Early scans?

[Trousersareoverrated]

I am thinking of getting one at 7 or 8 weeks because I will need to tell my work before my NHS scan for contract purposes but I want to be more sure this is a viable pregnancy.

Anyone have any experiences of early scans? Worth it? Should I wait til 8 weeks?

At 7 weeks you can get a good idea of whether it's healthy from the heart rate, CRL and yolk sac measurements, but the risk of miscarriage decreases significantly each week so if you can hold off until week 8 then it's probably worth it for a little extra peace of mind.

I had one at 6 weeks and 3 days and I could see the heartbeat. Had another at 11weeks and the progress was mind blowing and exciting!

The sonographer said 11 weeks was "safe" so be honest if you are going to do it early do it when you want because it might be a while (birth!) until you are safe safe or its close to the NHS scan anyway.

If you see what I mean!

I had one at 8 weeks and 10 weeks, definitely worth it especially at the moment. DP couldn’t come to NHS 12 week scan but could come to the private scan, and was lovely to know everything was ok and have some photos

Yes I had early scans several times, but if you need 'viability' then you really need to wait till 12 weeks to reach the lower risk of miscarriage stage. My last miscarriage was 11 weeks.

I'm a little curious as to what circumstances mean you need to tell work, as legally you shouldn't have to until, I think, 15 weeks before due date.

I know that miscarriage can happen any time but I think the chances are lower if you’ve seen a heartbeat and a ‘normal’ sized fetus.

My work is short term contract based so I will get a decent maternity package only if I’m employed on a contract up to the date I go on maternity leave. My contract is up soon and need let my boss know that I will need the next one to take me until at least May. I don’t HAVE to tell them but it is within my interests to do so.

The risk of mc drops by about 10% each week roughly speaking. Heartbeat is usually visible at around 6.5 weeks, but, I'd wait till 8/8.5 weeks or as long as you can after that point. There's a steeper drop in mc rates for heartbeat after 8 weeks.

Remember you'll still be entitled to claim maternity allowance if anything goes wrong with your contract. It's not a lot, the same as SMP, but you can still get it.

Also there's not a lot of info on size - they'll measure it to match against your last period date and estimate how many weeks you are, but it doesn't mean a lot without further scans to track growth.

They'll be looking for gestational sac, yolk sac, flickering heartbeat and position with the uterus at this stage to state things look 'normal'.

Thanks all. I know I would still get SMP but it’s nowhere near the 6 months of full pay I am hoping for and would allow me to take more time off.

Wait until 8 weeks in case you’re not as far along as you think.

I waited until 8 weeks as I had read that the chance of miscarriage after seeing a heartbeat around then dropped a lot. I saw the heartbeat and it actually had the shape of a little baby- could see little arms and legs :)