Did you / would you have an early scan privately?

[BananaStand]

I am 9 weeks. I am a real worrier and have been stressing about my very on / off symptoms and occasional cramps / back pain. My first NHS scan is not until early January.

My DB has very kindly offered to pay for a private early scan as my Christmas present. However, I am unsure whether to go for one. Firstly, because even if everything is ok, there's still a fair chance things will go wrong until the 12 week scan. Secondly, because (and I know this is ridiculous) I know I will be miserable over Christmas if anything is wrong, and maybe it is best to live in blissful ignorance.

On the other hand, I really want the scan, I think I would find it reassuring, and I really want to see my baby!

Any thoughts / advice / experience you can share would be greatly appreciated :) I just don't know what to do for the best!

I did. I paid for the Panorama test at 9 weeks so got a scan and the test done. Also chose to find out the sex.

I never had any, although I am a worrier.

The thing is, if the pregnancy ends for whatever reason, it will, regardless of whether you have a scan or not .The way I look at it, you could go for a scan at 9 weeks and the pregnancy may not progress past 10 weeks. People say it provides reassurance, but for how long? A week? A day? At that very moment?

I did with my 3rd pregnancy because my 2nd resulted in a mmc which was discovered at 12 week NHS scan. We decided not to wait when I fell pg again and had a scan at 7 1/2 weeks. Seeing the little beans heartbeat at that time made all the difference. When I fell pg again after that we decided not to have an early scan.

Mine is a similar story to many others, no private scan for my first but my second I had a missed miscarriage diagnosed at 11 weeks. The pregnancy hadn’t progressed beyond 5 weeks. In the following months it took me to conceive again I wished so many times that I’d known earlier.

I had a scan at 7 week this time and heard a heartbeat. It was reassuring, but to be honest I was still worried after (still am really, nearly at my 20 week scan!). But at least I knew that for now the pregnancy was ok for now and that I wasn’t wasting my time thinking I was pregnant when there wasn’t actually a live baby.

Please DO NOT buy home dopplers. Can never say it enough when it's mentioned on threads. Unless you are trained you won't actually necessarily know what you're hearing and they can give false reassurance, leading to potentially fatal outcomes if appropriate help is not sought. Wishing you the best for you lot pregnancy.

I've had an early scan on both sticky bean pregnancies. Definitely worth it for me for the reassurance.

I had one at 7 weeks. I don't really know why - the midwife sent us for one, knowing that we would have to pay for it. I think she looked at us and thought that in our elderly (39 and 42) and shocked state we would need one to convince us that this was happening? It showed a single heartbeat. DH was super shocked then at the thought that there could have been more than one!

Yes of course (to those saying it) it can't offer total reassurance. But for those who have had missed miscarriages detected only at a 12-14 week scan it saves the heartache of believing you were pregnant for up to seven weeks when you were not.

I've now booked mine for next week 😊