no twenty week scan :(

[Makingdo]

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makingdo.. it seems to be postcode lottery up here in Scotland .. some areas get 2 scans, some get one.

I live slap bang between 2 maternity units and could have had my son at either. At Paisley unit I would get 2 at the Govan unit I would get one...mad!!!!!

I know a lot of people who have played the neurotic pergnant mum... you know say you have heard such sad stories you are so stressed not knowing if your baby is all right and if all else fails start sniffling .. seems to work

good luck with your pregnancy

MrsCurly - I'm a bit like that myself. To be honest, it wasn't till I joined Mumsnet that I realised how many people got the 20 week scan.

Apparently in our area we dont get either a 12 week or a 20 week scan, we get a 16 week scan instead!? Not pg yet so have no personal experience of this but have friends who have been and assure me this is true.

oh and I'm in the south of England.

Haha I was going to say Raigmore by any chance???? That is where I had my 2. In theory every trust is supposed to offer a secing acan at 20 weeks but we still have the postcode lottery here and don't get one.
When I was having dd in Raigmore I spoke to my midwife who sent me to the gp who sent a letter Raigmore to say for my mental health I needed a 20 week scan I had recently had a mc and fallen pregnant straight away and was in a right state they said no so gp worte again and they finally said yes.

You cannot pay at Raigmore to get a private scan you do have to leave the area. With ds I opted to have a scan elsewhere, I went to Edinburgh for it so we could stay with FIL.
Do you stay in Inverness??

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It was a reassurance/bonding scan I got. ALthough not an anomoly scan if there are any anomolies they will pass the information onto your midwife.
IT was really nice totally unrished was there for ages looking at the baby found out the sex and had some lovely pictures and a dvd to drag out on ds 21st birthday.
OOh it is weird having a mn'netter so close we are few and far between.

I'm in Edinburgh and its the same here. I got a 20 week scan with my first child because I had had 2 miscarriages but they had changed the rules by the time I had my second and so I had to go privately. Same with my 3rd. I flew down to London as it was cheaper to do it that way. I have also paid for nuchal translucency scans as they dont do them on the NHS here either. My thoughts were that if something is wrong that CAN be detected at 20 weeks then I want to know about it.

i live in watford, and we dont get antenatal classes or 12 week scan, have to pay if you want it. what are taxed for?? it's appauling and makes me cross, as that's £350! am thinking of writing to MP to complain.

What is £350 - the scan??? It does seem wrong how much difference there is.

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i too am fed up with the scan lottery in scotland. i had a difficult pregnancy with DS and had regular scans to check his growth. this time because i have a "normal" pregnancy, i was only offered the 12week scan. i quoted guidelines etc and have been given a date for 20 week scan (next week) but they said due to staff shortages and limited resources they dont offer the scan routinely.

Where are you fled?
Makingdo I am not in Inverness itself I am out in Ross-Shire so about half hour away.

i'm in south lanarkshire (east Kilbride) about 10miles outside glasgow. i had the choice of wishaw general or princess royal maternity in glasgow but wishaw looked after me with DS and the care was fab all the way through the pregnancy and birth so will be going back there again. where abouts in Ross-shire are you?

Do you know Ross-Shire at all?
I am near Invergordon.

i know the area a bit and its beautiful. although we live in strathclyde, our plan is to move to the black isle before DS starts school so he doesnt have the influences from here iykwim

Same here Makingdo, I had my 2 in Glasgow (although I grew up in Inverness and visit the Black Isle regularly ) and only had the 12-week booking in scan. Sucks really since its all down to bloody money as usual.

Good luck by the way

I know exactly what you mean Fled. We had toyed with the idea of moving away for various reasons but I grew up in the city and I think here is much better they can have a freedom that I never had.

"fall down the stairs" at around 20 weeks...

Lothians (Edinburgh) doesn't offer 20 week scans. They say they haven't got enough sonographers.

They didn't offer nuchal scans, either.

Paisley, however, you get both.

Nuchal's in London are only offered to women over 35 which I think is fine given the stats but not having a 20 week scan if so awful what sort of health system have we got. The majority of downs babies I think are now born to those under 35 now because the over 35s are screened so well. I would go for a private consultation if you can afford it or else lie about falling down the stairs - good idea. If the government can lie about improved health service for all then I think we can take the piss too. I'm so angry at the standards of maternity healthcare in this country.

As an economist I know what they have done is looked at the cost to the NHS of having to look after a downs baby versus detecting downs times the probability of the baby being aborted after a 20 week scan. Now thats not the stats for you - you have two children the cost to you and your family in having a downs baby is potentially huge. i'm not saying the costs outweigh the potential benefits that depends on you and your family.

Tapster, please understand that some people think a baby with Down's Syndrome - not a 'downs baby' - has a life worth living.

In fact, there are at least two people on this board who have children with Down's Syndrome and, this may come as a shock to you, but they have two other children and lead happy, fulfilling lives.

i would second that expat- my nephew has downs...my SIL had a 20 week scan anyway due to her age which didn't pick anything up and wouldn't have aborted anyway.

he's still struggling a bit at 3weeks but is very much wanted.

i'm lothians and i didn't get a 20week scan with either, hence the suggestion to 'fall down the stairs'...a few of my friends have invented stories to get a scan between 12weeks and 40.

Expat, I agree completely.

Whilst this thread is abvout the twenty week scan and what it can pick up, it is also important to realise what it doesn't tell you. (I do think that all should have one btw)My son has di georges syndrome a chromosome abnormality that will affect him all of his life. I sailed through that pregnancy thinking all was well, when in fact it wasn't.

Our experience has taught me that whilst he will always have di-georges, it isn't all that he is iyswim, and he will still have a good life.

Twenty week scans are very important though for picking up conditions that are incompitable with life, or those that require immediate treatment after birth.

Good luck with getting your scan makingdo.

at my hospital in London we get a 12 week and 20 week scan as standard as well as the nuchal test if you want it. I did find my 20 week scan very important as they picked up I had notches on the blood vessels carrying blood to the placenta and meant I was put on a course of aspirin to ensure that enough blood was reaching the baby. It seems mad and very unfair to me that depending on where you live the services offered are so different. I am 32 weeks now and everything is normal thank goodness