Anxious ahead of 20 week scan

[Livingonhope]

Currently 16 weeks pregnant and have been getting weekly scans and baby looking perfect but I am so so nervous ahead of anomoly scan....how likely are you to get bad news at 20 weeks if you are getting good scans at 16 weeks?

I think the odds are small of it being bad news.

I don’t think private scans comment on the anatomy can they? Eg the heart in detail or the brain? I don’t know too much about it though, or how much private places can vary in their skill and ability to comment.

my scans have all been nhs rather than private so hopefully very reliable!!

Well it depends why you're having weekly NHS scans as that's very unusual. But if they have been good so far twenty weeks should be fine.

PTSD I had quite a traumatic ectopic 2 months prior so to ease my anxiety they have been giving me weekly scans ...im extremely lucky and baby has been amazing each scan

In that case you should be absolutely fine! There's nothing special about twenty weeks - it's just when the baby is a good size to see everything and get measurements. It's not cost effective to scan every pregnant lady multiple times, so that's the window that makes most sense for a scan. But as you've already had a lot chances are anything really major would've been spotted. Hope the rest of your pregnancy is easier on you. X

thank you for the reassurance and well wishes I was hoping that to be the case here is hoping then I can perhaps enjoy this pregnancy!!

@Livingonhope ah with it being nhs they likely keep an eye on the scans. I’m not a sonographer so I don’t know at what point they can confirm all the anatomy. Chances are they can see quite a bit already. My friend is having twins so they gave her scans every fortnight and it’s all going well. She’s now 30+ weeks.

I would have to disagree I’m afraid.
The 20 week fœtal anomaly is very in depth and takes around 45 minutes because they have to take lots of specific measurements of morphology, organs, brain size etc whereas other scans are much quicker.
They also wait until at least 18 weeks to do this scan because certain things are not visible / have not developed until then. I think they will not necessarily have been looking at the same things in your previous scans.
Of course the chances of the baby being perfectly healthy are much greater than something being wrong so do keep this in mind.
i am also struggling with anxiety ahead of my scan so completely empathise. Sending you lots of positive thoughts OP

I agree that some features and details may not be visible or measurable enough until then.

Im guessing the time can vary then. With my son it definitely didn’t take 45minutes, I would say maybe 20minutes maximum in my case maybe less. However my son was in a good position and the sonographer found everything really quickly and easily. If anything the last five minutes was her explaining my placenta being over my cervix and then saying a few things-eg rescan at 32 weeks.

Definitely not 45 mins. 20 mins max here and that was with five mins of mucking about to get baby in position (she refused, had to come back three times for the final measurement).

I had an extra 16 week NHS scan due to higher risk combined screening results (followed by negative nipt) and the consultant who did it said they couldn't see everything they would check at 20 weeks but everything he could see looked good. 20 week scan was all good as predicted and I felt less worried about it knowing it had been okay at 16 weeks. Baby was born two weeks ago and is perfect