Scotland: recommendations for private scan after loss

[purplecolouroffunk]

Hello everyone.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good private scanning places in Edinburgh or Glasgow?

I had an MMC in April and I’m pregnant again after 1 cycle. Currently 4+2.

I’m thinking of booking a scan for around 7-8 weeks to help with my anxiety following last time.

I really want to find somewhere that is more medical, and less ‘gender reveal’ as the prospect of finding out something is wrong at a private place is just awful.

Any recommendations from good experiences, or places you’ve been after a loss greatly appreciated! 💜

I've been going to ABC4D in Greenock for private scans in my pregnancy after a MMC in September last year. I'm 15 weeks and have had a scan at 7,9 11 and 15 weeks.

It's ran by a consultant gynaecologist and the sonographer I've seen at each appointment has been so reassuring and explained everything to me. They also have a clinic in Glasgow. I'd really recommend them.

@Bugdem123 thank you! Do you know if the entire company is run by a consultant gynae or if it’s just that particular branch?

I'm in Edinburgh and they have a branch here, but willing to travel to Glasgow area if there’s a particularly good one. The Greenock one sounds great! And I’m so sorry to hear about your loss 💜

Were you able to see enough at 7 weeks to give you some reassurance? I’m debating at what point I should get a scan and it’s all so nerve wracking.

Yeah, the company seems to be run by the same consultant.

We were able to see a wee blob with a definite heartbeat at the 7 week scan. With our MMC they'd stopped growing at 8+2, so I booked another one for 9 weeks and on that one you could see a wee blob with a definite head and limb buds. They were really good at going straight to an internal scan rather than trying abdominal first after I asked (I found going from the abdominal to internal so traumatising as that's what happened when we found out about the MMC) and she's made sure to tell me straight away that she could see a heartbeat each time. They also look at your ovaries and womb and she explained everything to me. I found her much more comforting than the sonographer at my 12 week nhs scan!

The reassurance only lasts a short time tbh and I'm now trying to wean myself off the scans but I'd definitely recommend the company.

@Bugdem123 thank you! I had a look at the reviews for the Edinburgh branch and some of them don’t look great 😬 I’ll maybe think about getting over to Greenock.

Window to the Womb seem to get great reviews here but weirdly it says on their site they don’t listen to heartbeat before 15 weeks which seems…weird?

God I’m also terrified about external vs internal. That happened to me too when they found the MMC. If that happened again I don’t know if I’d cope too well. Is it standard for them to do both do you know, or do they only go internal if they can’t see what they’d expect? So glad ABC4D were able to go straight to internal for you.

So I don't think they'll let you listen to the heartbeat as early as 7 weeks but you can definitely see it on the screen.

When I had the scan at 7 weeks she did it abdominally first and then asked me to go pee and come back for the internal scan. This completely freaked me out so when I went back for the 9 weeks scan I asked her to go straight to the internal and she was absolutely fine with that so I think as long as you ask it should be okay.

That's a shame the Edinburgh reviews aren't so good.

Hi there

I had a private scan somewhere in the Glasgow area at 9 weeks, with a NHS midwife sonographer who also did private work. The baby was difficult to see as I had a retroverted uterus so she invited us to come back at 11 weeks. My husband was away with work so my Mum came just for fun. I was told everything looked good and was allowed to take a few photos of the screen, although they had ran out of ink for the printer so they posted some photos to me later on. That didn't seem very professional at the time.

7 days later I went for my NHS 12 week scan and baby had a NT of 8-8.5mm. I just cannot believe that the sonographer didn't see that at the private scan, but I do wonder if she chose not to tell me because my husband wasn't there. I don't know how I would have coped without him to be honest as it was absolutely devastating news and we knew that really, it was unlikely to be ok.

A NIPT came back high risk for T18 and we had a TFMR a few weeks later.

I don't think I could trust a private scan again.

Have you tried GCRM? They’re a private fertility clinic so they know what they’re doing and you’ll get more of a medical feel from them than somewhere that only does scans. Their main clinic is in Glasgow near QEUH but they’ve got a satellite clinic (a couple of hired rooms!) at Edinburgh Park. They do viability scans at 7 weeks. I’m sure they’d see you for a scan without you being one of their patients (although likely to charge you extra for it! - don’t know how that would compare to a scan only place)

@Bugdem123 ah yeah I think I meant see rather than listen to haha. I guess it’s so tiny that it would be tough to hear at that stage!

I’m so glad they went straight to internal for the 9 week. I absolutely feel that trauma too. I’m so so worried about it happening at a scan that I might ask them the same thing.

I know, it’s a shame. They get 4/5 on Google which isn’t tooo bad but it’s just those few bad reviews that get me. Might be worth me going to Greenock since they seem great.

@MrsScotland oh my god I am so so sorry to hear about your experience. I can’t even imagine how that must have been for you. It seems so unprofessional for them not to have said anything, but you’re right it might have been so much worse without your husband there. I hope you’ve been able to heal okay 💜

I am absolutely not surprised that you wouldn’t want to have another private scan. Thank you so much for sharing your story. This kind of thing really worries me too as I’ve heard a couple of stories where they’ve missed or neglected to say something.

@soscarlet oh thank you - I’ll check them out! Would definitely rather a medical place than just a scan place. Great that they have a clinic in Edinburgh too!

On reflection I hope my post didn't come across too brutal. What happened to me was incredibly rare but I wanted to agree with your desire to find a 'non-cowboy' practice!

@MrsScotland no not at all! I definitely wanted to hear good and bad experiences, so thank you for sharing. It seems to be so hard to find places that aren’t just all about the money or ‘hEY wE dO 5D sCAns!!’