What to expect 20 week scan?

[NewMum2021x]

Hey! 20 week scan tomorrow - any idea how long it will last? What to expect? Are scan photos a lot different from 12 weeks?

@NewMum2021x I’m only 16 weeks so haven’t had mine yet. I’ve read it lasts around 30 mins, they check for 9 common abnormalities and should tell you in the scan if anything is picked up. Hope you enjoy it ☺️

Hi OP, I had mine a few weeks ago.
It was much much longer than my 12 week scan, and much more thorough. As the PP said, they check for nine abnormalities and they basically go through each of your baby's organs and check sizing and what they look like. They will also measure the stomach and back of the neck measurement too. Not that is wasn't unpleasant but I was quite glad to be out of there tbh.
They will put a sheet in your notes with all of the measurements they took and what percentile each of them falls into. They will also look between the legs for the sex if you wanted to know that too.
There were very nice parts too, they check the little bones in the arms and legs and feet and hands, so that was lovely. They look at the babies face to check for cleft palette which was cute as we could see the mouth. When they check the eye sockets it's a bit weird because you just see a skull on the scan. The baby will be much more formed with bones etc.
Good luck for tomorrow :)

Our actual 20 week scan was about 25 or so minutes. Sonographer asked if we wanted to know the baby's sex then started scanning. Went through various body parts and parts of baby, talked us through it the whole time. She could very clearly see our baby's sex, and told us so although obviously said they can't be held to it! We got 3 pictures like the 12 week one, 2 of the whole baby and one of his little feet which was cute.
After the scan we went to speak to the midwife who went through and explained the scan report and did the normal BP/urine test checks and we had a chat. Probably took about an hour overall for the whole thing :)

Had mine 2 weeks ago . Lasted for about 20 minutes . Sonographer briefly showed us baby at the start and then turned the screen away and worked through each feature/ organ , calling them out as each one was checked . He let me know all checks were ok and then he then asked if I wanted to know the sex and confirmed it .

There wasn’t much interaction . I knew this would probably be the case though as the 20 week scan is more about checking the health of the baby rather than showing you on the screen etc . This probably differs with different trusts though x

They are longer as they have a lot more measurements to take. Baby is a lot bigger so photos will have less of baby in each, they tend to just try get upper half so nice head shots. They will show you around baby after all the measurements are done, pretty amazing how much detail you can see on them.

All our kids have been a bit awkward at their anomaly scans so I had to go back for 2nd ones to get all the measurements done. I find pictures are better when they're bigger, my dating scan pics with current aren't very good as baby was very active.

Hey!
I had mine 3 weeks ago, it was sooooo nice to see the baby again but don’t worry if they don’t speak much at first cause they’re just checking everything. I kept asking “is she okay” “is that okay” I just couldn’t help myself
My baby was in a curled up position so had to walk around a bit and go for a wee mid-way through the scan so they could get a better look!
We already knew the sex but they do offer that too if you wanted to find out.
Scan photos are good, the baby just looks more zoomed in, they’re really clear!
Good luck for tomorrow!xxx

Had mine 7 weeks ago, expect to be asked to jiggle if baby is in an uncooperative position! I find it impossible to jiggle without raucous laughter so goodness only knows what the people in the waiting room thought.

@ThisMammaCat I was told to skip down the corridors for 15 mins then go quickly up and down stairs. I must have looked insane!

[quote plixy]@ThisMammaCat I was told to skip down the corridors for 15 mins then go quickly up and down stairs. I must have looked insane! [/quote]
LOL that's hilarious! My jiggling did end in a request for me to get up and dance around the room while the sonographer did the first part of my report, I can't imagine having to skip down the corridors!

Mine took about an hour but baby was being extremely uncooperative and I had to do lots of jumping around and empty my bladder etc. I had to go back for another scan as they still couldn’t get all the measurements. In my trust, scan notes are put on an app (no paper notes) so I didn’t get to see all of the measurements or percentiles, but was told everything was normal. Our scan photo was much clearer at the 20 week scan! Good luck tomorrow!