20 week scan , looking for a hand hold…

[ecossegirl91]

I have my 20 week scan on wed and I’m super nervous. This is my second baby and I know All scans come with varying degrees of anxiety and nervousness, especially the anomaly scan but the reason for my nervousness is that whilst I was ttc, i was on holiday in Greece and got a uti. I was prescribed trimethoprim (5 day course) which after taking and then subsequently discovering my pregnancy I realised it’s not recommended in the first 12 weeks as it inhibits folic acid absorption. I had been taking folic acid anyway as was ttc and then I upped my dose to 800mg.
I spoke to my gp when I was around 5 weeks and she was as reassuring as she could be saying it was a very short course, it was very early - I probably would have been like 2 weeks pregnant - you know when you are pregnant but not really (hope that makes sense!?) and it would most likely be ok.
my 12 week scan looked ok, and a screening tests were normal for the chromosomal abnormalities.
I had a gender scan at 16 weeks where again all looked ok, everything measuring around 40-50 percentile except the femur which was around 27th percentile but the sonographer told me not to worry.
i had managed to push the antibiotics out of my mind but now my worries are returning that something is going to be wrong due to these antibiotics and I was just looking for a hand hold. I know that no one can tell me all is ok till my scan happens but I’m just starting to worry about Spina bifida or some other type of limb abnormality ☹️ wish I hadn’t taken those tablets!

Hi @ecossegirl91 - I'm also 20 weeks and also have my scan on Wednesday! I'm a ftm and dreading the scan (I don't know how people who have a lot of private scans manage this stress!) because I think something huge and awful is going to happen. The unknown is always frightening.

I would say that you only took the antibiotics for a little bit and presumably took folic acid after the antibiotics, so I reckon the odds are in your favour that everything will be okay. ❤️ Remember that you did absolutely the right things with the information you had, you literally couldn't have done more for your little one. Try to be kind to yourself and take this one day at a time.

Huge luck for Wednesday, fingers crossed everything will be absolutely fine. 🍀🤞🏼xxx

Best of luck with the scan! Just to say some people don't know they're pregnant until much later on so aren't taking folic acid, may be drinking etc and usually have healthy babies. My friend is one of them where her mum didn't know she was pregnant until she was about 16 weeks, and all fine. It's completely normal to worry about the medication but since you were taking folic acid and even upped the dose I'm sure it would be fine. Can you contact your midwife in the meantime for some reassurance?

Update us on how the scan goes? 🥰

Thank you both for your lovely words of reassurance 💐 I truly hope it’s all ok and the folic acid has worked its magic!

I keep trying to think of the positive - it was a short course of tablets taken on 1-6 October and though I don’t know my exact ovulation date as no tracking going by my due date it was maybe the 3rd or 4th? Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

best of luck to you on wed too @OptimisticRealist2024 👶🏼

I had the same antibiotics with my first before I found out I was pregnant, also went to a wedding and drank way too much around 5 or 6 weeks which I never normally do. My son is about to turn 5 and is absolutely fine, very normal pregnancy and he's been a mostly healthy child

Holding your hand - I am sure it will be fine. Lots of things are flagged as 'risks' but it only means that, a risk, and it doesn't sound like even a very critical one.

Wishing you the very best for the scan.

@Mjmum10 that’s reassuring to hear! I found out around 4 weeks so was drinking before that as I was on an all inc holiday but funnily enough I’m not that worried about that as it happens so often! But good to know about the antibiotic. It’s definitely worrying me more than the booze due to the reports and advice and I can’t see many threads on it in here!

Hi OP, I'm so sorry you've been living with this worry for so long. I'm surprised your GP etc have let you worry for so long because I feel they should have really and truly reassured you about all of this. Am I right in reading you took antibiotics 1-6 October and ovulated some time during these 5 days? So you weren't pregnant during the time you took the antibiotics? Trimethroprim reduces folic acid levels in your blood over time. So taking folic acid before, during and after trimethroprim treatment would realistically mean you had good levels. 5 days of treatment really isn't going to drastically change your levels. Compare yourself to the millions of women who don't even begin folic acid until they've booked in. You will also see the vast majority of neural tube defects on scan before 20 weeks. I feel awful thinking you maybe haven't been able to fully enjoy your pregnancy and wish someone had put your mind at ease. You are going to walk out of that scan on Wednesday on cloud 9!! x

Thank you @remaininghopeful23 thats a lovely post to read.
yes I took the tablets 1-6 oct, my due date is 26 June so kinda working back I’m assuming ovulation would have been around that time? Last period date was like 19 sept or so. So yea I guess not technically pregnant just around ovulation / fertilisation time…

I suppose my gp was trying to be as reassuring as she could, because she can’t tell me for definite that it wouldn’t have had an impact… I just hope it’s all ok. Like you say I had been taking folic acid anyway was trying and then when I found out about the folic acid issues I doubled my dose just to try counteract anything.

that’s good to hear about neural tube defects perhaps being seen prior to now, nothing was mentioned at my 12 week scan or even my 16 week minus the smaller than average femurs! But I don’t think folic acid would having anything to do with that, it’s mostly for the spine isn’t it?

Just wanted to update the thread as I’ve had my 20 week scan - everything is perfect 😍 thank you to all the replies, all very kind!

I’ve got some growth scans later on in pregnancy which we’re booked in prior due to my first baby being a wee chub 🤣 so will be lovely to see them again!

@OptimisticRealist2024 hope you have a good scan too!

Congratulations! Enjoy your pregnancy !

I was going to ask how your scan went! Glad everything is okay ❤️ Mine is in...2.5 hours and I'm absolutely bricking it! Didn't get much sleep tonight and feel like baby is quieter than usual, so my mind is in overdrive. 😵‍💫

So happy for you @ecossegirl91 !! Time to put it all behind you. I vote you should do something lovely to celebrate 🥳