20 week scan - yes or no?

[footstep]

I?m currently 19 weeks and overcome with indecision over whether or not to have an anomoly scan.

We refused screening for downs (only blood tests offered in my area) on the basis that we would not terminate and did not want to risk the stress of a high risk result when we wouldn?t have agreed to an amnio.

My instinct is to leave well enough alone. I discussed this with a midwife and she agree that there?s no evidence that having this scan improves outcomes. The only benefit is either (hopefully) reassurance or a chance to get used to any problems identified or the chance to terminate. Are these benefits worth the risk of the stress induced by a false positive?

Has anyone refused a scan and then regretted it? Or had the scan and regretted it? Or had a problem identified at the scan that they?re glad they knew about?

I?ve got a horrible feeling I?m just rambling here and not making myself clear ;(

Any/all advice/comment welcome.

Thanks

footstep

x

i have diabetes so have a lot more scans than other people. serial growth scans every 4 weeks from 20 weeks onwards. i find them rather stressful, though calmed down a bit after 20 week scans showed no problems (am currently 31 weeks with my second). i know i have to have them though, to ensure everything is ok with the baby - they are definitely to monitor growth & the placenta rather than get pretty pictures.

We also had the choroid plexus cysts picked up at our 20 week scan (I'm now 35 weeks). Although it was an isolated soft marker, our hospital have a policy of reporting it where others would not have done.

My dh has rationalised the whole thing much better than I have, but at the time it was agony trying to decide about amniocentesis. The risk of Edward's syndrome is 1 in 200, which is exactly the same risk of miscarriage from amnio.

I feel that, if you know you wouldn't terminate, having a scan can be traumatic if a soft marker is picked up. Then again, it's obvious that there are some life threatening conditions that can be treated if the doctors are aware of their presence. Also, forewarned is forearmed. I'd always go for the anomaly scan, even though I've had a bad experience myself.

I didn't feel the reporting of the soft marker was handled very well. We went to see the consultant a few days later, he was quite abrupt with me and it was only because I asked the right quesitons that I found out that babies with Edward's syndrome don't grow properly in the third trimester. As my fundal height is right for dates, I am reassured, but I would have been much more worried if I hadn't asked that question.

I didn't have anything other than basic scans and blood tests done when I was pregnant with Lottie. She was born with Down's syndrome. I'm SO pleased I didn't know before and have never, ever for one second even considerd that I might regret not being scanned/tested. I'm now pregnant again and have told everyone who asks no thanks to tests/scans this time round.
Knowing how wonderful my DD is and loving her as deeply and strongly, as passionatley as I do, there's even less reason to have the tests this time round.

It's not the sort of thing you can advise anyone on, it's far too personal and each person has to do what they feel is right.

Whatever you do, I wish you a healthy an dhappy pregnancy and a healthy and happy DS or DD.

But aren't there problems that can be treated in-utero, so even before babe is born? I can't remember the name of the programme, but had Kypros Nockolaides from KIngs doing various procedures the try and ensure pregnancy continued and baby born safe and well (i'm sure one involved excess fluid, which they were able to drain).

Just come across this thread. Atm I wish I had never had a scan at all, as I find myself in a situation where my baby might have a genetic defect, but nobody knows if he does and if so how severe it is. So there's nothing anybody can do, and all this has done for us is cause worry which I wouldn't have if we had never had a scan in the first place.

my uncle was born with the most severe form of spina bifida, he's spent his life paalysed from chest down and severly mentally handicapped. i'm just telling you this so you'll see that i do understand the implications of the condition. any child of mine is at increased risk of sb and i live in ireland so abortion isn't an option even if i wasn't against it.

i had the anomoly scan with my 1st preg and will again this time (17 weeks now) on the grounds that financially and emotionally we would need time to prepare for a child with sb.

there is also the point that many of the conditions that can be identified at the scan will need immediate and specialised treatment at birth which could make all the differance to their quality of life, the scan gives you and the medical staff time to prepare for this and for you to switch to a hospital specialising in the treatment of high dependancy infants if necessary.

I'm also 19 weeks & having my anomly scan next friday.

I had the nuchal fold at 12 weeks & the triple blood test at 16 weeks.

Having miscarriaged the previous pregnancy, I'm looking forward to finding the sex & seeing baby. For me, I feel we are so lucky to have this technology & I won't be turning it down. I hope to goodness there is nothing wrong, if there is, well, we'll deal with it. If there isn't, I really will be able to believe there is a little person growing in me.

the reasons for the scan didn't even enter my head - i just was looking forward to see the bambino on screen again...

They wanted me to have growth scans throughout my 2nd pg, because dd was "small for dates" (hah! she was not! she is just petite). I refused those (actually, I sat there and agreed to them and then didn't stop at the desk on the way out to make the appointments).

But at the 20 wk scan they said the placenta was low. Still was at 32 weeks. At 34 weeks I haemorrhaged in the middle of the night, ds born by emergency cs soon after. I'm sooo glad I was prepared for that! Also you can go full term with placenta praevia and its not a good idea to go into labour. I guess they may have completely ruled this out at the 13 week scan though?

How odd.

I had absolutely no memory of starting this thread..

We decided not to have the scan in the end. I felt much more relaxed once we'd made the decision.

DD is now 3.5 and an absolute darling

I'm now 20 weeks pregnant and searching threads for advice on whether to have the 20 weeks scan!

The situation has changed slightly in that our hospital now has a policy of not reporting any soft markers found. This was one of the possibilities that really put me off having the scan last time, so I'm now (once again) not sure what to do.

I think my instinct is to not have the scan. But is that irresponsible? I still haven't found any evidence that suggests outcomes are better for scanned babies (or worse - doesn't seem to be any evidence either way). I think I'd be much happier making a decision if I had some numbers to go on.

Does anyone know of any available evidence?