Private scan called me to say they made a mistake

[Beau2020]

So I went to Window to the Womb for a private scan. They have just called me to say they made a mistake a misdiagnosed me twins. I'm absolutely gutted.

They diagnosed me with twins at my 8 week scan and since then I have been taking extra folic acid and I've been mentally preparing for twins. I went for a 10 week scan which found only one baby and no signs of vanishing twin syndrome. I grieved a lost baby. Today, window to the womb admitted they had made a mistake and have offered me a free extra scan.

I'm absolutely livid!! How can experts make a mistake like that!? There's a picture of my scan on a previous thread so I won't post again.

@InkogKneeToe this is correct. I was told window to the womb are all medically trained experts and that's why we went there. For the price we paid we expected a good level of service. We did our research before just booking any scan.

I agree with TeeBee. Sadly in devastating situations we fixate on it and it only does more bad than good.

There’s several ways you can interpret this mistake, I don’t think anyone has been insensitive.

They’ve told you you’ve lost a baby- you could think positively in this and think thank god I didn’t actually lose a baby.

Stress isn’t good in pregnancy, that’s a fact. Keep your mind factual- your pregnancy is healthy. The rest is an extremely unfortunate mistake but no one was physically hurt and being angry about this doesn’t change the past.
It will continue to damage your future however, if you don’t try and suspend the anger.
M

Beau2020

The sonography machine predicts the due date when you measure from crown to rump. It’s really simple to do. It’s simply measuring one fixed point to another.

Did you actually see two sacks side by side with two sets of heart beats?

If you didn’t I think they measured the same one

@Beau2020 when you're ready, do you think it'd be useful to have some kind of meeting or correspondence with them over exactly how this could have happened and what measures they are going to put in place to ensure it doesn't happen to another woman? I work in a (totally unrelated) area of medical complaints and a lot of people get good closure from this kind of meeting.

This was the scan. One was a strong heartbeat and the other was more of a flicker but was only measured at 6 weeks. Same sac.

Did you ever see this?

They might say they are NHS registered sonographers but literally anyone can stand in

Ah just seen your update

@Peterspotter it's okay! Looking at your picture, I think the smaller "baby" in my scan May have just been a large yolk sac?

Op you needn't worry about people accidentally terminating living babies. In my experience I had a further 2 scans after the one that told us our baby died from the NHS.
I understand your grief but you do need to try and focus on the positives. You never actually lost a child although you will grieve what could have been and that's normal. But don't let it cloud the rest of your pregnancy, it isn't worth it.
I'm pregnant for the 4th time after 2 losses in a year and I can 100% say that dwelling doesn't help in the long run.
I'd ask for your money back and just have the NHS scans from qualified sonographers

You really are making a lot about a mistake. They have rectify it by offering you another scan and a refund.
I had my ds with ivf. First I was told I had 2 then one embryo was gone or never existed then I was told I was going to have a girl then it was a boy.
Honestly what do you want from them? Why so much drama?

It may have been Beau

Also the bladder can look very similar to a uterus I know when I did training I’d settle in there at first.

I think the sonographer really fucked up. You’d be able to see two clear sacks with two clear jelly babies in there most likely moving. The sonographer should have gone for this very clear shot before saying anything.

Did you ever hear the heart beat of it whilst both were on the screen?

You can always complain to the CQC.

Don’t let this taint this your new baby or your excitements

Are you overiweight or have a lot of fat around the middle? If so expect more mistakes even in NHS scans.

I have to agree. I do understand your upset & annoyance but it’s happened, a mistake was made, they’ve apologised & offered you a refund. You haven’t lost a baby & you are happily continuing with your pregnancy. I’m not sure what you want to hear from us or what else you want them to do?! Goodness, my beloved Grandpa had a lump misdiagnosed by a highly trained consultant. Turned out to be cancer & it cost him time on his life. That’s something to be angry & upset about it.

Time to come to terms with things & move on I think. There are worse things in the world. They thought they saw two heartbeats & so told you. Scans are not an exact science. And you really don’t need to worry about people aborting living babies. If a private scan showed no HB, the NHS will double check before carrying out medically managed miscarriages etc.

OP, it’s a bit of a head fuck when something like this happens and it takes a bit of time to readjust. You were mentally preparing for twins and then, even though you were never actually carrying twins, there is a sense of loss. Have had a similar albeit slightly different experience and it took a bit of time to get used to the change in news even though it was still good news and I also had to accept that nothing is guaranteed at this stage and best thing is to focus on being healthy and well. Congrats and try not to let this mar your pregnancy for too long. Agree you should try to get a refund if possible.

And ask them what steps they’re taking to resolve the mistake so someone else doesn’t go through the same experience as you.

I'm another who thinks you seem to be being very dramatic about this. A scan at 8 weeks is extremely early to even see one baby clearly a lot of the time. I had 2 private scans during my pregnancy and many NHS scans, the private scans were made very clear that they did not replace NHS diagnostic scans. I wouldnt have taken their word for 2 babies unless it was extremely obvious and you had pictures showing 2 sacs or 2 babies within the 1 sac. And would have waited till your NHS scan to confirm.

I had a window to the womb scan and the sonographer was one that I had seen for a hospital scan, so I know mine was qualified. However they are not all current NHS sonographers and in our experience this was made quite clear.

I wish you a healthy pregnancy but please try not to stress about this because stress isnt good at all for your baby! Also dont worry about these mistakes causing healthy babies to be aborted...you would be referred back to the NHS for more scans before anything like that happened if they found something worrying.

Just out of interest, if the OP was told there was only one baby but then when she went for the second scan she was told there wasn't a baby at all would that change anyone's answer?

Sorry OP, it must have been a horrible experience, I wish you a happy and stress free pregnancy going forward.

@baubled thank you so much for this message. I've been sobbing my heart out how everyone is telling me I'm being dramatic but it's absolutely fine. I understand why people would think that but I can't help the way I feel. I've not had a nice pregnancy experience at all and I feel overwhelmed by all the different things im being told. This is my first time so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks for your support ❤️❤️

@baubles well no, because that would be a miscarriage. This was a mistake at an early scan with the sonographer apparently thinking the yolk sac was a second baby. Not good but not the same thing.

I don't think anyone is being deliberately insensitive. I think everyone is sympathetic to the emotional turmoil OP has gone through but it's happened, it can't be undone, what does the OP want? What will all this anger achieve?

I think the advice to accept this as a mistake, focus on the positives and move on is actually really good advice.

The people on here saying she's being dramatic and over the top, put yourself in her position, you'd feel exactly the same, it's easy to be flippant on the Internet, dealing with something in actual real life is totally different.

@Beau2020 I've just seen your reply and am sorry you've had a tough pregnancy experience all round. May be you need to talk to someone about how you're feeling?

It's all too easy to pin everything on this ne thing and let the rage build up inside you but it honestly won't achieve anything and won't make you feel any better. We're all just trying to help you get a little perspective.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

I don't want anything, I just wanted to share my experience like most people do when posting here? I don't want anything from you guys, why do you keep saying that?

I thought this was supposed to be a positive support group to uplift and help each other through such a difficult time. There's really no need to say I'm being dramatic and ungrateful. I'm very thankful of the healthy baby I have, of course I am.

OP isn’t being dramatic it’s a massive head fuck. She would have spent hours thinking about this other ‘baby’ it’s hard to rewind when you see something else.

The over weight comment didn’t help either. This isn’t op fault.

OP I've had miscarriages and don't think you're being dramatic or ungrateful at all! It sounds heartbreaking to be told there's two babies and to think you've lost one, I really feel for you. That's a lot to deal with emotionally and I don't think it's anyone elses right to tell you how you should feel. You feel how you feel and that isn't wrong.

I think some PPs are being dismissive as a lot of people look down their noses at people going for extra private scans and they're focusing on that. However, as it is far too late to go back and change that, there's no point kicking the OP while she's down, it seems very cruel.

OP just spend the next few weeks looking after yourself, don't listen to people telling you how to feel. The best thing you can do is to allow yourself to grieve for this little baby that never was and be kind to yourself. You will feel better about things and

Did you read T&Cs - the ones I have stipulate about they're not medical professionals, seeking GP help etc. Hopefully you can move on and appreciate the healthy baby you're having