Is 16 weeks for 1st scan too late?

[Haitch31]

So I was booked in for my first scan but it's not until 16 weeks. I've since realised a lot of tests are supposed to be done by 14 weeks so now I'm panicking.
The midwife I saw wasn't my midwife as she was off sick so I have no contact info or anything, I've tried to call hospital but it just rings out. I honestly just need my mind put at rest and to find out this is normal.
I did opt in for the tests so no reason for them not to do them.
Thanks to all in advance

How many weeks are you now? It’s too late if you want the combined screening (for Down’s, Edward’s, and Patau’s) but you’d still be able to have the quadruple screening which is for Down’s (and I believe is the only one offered if you’re in Northern Ireland). However before 14 weeks is best for accurately dating a pregnancy and if you were pregnant with twins, it’s the best time to tell what type of twins it is.

If you google the area you’re in you should be able to find a contact number for the community midwives, I’d contact them and ask, it could just be an oversight.

Hi there, I’m a midwife. There is a reason why the nuchal scan is usually done between 11+2 and 14+1 weeks - it is the most accurate time to do most of the blood tests and take the measurements that look for Down’s Syndrome/Edward’s/Patau syndrome etc. If you scan over this, you will still be offered screening but you would be advised it won’t be as accurate. So I would keep trying to ring and bring the scan forward a bit. Try ringing the hospital switchboard and ask for antenatal clinic. Good luck.

Cross posted with you @SomethingDifferentBloomed !

Thankyou for replying! I'm 13 weeks now. I called the antenatal clinic today and she just said that they'll date it on that scan and any other tests needed will be done from there. But all I kept seeing was that tests needed to be done so it didn't make sense to me. Lost all confidence in them tbh. I was supposed to be on extra folic acid but the prescription was never put through and no one seemed to want to help me 🤦‍♀️ gp wouldn't do it without hearing from midwife and I couldn't get through to them so yeah it's been fun so far!

Hmmm I’d try again tbh, was it a midwife you spoke to do you know? I’d try the community midwives and if that doesn’t work, ring the antenatal clinic or scan department again. They should be able to bring it forwards for you.

That’s really bad. Yes the tests need to be done by 14 weeks so 16 is way too late. You need to push for the scan to be done before 14 weeks.

Call them and say you need the screening tests done and be firm til they find you a slot in the next week.

At our antenatal clinic at the hospital there is a reception desk manned by the admin team who book appointments. Might yours be similar? If so, I would go down face to face tomorrow and speak with them to get this sorted. They might even just fit you in there and then, you never know.

Can you change the midwife service you are using?

For my first pregnancy I started with the local service (although hospital for this service was 1hr drive away). Really useless, by 34 weeks I'd had two in-person midwife appointments, one booking appointment on the phone, all with different midwives. It took nearly 6 weeks to receive the iron prescription I needed. When I was bleeding it took over a week for a midwife to reply (was just given a mobile number to contact, no one picked up, had to leave a message).

So at 34 weeks I changed to a different service - 25 min drive for midwife appointments, but the birthing hospital was only 45 min away. I couldn't believe how different the service was. So easy to contact, such good communication, always saw the same midwife. Was seen on the day when I had a small problem.

For the second pregnancy I've gone straight there.

The only downside, is that I'm out of their home-visit area, so after baby's born, either we need to travel for the post-natal appointments, or return to our local service. In practice, last time, they somehow managed to visit anyway (and the first few were just done while we had to stay in hospital).

My first scan was cancelled by the hospital and they rescheduled it for after 14 weeks. They claimed they couldn't fit me in before 14 weeks so I spoke to my community midwife who referred me to a different hospital for the scan because I was clear I wanted the combined screening. It caused a bit of a headache getting referred back to the original hospital after the scan but it meant I could have the screening I wanted and my midwife obviously felt it was important enough to do it in the first place. You can get the screening done privately if need be, but you shouldn't have to so I'd try to get the hospital to sort it for you first.

Just buy some pregnacare or folic acid and take it. Keep ringing them.

I'm on pregnacare but was supposed to be on extra but I will keep ringing

Thabks for this, I'll be trying to sort it tomorrow, wish I'd listened to my gut and got it done sooner

If you can’t get an earlier scan, and you do want the screening tests, you could pay for a NIPT test privately. They can still be done after 14 weeks. Not ideal of course, but it is an option.

Thanks everyone for your help. I fi ally got through to someone this morning and turns out that was a midwife appointment, didn't even have a scan booked in at all. Managed to get me in for 9am tomorrow morning so glad I kept on at them.

Phew, well done @Haitch31
Totally ridiculous and unnecesssary stress but hope all is well with your scan 😊

Glad you’ve managed to get an appointment! Well done for advocating for yourself, fingers crossed it all goes well for you tomorrow!