Large stomach at 20 week scan

[Hopingforbetterluck]

At my 20 week scan I was told the baby’s stomach looked large and asked to go away for half an hour and come back for a rescan to see if the baby needed to just empty it’s stomach. The sonographer then got a colleague in several times to look at the scan who said she thought it looked normal and was measuring less than the original scan and she didn’t see signs of any bubbles which I got the impression the first sonographer did.

I was already terrified at the scan as we have lost our last three pregnancies with the last one being at 20 weeks for a chromosome problem.
Im now panicking because I read (Google search) large stomach/double bubble might be a sign of a chromosome issue.
It was deemed a normal scan and I was sent on my way with no mention of a rescan or any further checks. I’m desperately hoping the first sonographer was just being cautious as I told her our last baby had abnormalities due to a chromosome issue.

Has anyone else had this at their 20 week scan and can talk me down? I so wanted to be able to feel happy about this pregnancy after this scan and now I’m just even more confused and scared.

Anyone?

If they were very concerned I would imagine they’d of brought you back for a rescan. Did they give u the measurements? Were they within the normal ranges? My 20 week scan my babies abdominal circumference was much higher than the other measurements but they never mentioned any concerns with this. Happy to share if that helps? Xx

@jaaxe thank you for replying. They didn’t give me any measurements and I didn’t get a scan report so I’ve no idea. I heard them say the AC was normal so I assume that means abdominal circumference and it was the actual organ of the stomach that was big.
They said better safe than sorry so hopefully they were just being cautious.

I’m just on edge because of past problems and this has really panicked me.

They tend to find multiple things are abnormal when there’s a chromosomal issue in the vast majority of cases which is reassuring they didn’t. Completely understandable you’d be feeling this way after previous experiences. Your midwife might be able to offer some more reassurance looking at your notes. Will you be having any other scans? Xx

Hi @Hopingforbetterluck , I am so so sorry you have such a difficult scan after everything you have been through. The way the scan was handled was not helpful for you at all and you were left with no clear answers and worries. I would recommend contacting ARC charity www.arc-uk.org. They were absolutely brilliant when I had a similar query.

one of the things they suggested is to call back your antenatal clinic, explain the situation and how extremely anxious it made you feel given your history and ask if they would be willing for someone more senior / or fetal medicine specialist to do another scan as it will help you progress with this pregnancy.

also most of the time the sonographers are being cautious and it is good that they have invited another colleague in (sounds like they were trying to be thorough) and that it looked better on a rescan , it is reassuring.

if all this fails and you have means you could look at private scan at fetal medicine clinic, there are good ones in London but granted it its not possible / feasible / attainable for everyone.

I wish you all the best and hope you will soon get the much needed reassurance.

@jaaxe I’m not booked in for further scans so yeah I think I’ll contact my midwife and see if she’s got the notes from the scan yet.

@lillipilli thanks for your reply. I did think of contacting ARC but wasn’t sure if they’d be able to help as I wasn’t actually told there was anything wrong. We had a scan at 13 weeks with the fetal medicine consultant who then discharged me back to usual antenatal care so that’s a good shout, I will see if he’s willing to do another scan and failing that might book a private one. I’d held off any private scans this time as I’ve had bad experiences in the past.

I am starting to wish I’d had an amnio earlier when it was offered but was told the risk of miscarriage from the procedure was higher than the risk of there being something wrong with the baby (the odds were the other way round in my last pregnancy) so we decided against it. I think I’ll probably never be assured things are ok until well after the baby is here and developing well and this happening at the scan has just added to my stress.

@Hopingforbetterluck yes that sounds like a good plan and totally understand you re private scans. I would not go for a commercial one but there were a couple of proper well respected clinics in London that have been discussed here on MN but that would be the last resort.

oh if you have been to fetal medicine with this pregnancy already definitely give them a call and see if they’d be willing to fit you in due to this situation, that is easier than getting a new referral to them.

and I think you did the right thing not to go for invasive testing at that point, as there were no indicators to do so.