Scans and high BMI

[Barbequebeans64]

Hello,

I'm 5 weeks pregnant and unsure whether to get an early scan. This is my second child but I had an early miscarriage with my first pregnancy, so I'm really anxious about these early days.

I had an early scan with my first child and it ended up being the internal one, party as it was so early and partly as I'm bigger but I cant remember how many weeks I had it at. Does anyone know roughly when the external is possible if you have a little extra padding.

Also my 12 week NHS scan really really hurt me. They pushed so hard and pulled my fat out the way it took about 3 days to recover from the bruised feeling. I'm really worried about this happening again. I feel like I will say this before the scan, as I know what to expect, but does anyone who's been in a similar situation have any advice?

I would not bother with an early scan - unless there’s any suspected issues like ectopic they’re a waste of time IMO. Also if you carry any fat on your abdomen the external 12 week scan can hurt, yes that is normal unfortunately. They need to push and move the wand around to get the images and check baby’s health.

With my previous pregnancies they've always scanned me internally due to the extra weight in tummy. Moved to other side of the country and they said nope, we don't do internal scans here unless we think something is wrong. Instead you end up bruised and having to come back as they can't get what they need, for them to say think everything looks ok but we still can't get a great view and can't do a rescan. Yet my previous the internal worked just fine.

I think private scan places say they may need to do internal in their t & C's. If it helped to ease your mind and makes you feel more comfortable then maybe see if you can discuss with them before booking?

I had an internal at 8 weeks with both of my pregnancies and it was fine. Gave me some reassurance at least.

My second pregnancy I was more overweight than my first (although overweight for both!) and my 12 eeek external really hurt. I had a 16 week external privately and it didn’t hurt at all .

I'm a sonographer so can give you a little info from our point of view. Unfortunately if you are very overweight, we do need to press on quite hard as the sound waves just can't get through fat, tissue and bowel gases to give a good or accurate view etc. Being overweight makes it very difficult to see anything abdominally in early pregnancy. You wouldn't be able to see a fetal heartbeat until 6/7 weeks during a transvaginal scan and even later doing it just abdominally if you are very overweight. This is sometimes the case for slimmer women as well though, due to overlying bowel gas and other organs. The transvaginal scan is the gold standard in getting accurate measurements and precise views of your pregnancy and womb/ovaries.

Private scan facilities are not properly regulated by any governing body and in the NHS we always discourage using them. I've lost track of the number of times we have had distraught women come to us who have been told they are miscarrying when they aren't, and sadly more often the other way round. They then have to go through the whole distressing process from the beginning with us. If you're having no issues I wouldn't go for a private scan. If you do have any issues speak with your GP or local Early pregnancy unit.

Thank you everyone. I've decided against an early scan as it isn't really needed and will probably just make me more nervous.

@HarrfordFern that's very helpful thank you. I'll probably just mention it before my scan then so they can warn me when they're going to push a bit harder

I had an early scan privately and the provider I used said they always do internal scans before 10 weeks because the quality is much better. We got great quality pics for 9 weeks!

Hi I've had 3/4 early scans over the course of 3 pregnancies and carry quite a bit of extra weight around my tummy.

First pregnancy I had a private internal scan around 6 weeks, didn't hurt at all and the quality was excellent.

I then had a chemical pregnancy (second pregnancy) and fell pregnant again a year later, I had an early scan at 6 weeks which discovered ectopic, this was also internal given the nature.

With my current (fourth) pregnancy I had an internal at 7 weeks to rule out another ectopic at the hospital.

Then I had private early scan at 9 weeks 5 days which was abdominal and the picture was quality was good.

I have a high bmi and pcos, going for scans for my PCOS I had to have internal scans. I know it will be hard to see my baby. Is it possible to request only internal scans at an NHS hospital?? I feel like it would make life easier if I can. X

Hey, did you have a positive outcome?

@Ellsx6 I did. 2 kids later the anxiety was all worth it!