Early scan or no?

[eed32]

Hi all,

I'm 5 weeks pregnant today, me and my partner are toying with the idea of having a 8/9 week scan to check all is okay rather than waiting for the 12 week one with the NHS?

We’ll obviously be paying privately for an early scan.

Just wanted some honest opinions on whether anyone who had done an early pregnancy scan thinks it’s worth it/ at what week you had it etc?

thank you 🥰

I never had one. They’re supposed to be reassuring but that’s not always the case. I’ve heard a lot of people say they had one and the baby was smaller than expected/there wasn’t a heartbeat yet but by the 12 week scan everything looked fine. That would have really stressed me out if that had happened so I chose not to have one and to wait for the 12 week scan. But that’s just me its completely up to you.

I've had one with 2 pregnancies, both were normal at 7 weeks. Our first baby we ended up losing due to abnormalities that showed up at a later scan. However I still wanted one with my second, I did find it reassuring at the time to know that there was a heartbeat and thankfully all was well this time. I must admit I had a few early scans as my anxiety was high and it helped to know all was progressing as it should

I think there can be a benefit having one before 12 weeks to check all is looking fine as it is a long time to wait till that 12 week scan and all you've done is a pregnancy test. I would go for 8 weeks as it should be big enough by then for the heartbeat to be detected.

The only thing I found with scans was they reassured me for that day and then I would be back to worrying.

I have early scans, first pregnancy it was for reassurance but now I've had 3 missed miscarriages, and my reason for having early scans has shifted as they are really only a snapshot that all is ok at that second in time, and the minute you walk out of the scan you don't know what may happen. I have them so if I have a missed miscarriage I know sooner rather than later as I don't want to get to my 12 week scan to find out the baby isn't alive, I'd rather know sooner and not waste time...sorry to sound so morbid, just sharing my personal story/experience.

I'm 5 weeks too and have booked to have one at 9 weeks. I'd have liked to go sooner as the clinic would have seen me from 6, but after some research found that it'd be hit or miss whether there was a heartbeat to be picked up that early, and didn't want to add even more worry if there wasn't one, when it's possible it was just too soon, and not necessarily bad news.
General concensus seems like by 9 weeks a heartbeat should be pretty much guaranteed (if all is well, of course)
I figure it's 'only' 4 weeks to wait until that, then just 3 until my NHS 12 weeks, so the waiting seems a bit more manageable that going all the way to 12.

@lipgoss please remember losses do happen after this stage, and after the 12 week scan (although much less likely than an early loss). Happened to me twice, so it's no guarantee.

I understand this, I just meant that providing all goes well.
I'm not naive to it but trying to keep positive ☺️

@lipgoss I understand - just the wording used implied that it basically never happens, which isn't the case. I always hope for the best for everyone, but the hardest thing for me has been the hearsay/old wives tales that are shared which meant I wasn't prepared for the losses/difficulties TTC if that makes sense ☺️ x

I didn't with my first pregnancy, which I lost at 11 weeks, and honestly, I'm pleased I hadn't had a scan prior to that. I ended up having an NHS early scan in my current pregnancy due to bleeding, not sure if I would have got private one. just remember it doesn't change anything, and only shows everything is OK in those few minutes. if you do go, definitely do your homework on finding a good clinic, and wait til 8 weeks earliest.

There's some data that there's a 'sweet spot' with the number of scans. Too few, you miss things. Too many and you get false positives, anxiety and too much intervention, which cascades. The Americans do too many (because they are paid) and it correlates with more interventions and worse outcomes.

The NHS dos as many as is prudent. I wouldn't have an extra.

DD1, I only had NHS scans. DD2, I had to tell a number of people at work at around 9 weeks (for safety reasons), so I had a private early scan just before. For me it was worth it – miscarriage risk drops week by week and some major anomalies can be detected that early, so with everything looking good at about 9 weeks, I felt a bit more comfortable forfeiting my privacy around the pregnancy at work. I'd do it again in similar circumstances, or if we had family we particularly wanted to tell early, or if I had particular reason to worry about a missed miscarriage (but then usually an EPU would scan you). I'm not sure I'd do one generically 'for reassurance', because most people don't seem to find the reassurance lasts.

Thank you everyone for your input!

I think after a talk with my partner we’ve decided we’re going to try and hold out for the 12week scan!
I guess I just wanted some extra reassurance that all is okay as this is my first pregnancy. I’ll be seeing the midwife at 8 weeks so atleast that breaks it up a little!
SUCH a long wait for the scan 🤣 7 weeks to go……

I had an early scan in my last pregnancy because of an episode of very sudden and strong pain. They found a yolk sac and nothing else at the time and I should have been almost 7 weeks, so it showed something was wrong. They referred me to EPU who scanned me again a week later and they found a tiny embryo with a heartbeat. However, they were also able to show us the heartbeat was a little on the low side. At the follow up ten days later, the heartbeat had stopped. It wasn't a shock, it was terribly sad, but not a shock.

My body had no idea I'd miscarried and I was even still producing HCG at a whopping increase. It took nearly 8 weeks after my D&C to have a negative pregnancy test. I'm extremely glad we had the early scan as I'd have got to 12 weeks and been devastated having to walk out of it with terrible news instead of pictures to show our family. I prefer to be as prepared as possible, but I've had two losses and it really clouds over all the potential joy.

There's no right or wrong choice, just what feels right for you.

I had early scans with all of mine - first in EPU because of bleeding and the other 2 privately because I wanted to. Not a waste of money if you want one.

We had NIPT at 10+4 which includes a scan. We had that because we wanted the genetic testing.

NIPT is well worth it if you’d terminate (we would), I wouldn’t just have one of the nonsense “viability” scans though.

@eed32

Iv 100% always book a viability scan. I did recently to find out my gestation sac was empty 😭 was sent straight to epu for assessment and had d&c at around 9 weeks. I would have been absolutely devastated to only find this out at 12 weeks (my body didn't miscarry on it's own)

Anyway I'm all sorted now and emotionally better from it because I was so pro active with the situation.

I had one at 8 weeks. It was around £70, I'm glad I did as it gave me peace of mind for a few weeks. If you can afford it I'd say why not! Xx

^^ I had early scans for the same reason. I didn't want to waste a month of my time carrying around another lost baby.

I honestly feel that a scan at 8 weeks should be offered as standard to be honest. It would flag so many MMCs early and save a lot of heartache.

@TheBirdintheCave
I completely agree!

This is my first pregnancy and I've had them throughout as I had irregular periods and didn't know how far along I was.
First scan - Pregnancy unknown location (was sent to nhs for bloods to track hcg every other day and all was rising as normal so was discharged.
Second scan 2 weeks after 1st private again - inconclusive scan as gestational sac and yolk sac seen measuring 5w5 no embryo or heartbeat
Third scan week later - nhs as my midwife referred me after I told her about the scan (id already had my booking appointment before this) scan shows TINY embryo and heartbeat measuring 6w5
Fourth scan 1 week later - private that we'd already pre booked before the nhs one was known about (nhs said it was fine to still go) showed baby with strong heartbeat measuring 7w5 and the photo progress is just amazing!!! We won't have another now until 12w nhs scan.

This for me was reassuring at the time but remember scans are what's happening in that moment. You can still have a missed miscarriage after the scan and still won't know until your next scan. To us we're going to be devastated either way whether we find out at 10 weeks and waste another £90 on a scan or if we find out at 12 weeks scan. I'll attach pics now!

Thank you everyone for your replies. Me and my partner did decide to book an early private scan as the thought of waiting until 12 weeks to know if all was okay or not would have destroyed me.
We had a scan at 7 weeks and 3 days and saw the baby’s heartbeat. I am now 8 weeks and 3 days, I fully appreciate what everyone is saying and no way do I feel out of the woods or in a safer position having had an earlier scan, but personally I am happy knowing earlier that all was okay, even if something does happen between now and 12 week scan, I would have been heartbroken walking into a 12 week scan to find out something had happened early days and I could have found out.
Again- I know I’m not out of the woods, but I feel more reassured now and not worrying every day that something wasn’t right!

@eed32 I completely agree that id also like to know sooner rather than later! We are debating booking a 10 week scan but we've agreed we won't unless my anxiety gets awful again then we will. Is this your first time being pregnant? It's mine and although I've never has a loss (thanking my lucky stars!) I am still nervous as ever about miscarriage. All I've seen is first pregnancy's resulting in loss and I really am just struggling with everyday life atm tbh. So for me..if I get regular scans I may catch a miscarriage before the 12 week scan and id rather know than not know asap! Congrats on a positive scan!💓

After several early scans I’m firmly in the no camp but you have to consider your circumstances.

I’m the age when the probability of miscarriage is over 80% and all my early scans have come back inconclusive (I’ve done four of them in four consecutive pregnancies). All my pregnancies over 43 ended with miscarriages and the scans added up to anxiety and gave me false hope with inconclusive results, I also have retroverted uterus so the early scans were always along the line “I’m afraid something might not be quite right but I can’t see much”. This is really not something you want to hear.

I would totally do an early scan for reassurance if I were younger and expected good or at least reassuring news. In my particular case it’s just wasted money because a scan won’t prevent or stop an ongoing miscarriage. I have two DC born in my late 30s and it never occurred to me to do early scans with them because it also never crossed my mind that I could miscarry. I was quite naïve 😅

If you feel like it will help you then 100% go for it!
Yeah first time being pregnant so it’s all very scary, and I completely agree, Google is my worst friend so I try to avoid it now completely, everything suggests the worst in every situation!
I absolutely agree with you! Wishing you all the best and positive pregnancy vibes 🩷

@eed32 I agree! My midwife told me strictly to keep of google and to call her if I have concerns instead so I've took her advice and feel tonnes better already!! Wishing you all the best we can do this!!💓