Bad news at NT scan - terrified

[PatsyStone39]

Hi Ladies,

Could I please have a bit of a hand hold.

I'm currently 13 weeks 4 days and went for my 12 week scan this morning. It all started out positively - baby looked good, the heartbeat was detected and was absolutely fine (4 valves all working fine) all limbs looked good, as did nuchal fold - then the midwife became concerned.

Apparently there was a very slight fluid in the skull and the head was measuring larger than the torso. The baby was measuring about 6 days behind. She also mentioned the bloods I had done at the GP were way off. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask exact figures - my head was all over the place. I'm also currently living outside the UK and I find people have difficulty with my accent and at times I go a bit mute because of this.

Anyway, I saw a consultant who was also concerned and straight away did a cvs; saying i was highly likely to have a chromosomal defect. I am terrified! I've gone from being low risk last week to this.

I think i'm most scared of being told next week there is something wrong, to terminate, and what this will entail. At over 14 weeks i'll have to medically give birth in a hospital, won't I?

I should add we've been in fertility treatment for 5 years and this was my first pregnancy. The thought of going through that again.... sigh

Any reassurance good or bad will be welcomed. I just need to know what may be in store for the next few weeks.

x

Big hugs. It is actually good that you are allowing your feeling to come through, even if you feel traumatised now. At least you are processing things and you will get over it faster because of it. I hope your partner is right. With regards to the termination. My latest loss was at 11+3. It felt like a mini labour in many ways with contractions. None of the bad pain of actually having a baby, just a lot of rhytmic cramping and contractions and then the sac coming out wiht baby inside. The sca came out relatively early. I had been cramping on and off all day and knew it was coming, then at 11pm it ramped up to rhytmic contractions and by 11.30 I had passed the sac. I then lost a lot of placenta and endometrium and then cramping and contractions didn't really start to ease until about 2am. By 4 am it had settled to just above bad period pain level again and I got some sleep. I bled heavily for 5 days, then lightly for another 2 weeks and it was all over. It was not fun, but it was far less traumatic than the fact that I had lost our baby. It sort of provided some closure instead and shut the door on it all.

Take care of yourself and get lots of hugs from your husband.

I went through exactly this in May. The 12 week scan showed several abnormalities that the sonographer told us was very likely linked to a chromosome issue and it turned out our little boy had T18.

These next few days waiting for the results I found the hardest as your whole life feels like it's on hold. We tried to do some nice things to take our minds off it.

Once you know the results, the hospital will give you all the advice you need. It might help to write down any questions you have now in case you forget them at the time. I was offered a surgical or medical management and I would have been about 15 weeks (they said 13 because he was measuring small) and I know several hospitals will do it later. I felt medical was better for me but there was moored sure either way, it was entirely my decision. And the termination itself wasn't that awful; unpleasant, sad but not awful.

It is heartbreaking that you're having to go through this, it really is. If you have any questions or just want to chat/rant/whatever, let me know