Seven week viability scan - vaginal or abdominal and what do you see?

[NigellaTufnel]

Hello
Having a 7 week scan thi week, does it tend to be vaginal or abdominal - hospital pretty poor on info.

should be vaginal - and if vaginal, it's on an empty bladder, so much more comfortable. I would phone up and doublecheck, as abdo scan so early on would need a full bladder (and discomfort!).

At 7 weeks you would expect IIRC to see a sac and fetal pole, and hopefully a heartbeat (but sometimes that is not visible till 8 weeks), so it's not impossible they may have you come back for a repeat scan in 7-10 days if they don't see a heartbeat.

At 6+5 I had normal ultra sound and saw a little blob with a heart beat.

I had both methods and 7 weeks as the heartbeat was not visible. Turns out I was only 5 weeks, not 7 weeks, so don't be alarmed if you don't see what you are hoping to.

Mine was abdominal at 6+5, and same as memoo, little blob with a little fluttering heartbeat.

I had a normal scan at 7 weeks on Friday just gone. Had to have a full bladder but saw little one & HB.
I lost a pg last year but prior to that I had to have a scan but because I was ill informed I thought I had to have a vaginal scan as that was all there was on offer at the early stages! This is not right & if you don't want a vaginal scan then go with a full bladder & request normal scan. I'm not taking any chances this time, although there is no evidence that vaginal scans effect the pg in any way. Just made me feel happier.

Obvioulsy if you are earlier than 7 weeks it may not pick it up & then you might have to have a vaginal scan anyway. But don't stress...

Hope that helps a bit x

Hi, I have got a viability scan booked at 7 weeks too, and was assuming it was vaginal. It's at the Fetal Medicine Centre. I was wondering if there is any risk to the baby with transvaginal scans? Does anyone know?

I had one at 7 weeks due to bleeding and it was abdominal.

I had one last week at 7 weeks - she tried abdominal but couldn't see much as bean all squashed up, so she asked me to empty my enormously full bladder and did a trans-vag. Saw the heartbeat that way. Think a lot depends on how the sac is lying, x

The aim of an early scan at 6-7 weeks is normally to confirm that the pregnancy is intra-uterine and not ectopic and secondly to visualise the baby's heartbeat to confirm the pregnancy is viable. Sometimes in early pregnancy we can't always easily see a pregnancy sac or a fetal heartbeat on an abdominal scan. This can be due to a number of factors:
-the pregnancy may be at an earlier stage than expected
-the uterus may retroverted (pointing slightly backwards) and is further away from the surface of your tummy and therefore the image quality is poorer
-Tissues from different women transmit ultrasound beams differently (slim women tend to have better ultrasound views on scan).

The transvaginal scans allow you to visualise ealry pregnancy structures much more clearly and approximately 1 week earlier when compare with an abdominal scan.They are not in anyway harmful for a pregnancy and do not cause miscarriages.

When I scan expectant mums I always start with an abdominal scan and only if I cannot see an intra-uterine pregnancy/fetal heartbeat then I will give the mother the option of a transvaginal scan or a repeat abdominal can 7 days later.

Hope that clarifies thigs for you all!

That is very helpful SympathethicConsultant thankyou very much for posting. I have a TV booked for tommorrow when I am 6.3 so fingers crossed I get to see a HB and emby is developing where it should.

Good luck OP with your scan.

IME this depends on the hospital. Both of the hospitals (UCH and North Mid in London) where I have been scanned at between 6 and 9 weeks have used a vaginal scan.
Frankly it makes little difference to me - I just want them to see something! And because you need an empty bladder for it a vaginal scan can be more comfortable.

SympatheticConsultant thanks for that!

Hi Thandeka how are you? Good luck with your scan tomorrow!

MrsHappY I agree - I think I would actually rather not have to fill my bladder with several pints of water TBH! And especially if TV is not associated with any risk to the baby. I was pretty sure it wasn't, am just totally paranoid!!

Thank you all so much!

Will call hospital tomorrow to see if I start having to down the gallons of bloomin elderflower cordial.

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