaning and hoping for the best), as it might not be, and I wanted to be prepared for that too.

A lot of people advised us against googling and research ahead of finding out the exact situation, and they were probably right, but we still looked anyway. I am sure all the doctors and specialists are used to this now and our doctor had to put a few of my concerns that I picked up from this activity into context for me, but I was still glad I mentioned them as they were put to rest.

Hope you get good news at your next scan x

Thank you, me and my partner both took the day off work yesterday and had a good chat. we've decided that if baby is going to be in pain or won't have a good quality of life then we won't carry on with pregnancy. But hopefully that won't be the case. Think because it was such a shock, when we went in thinking everything was going to be fine, that were thinking the worst. I had the blood test for Down's syndrome, Edwards and pateau which all came back as low risk.
I have a seven year old daughter too but we haven't mentioned anything to her yet as don't want to worry her xx

This is what she wrote in my notes xx

I am no expert so won't try and decipher your scan notes - I just felt what they told you sounded serious enough to at least consider what would happen if the news was the worst. That is not to say you should EXPECT it, you should very much hope for the best right now!

I just recall how frustrated it was with everyone but my partner being so forced cheerful and saying it would be fine when I wanted to be prepared for it not being fine as well.

it is awful, having something flagged up because you really do expect it just to be a nice look at the baby, maybe find out the gender and get some photos to look at - I KNOW it's an anomaly scan, but you very rarely hear of it going wrong for anyone, there's almost an expectation that you and your baby will be 100% fine and dandy too - so it is an awful shock when it doesn't go that way.

I ended up having an amnio test and it came back clear for anything chromosomal - which was our main concern as we both felt strongly that I would not continue the pregnancy if we got a positive test for Downs Syndrome. It helped to have made this decision ahead of getting the results even though it transpired we didn't have to make that heart breaking decision.

Good luck and best wishes ahead of your next scan - I really hope things look better rather than worse for you and your baby xx

Thanks me too. It was just a big shock, with me and my partner having no health problems and me having a healthy 7 year old, I just expected everything to be ok! I am just hoping that we get some good news on weds.
I hope your baby is ok bee. It's so stressful to think something might be wrong xx

Looks so perfect though xx

Another one here who was told talipes at our 20 week scan. My ds turned out to actually have posteromedial tibial bowing. It seemed so so scary back then.

If your baby does turn out to have talipes it is very solvable by the time they start school. Have a look into Ponsetti.

At your scan on Wednesday your consultant will do a much more in depth scan and be able to answer any questions you have.

You will probably have scans later to check organs are growing correctly, as pp said it is a marker for Downs Syndrome but they will keep a close eye on you and many physical abnormalities are isolated.

Good luck, pregnancy is such a scary time xxx

Thank you xx