Has anyone had their anomaly scan at 18/19 weeks?

[lookingforaline18]

My anomaly scan is booked for when I am 20+5 but I'm 17+2 at the moment and I'm worrying so much about them finding something wrong. I don't think I can cope with another 3 weeks of this anxiety. I was thinking of booking myself in for a private anomaly scan so that I don't have to wait as long. But will it be accurate?

I had a reassurance scan yesterday and baby looked fine but obviously it wasn't a detailed scan like the anomaly scan. I just wanted to know that my baby is still alive! If there was something majorly wrong would the sonographer have seen this yesterday?

At 17 weeks if there was a major issue the monographer would probably have picked this up. However, they wouldn't have looked for everything they do on the anomaly scan.

You'd need a proper anomaly scan to be 100% sure but private ones can be very expensive.

Try not to worry, I'm sure baby is fine. Anything major would have been spotted.

Sonographer*

If they had seen anything major they would have flagged it up.
Please talk to your midwife about your anxiety- I had terrible trouble during pregnancy and there is lots they can do to help- have a chat and see where it goes. You do t have to struggle like this!

Hi, thanks for your replies. I've got an appointment with the midwife next week so I will talk to her about my anxiety definitely.
The thought of finding something wrong terrifies me.

If the hospital was able to fit me in when I'm 18 weeks would that be too early to carry out the scan properly? I know the NHS offers the scan from 18-21 weeks so it got me thinking about trying to rearrange for an earlier date.

I think if a reassurance scan didn’t reassure you then moving your anomaly scan won’t help either.

Just to say I completely understand the anxiety. I suffer from health anxiety anyway (largely under control thankfully following CBT) but being pregnant is such a new thing, so far outside of my comfort zone! I have to deliberately stop myself from researching things all the time. Every time I think I can relax and enjoy myself I last a few days before starting to worry again!

All that said, please try to remember that at this point any sort of major anomaly is really rare. There's a less than 1% chance of anything that serious i.e. more than 99% chance that your baby is fine. It's likely that the NHS has already offered you their earliest appointment, although you can call if you want.

Even most of the heart defects that baby could but probably doesn't have can be treated, and as you've seen him/her recently then any skeletal issues would probably have been becoming obvious. Please try to relax, enjoy being pregnant, and do talk to your midwife about your anxiety xx

The national standard is for an anomaly scan to be performed between 18+0 and 20+6 weeks but most places like to do them nearer the 20 week mark as they are more likely to see everything they need to see in enough detail.

Honestly as someone who has dreadful anxiety, I think if you moved it earlier you’d then worry whether it’s accurate or not and want to repeat it at 20 weeks... I know how stressful it is, but unfortunately scans were never very reassuring for me as I would worry something had gone wrong in between them, and I was having them every 4 weeks due to twins. As it happens, something did go wrong in between scans, but I picked up on the problem and had an emcs

I would try to deal with the anxiety if you can, as it doesn’t get any easier when the baby arrives.

I’m not sure how it works in the UK (am an expat overseas) but my understanding is that you don’t get another scan once you’ve had your anomaly scan at 20w. So if you bring this one forward, it’s a looooong stretch to go until your baby is born.

Thanks for your reassuring posts. I've managed to move my scan from 20+5 to 19+5 so at least it's one less week to wait.