9 wk Scan - What to expect?

[Glittermonster17]

Hiya, so I will be having a 9 week scan in 2 weeks time. I'm feeling a little nervous about it. (First pregnancy) we paid to have a private scan to put our minds at ease a little.

Can you just tell me what's involved? What to expect?

Thanks

Hi Glitter. Congratulations on your pregnancy. At my recent 9 week scan that I had by the NHS the sonographer checked that the baby's heart was beating and they measured to make sure it was growing according to my dates. That was about it really. I don't think they can do much more at that stage. Mine was a reassurance scan following recurrent miscarriage so a private one may be different.

Did you have to have a full bladder? Also how does it work? Do you stay dressed/undress? Sorry I'm so new to this! X

You lift up your top to reveal your stomach and they put a gel on it to help the sonogram work. They have a flat wand like s supermarket scanner. The image is black and white and very fuzzy. At 9 weeks if you're very lucky you will hear a heart beat and see a small pea. I'm afraid pregnancy requires a lot of patience.

You stay dressed (wear trousers & top rather than a dress, though), lift your top up and will probably have to wriggle your waistband down a bit - baby will still be reeeeally low in your pelvis. You’ll need a full bladder, doesn’t have to be painfully full though - they might have to press down a bit with the scanner so best if you’re not bursting or you’ll be very uncomfortable! They won’t do an awful lot - as Beyond says, they’ll check for baby’s heartbeat and measure the baby’s length. Don’t worry if their dates don’t exactly match up with yours - babies are so tiny at this stage that it’s really hard to measure totally accurately. I was bumped back a few days at my early scan, then my 12w scan put me right back to my original dates! Baby won’t look like much at 9 weeks - it’s basically a prawn, but you might see it doing a little wriggle! It’s very reassuring to see though, and incredible how much they change in just a few weeks - you’ll be amazed at the difference come your 12w scan!

This was from my private scan at about 9w (can’t remember exact dates, sorry!) giant head is on the right, little prawn body on the left. You could sort of see little arm and leg blobs just starting to sprout on the actual scan!

As people have said really.... I had a scan at 6 +6 (heart beat seen but looked like a kidney bean) and at 9 + 3 and the difference was huge. In the 9 week scan the baby looked more like a baby, a big head with little limbs, we could see it’s little legs kicking and heart pounding away. I’ve also picked up babies heart beat on a Doppler at 9 Weeks so this is nice to hear the heart beat rather than just seeing it. I would be very surprised if at a 9 week scan (and you are sure of your dates) they don’t pick up a heartbeat.

Have a full bladder but not to the point you are uncomfortable, I would also recommend doing your bikini line if you are that way bothered (I am) as they took the sheet/paper into the top of your knicker line as the sonographer has to scan very lone, just above your knicker line. The jelly is cold they put on your tummy, the sonographer will look at the screen first before turning it to show you and then measure baby and show you what they can see and explain it.

Enjoy :-)

Just to add - although at 9 weeks you should be fine with an abdominal scan there is a small chance you'll have to have an internal. I had to have one at 9 weeks because I have a tilted uterus and the sonographer couldn't get a clear view with the abdominal. I don't know if private scans offer this though, I had mine at EPU after a bleed.

ditto the others. However I will strongly echo - do not have too full a bladder!

I was SO uncomfy, and where she had to press a lot, it was really quite painful. I then had horrendous stomach cramps for the rest of the evening.

This is my scan at 8+6. Prawn! it is lovely and reassuring to see baby and see a heartbeat. It gave us confidence to tell more family

Thank you for your messages everyone! I'm actually feeling a bit panicky as tonight I started having some brown spotting. Really don't want to lose this bean! Should I be worried? Should I phone the midwife or do I just need to chill?

Thanks!

At 9 weeks I had a little bean with some very stumpy legs and arms! It didn't move around much (at all!!) m but I can confirm it's now 28 weeks and doesn't stop wriggling!!!

Enjoy 😊