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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Why / how do you have an early scan?

28 replies

Nanoon · 12/04/2007 17:37

I have seen lots of posts on here where people refer to having a scan at 6 or 7 weeks? Is this for a particular health reason or is it a regional thing etc. I am 5+1 and having had a missed MC at the end of January (discovered at 12 wk scan ) my 12 week scan seems a long way off so i don't know if i'm entitled to an ealier scan. I don't have an appointment with my GP until 24th so any advice would be great.
Thanks

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FioFio · 12/04/2007 17:38

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PurpleLostPrincess · 12/04/2007 17:42

I had 2 m/c's (one missed) before this one and got some quite severe pains at around 8 weeks so I went to the GP who referred me to EPAU. I was getting brown discharge too so they agreed to an emergency scan. I have heard of people lying about bleeding just so they can get a scan but I don't know if I could do that...

I reckon if you plead with your GP or MW and explain your situation, they might at least book you in for an early scan?

Original poster

Nanoon · 12/04/2007 17:45

part of me is absolutley terrified about having any kind of scan for fear of going throught what happened last time but on the other hand reasurance would be wonderful.

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FioFio · 12/04/2007 17:53

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Snarf02 · 12/04/2007 18:07

i paid privately as had spotting on two different days in my fifth wk of pregnancy. The doc rang the EPU where i live but they would not scan me until 7 wks and only unless i had any bleeding in my sixth week they would only scan then. I am a real worrier so decided to pay privately £130 for a private scan at 6 wks and it was wonderful to see the heartbeat and know all was okay. I did think i was still pg as had awful sickness really early on and both days after the spotting still had awful sickness but for piece of mind was worth it. If you have had previous miscarriages you may be more likely to get a scan for free on NHS i think at an EPU.

Good luck wiht your pg and congrats

tutu100 · 12/04/2007 18:07

I had an early scan because I'd had some very severe pelvic pain and they wanted to see if the pregnancy was ectopic. I have a friend who had a missed m/c which wasn't found until the 12 week scan. She is pregnant again and was offered a scan at 7 weeks. Ask your GP or midwife and try and get an earlier appointment with your GP IMO the 24th seems a very long way off.

littlelapin · 12/04/2007 18:08

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juuule · 12/04/2007 18:30

I had early scans due to having several missed m/c. I did request them. They weren't automatically offered. This was NHS.

juuule · 12/04/2007 18:32

I also had first trimester bleeding.

RedFraggle · 12/04/2007 19:11

I had a few early scans with this pregnancy as it was a suspected ectopic. Not a good thing though as the first scan was around 4 - 5 weeks and nothing was visible therefore they told me it was an ectopic and admitted me to hospital for surgery that night! Lucky me saw another consultant on ward rounds later in the pm and was allowed to go home and have a repeat HCg test a few days later! Turns out I was pregnant and had a few more early scans to double-check.

honeyapple · 12/04/2007 19:21

Hiya,

I had an early internal scan at about 6 wks when PG with DD. I had been referred by my GP as I had some pelvic pain, and had also taken MAP-which makes ectopic PG more likely.

If you are worried I would definitely talk to your GP.

Original poster

Nanoon · 12/04/2007 19:23

wow RedFragle that was lucky.

When i had my missed m/c the baby had died at around 9 weeks so even if i had a scan now that is no guarentee that all will be ok in the end but at least the chance of anything going wrong decreases as the week tick by.

OP posts:

Loopymumsy · 12/04/2007 20:07

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MuminBrum · 12/04/2007 20:13

It depends on local provision. My GP referred me to our Local Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit for a scan at six weeks because I'd had some spotting. The sonographer had to use an internal probe - she couldn't pick up anything using the normal external one that they run over your stomach. But if your area doesn't have an EPAU or the equivalent, I guess you'd have to go private - the old postcode lottery again.

Caz10 · 12/04/2007 20:33

Redfragle can I ask what signs/symptoms lead to your suspected eptopic? I am having a lot of bloating etc and quite strong af type pains which really worried me at first. However no bleeding, and I wouldn't say the pains were severe, and from reading on here it seems af-type pains can be normal. Confused and concerned!

juuule · 12/04/2007 21:31

Some of my early scans were before there was an EPAU dept. at the hospital. Seems the bleeding and m/c were enough for GP to refer me for scan. I didn't have to go private. I don't know if this still applies or whether it is different in other areas.

twocatsonthebed · 12/04/2007 21:43

Nanoon, I was in exactly the same position as you - pregnant after a previous missed miscarriage (in my case after 7 weeks) and I got an early scan on the NHS by basically going to my GP and saying that I didn't want to go through all of the thinking I was pregnant when I wasn't again. (I then had to really chase it up as the referral people lost it, but that's another story). Make an earlier appointment with the GP and ask. (Also, where are you, some of the big teaching hospitals have walk-in scans at their EPAUs for women who have had previous worries).

And I know how daunting another scan can be - I dreaded all of my scans throughout the pregnancy, as I was convinced it would be bad news after the last one. But it is worth it - if they can find a heartbeat at 7 or 8 weeks, your chances of miscarriage are much lower...

And congratulations on this pregnancy too - and I really hope this goes well for you.

naturelover · 13/04/2007 09:27

I had a missed m/c last summer (detected at 11.5 weeks) and when I got pregnant again a few months later I commented to my GP that I was planning to pay for a private scan for reassurance (because waiting till 12 or 13 weeks seems like an eternity). She said, don't go private, I'll refer you, and she did, at week 7 (even though I had no pain or spotting). An internal scan was done at the EPU and we saw the heartbeat. I know things can still go wrong between week 7 and week 12 but I was definitely less worried during that time. I hope you have a supportive GP - it made a huge difference for me. Good luck with this pregnancy.

RedFraggle · 13/04/2007 14:18

Hi Caz10,

I had severe one sided abdominal pain. Didn't actually know I was pregnant initially as my cycle is long and all over the place. I had been in a lot of pain, dull aches and then occasional really sharp, stabbing pains. I had no bleeding at all. I did a pregnancy test as I told DH about the pain and he suggested "might i be pg?" well I got a positive result and went to the doctors the next day as I was worried about the pain. She referred me straight to the EPU. If you are at all concerned it is worth heading off to the doctors and getting your mind settled.
After my experience though I would definitely recommend asking to wait 48 hours if possible and have a repeat HCg level test even if the scan doesn't show a baby! The consultant I saw on ward rounds was older than the initial dr I saw and he said himself that he doesn't trust scans at such an early stage. SO glad I saw him as they had me on the list to have my right fallopian tube removed that night as they had seen a "lump" on it in the scan!
Turns out all the pain was caused by the corpus luteum cyst on my ovary repeatedly bursting and leaking fluid into my abdomen... It finally stopped after 12 weeks.

RedFraggle · 13/04/2007 14:22

Nanoon, in your position I would be going to my GP and talking about the previous missed miscarriage and saying that you didn't think you could handle the stress of waiting until 12 weeks to find out if everything was ok this time. They might push for you to have an early scan to put your mind at ease. I would certainly be asking them to do this for me, it is definitely worth asking as if you don't express your worries they can't help you.

FlossALump · 13/04/2007 14:24

I had one because I was mainly worried after a previous m/c. Also though, I had had some spotting and quite bad cramping. I went at 6 weeks and then the week after. It for me, made a worrying time even more worrying in retrospect, as the embyro appeared too small for dates on first scan. Huge sense of relief after second scan though. You could go and d/w your GP?

diddle · 13/04/2007 14:39

Nanoon - I have had 2 miscarriages, both before 10 weeks and I was never offered an early scan. with my 2nd pregnancy i started bleeding and went to the docs and they couldn't get me a scan until days later, and i needed reassuring there and then.
I Had to wait.
With my 3rd pregnancy (which was successful) we paid privatly to have an early scan, due to more early bleeding, which ended up being nothing, but we very worrying at the time.

Where abouts in the country are you?

I am now pregnant for the 4th time, and have already had an early private scan at 8 weeks just to make sure all was going ok, and it is so far.

It is worth it for the reasurance. We went to mums in solihull mums private scanning hope my link works

diddle · 13/04/2007 14:40

link doesn't work!

try again

mums private scanning

mum2george · 15/04/2007 11:16

Nanoon

Am surprised that they are making you wait until 12 weeks. We problems with the last pregnancy, long story but they thought it was a missed m/c at the time and they scanned me at 8 weeks this time. They said that there was no point in scanning me earlier as the baby is not always visible before 8 weeks and they didn't want to worry me further.

We have a Early Pregnancy Unit at our hospital, if you have one it may be worth giving them a ring, or speaking to your MW or, if you were under a consultant last time, giving their secretary a ring.

lfm · 16/04/2007 10:54

At our early pregnancy unit (NHS) you are eligible for an early scan if you have had a miscarriage before. In the past I got them every 2 weeks for reassurance but now I think they have restricted them. When I was recently pregnant I phoned at 6 weeks asking for one and they said it was best to wait until 8 weeks as that was when there was a significant difference in outcome and if I had one at 6 weeks I wouldnt get the 8 week one. I have always just phoned direct but you could go through your GP as well. Hope everything works out this time.

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