No fetal bladder

[emmatcc1]

I had my 12 week scan today at 12w2d and baby was measuring 12w6d. They said the baby is moving too much so they can’t see the bladder. The ultrasound was very rushed but this is making me anxious there’s something wrong. They didn’t schedule a repeat ultrasound to check again. My next appointment will be at 18 weeks.

Speak to your midwife

Ring and request another scan

*No fetal bladder is a very different statement to *They said the baby is moving too much so they can’t see the bladder.

Have they made another appointment?

It's not that there's no bladder. Just that they couldn't get a good image of it.

If they were concerned that an essential organ was missing, they'd schedule extra specialist ultrasound appointments.

I had some throughout my pregnancy for a suspicion of a fetal heart defect. They were invariably very "urgent" ie "come back tomorrow 9am" type stuff.

Your baby is not missing a bladder.

Edit - my son's heart turned out to be fine, thank goodness. It was a stressful time though

@DorothyStorm No further comments were made on the bladder. She just took a quick look and baby was literally jumping up and down so she said they’re moving too much to see a bladder. Didn’t even look for the kidneys.

AFAIK you can't see that much at 12 weeks anyway. You can see the heart because it's in constant motion, brain and lungs bec they're relatively big, but not a lot of detail on anything.

That's why they don't give you the sex at that time either. It's the 20 week scan when they really check for correct development of all organs.

As PP said, if they were worried, they'd have scheduled another scan. Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I think you need to talk to your midwife or doctor - you do seem to be taking a passing comment out of context and catastrophising.

You were're told that your baby doesn't have a bladder, just that it was moving around a lot. Your midwife or doctor will be able to help you - another scan for reassurance, stress management techniques etc.

If your baby had bladder issues you'd have a very low level of amniotic fluid but this obviously wasn't commented on so I wouldn't worry.

@Yesterdaywassunny I might go for a private scan rather than that same office again.

@Sansan18 The amount of amniotic fluid was marked as normal.
I lost the baby in my previous pregnancy so anxiety this time around is very high.

The 12 week scan is mainly just for checking dates and screening tests. The 20 week scan is for anomalies so I really wouldn't worry about it at this stage.

Just read your last update. If you can afford a private scan and it will help your anxiety then go for it but my experience is that private scans are not always reassuring and just give you something else to worry about with no follow up in place.

And you've taken that to mean there is no bladder. You really need to schedule an appointment to speak to your midwife. Do that today.

If the baby is moving a lot or you have a lot of amniotic fluid or you are overweight that might explain why the fetal bladder isn't visible. You will be referred for a second scan and they'll try again. Try not to worry.

The 12 week scan is not for organ anomalies, public/private no 12 week scan can be. The 20 week scan is for organ anomalies. At this scan if they can’t see an organ due to positioning, they get you to go back so they can complete the check. This is a bit useless at the 12 week anyway so they aren’t going to get you to go back as there is no advantage/disadvantage.

Also, you were not told there was no fetal bladder. It was just positioning was such that they couldn’t view it.

It's only abnormal not to see a bladder from week 15 onwards (and as others have said, you were only told that they couldn't see it, not that it wasn't there). I wouldn't waste your money on a private scan at this stage.

The 12 week scan does not specifically look for or at the bladder. The comment was a passing one. If there was anything of concern, it would have been followed up.
I can understand your anxiety so if you need reassurance ask to speak to a midwife.

the sonographer at my 12 week scan said that they need to capture images which feature a prescriptive list of things before they can mark it as normal. They got an NT measurement fairly easily but then spent an age trying to get an image where the nuchal fold and nasal bone were both present at the same time.

it might just be that they weren’t able to properly get an image of it due to movement. I would think if they were concerned they would have referred you to fetal medicine x