Early scan reassurance

[raindrop83]

I had an early scan today at 9+3 and all is looking good with a strong heartbeat. Is it true that once you've seen a heartbeat the chance of miscarriage drops significantly? Just looking for some extra reassurance I suppose as it's looking like my 12 week scan is going to be delayed due to the virus. I know in other countries the 12 week scan isn't a thing and the first scan is always earlier so I'm confused why we place so much importance on it?

My stomach also hurts from the scan a little, is that normal??

Hi. I have had multiple miscarriages but with my last live birth, i was told( after having a scan at 8 weeks) that i should expect to have a baby. It's 90 something percent likely (97% i think) it will result in a baby even after i had several miscarriages.
My pregnancy was successful

So i would expect you are doing really well. Plenty of hugs for you as i remember how anxious i was throughout the pregnancy

@Lottie2shoes Ahhhh thanks for responding and for your reassurance. It's been a bit of a journey to get here so I'm terrified of anything going wrong!

I think, generally, the importance of the 12w scan is linked to the screening they can do (eg measuring the nuchal fold, seeing some of the organs) as the difference between 9 and 12 weeks is huge.

At my 9 week scan, my baby looked like a shrimpy potato. At 12 weeks, it looked like a baby.

Would you tell people after a successful 9 week scan? Not everyone just close friends and family? We haven't told anyone yet!

@raindrop83 Its your choice. Tbh though i waited till the 12 week scan just for that extra reassurance. Dont think it made a difference though

Although i think i did tell my mum and my sis now that i think of it. They kept me from going crazy those first few months

I agree there is a massive difference between 9 weeks and 12 weeks. I had two early scans. 7 weeks and 9 weeks as I have bad anxiety. All perfectly normal and showing a nice heartbeat. I’m now 20 weeks and just had the anomaly scan yesterday. Still perfect!

Good luck and congratulations!

Here are the stats from the Miscarriage Association (stats are for those who've suffered previous miscarriages but still relevant):
"Research amongst women with a history of recurrent miscarriage has shown that those who saw a heartbeat at 6 weeks of pregnancy had a 78% chance of the pregnancy continuing. It also showed that seeing a heartbeat at 8 weeks increased the chance of a continuing pregnancy to 98% and at 10 weeks that went up to 99.4%."

We had a 6-week scan where we saw the heartbeat and told only our immediate family – parents and siblings – the next week as it was Christmas and we wanted to do it in person, plus it's our first and we were excited! We waited for the 12-week scan to tell the rest of the family and close friends. If we happened to see anyone else after that, we told them, so it wasn't a particular secret, though we did eventually 'announce' on Facebook at 20 weeks.

Like with PP, the 6-week baby scan was a teeny smudge, a little bean. But at 12 weeks there was a full formed baby; such a massive difference!

Congrats! I had a viability scan at 7 weeks & it was reassuring to see a heartbeat. I'm older and had previous losses, so also looked up the odds of MC after seeing a HB. Seems the odds diminish with each week, but are still higher if you are late 30's/40's. Unfortunately this doesn't always show genetic issues. My 1st pregnancy also showed a HB on early scan, but had obvious genetic issues on the NIPT and 12 week scan.

The 12 week scan is of particular importance for the NT measurement, as it can only been seen and measured properly from 11-13+6weeks. I'm unsure what is done in countries that don't do this scan though?

Those stats sound reassuring! I still might wait until 12 weeks though to tell anyone. Time just seems to be going so slowly at the moment!