Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Original poster

Scans. Why do we bother?

189 replies

spidermama · 13/07/2005 19:05

I expect I'll be a lone voice on this matter but here goes.

I never had scans. Didn't see the point. I think routine scanning is an expensive waste of NHS money and regularly scares women during pregnancy.

I've lost count of the number of women who've had needless, sleepless nights because of comments made or action taken as a result of scans.

I don't need them for bonding. I can bond perfectly well without a grainy picture.

Yet the vast majority of all women I meet seem to love scans. Why?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

hercules · 13/07/2005 21:41

But bob this is a place to put views across and if earth mother isnt a derogatory term then why use it as an insult?

bonkerz · 13/07/2005 21:42

beatie: the scans for this pregnancy have all been for a reason. At 6 weeks it was a viability scan due to previous miscarriages, i was not as far on as i thought so had to go back at 8 weeks. My 10 week scan was due to last mc being missed and to check that baby was still there. 12 week scan was routine dating scan, at 13 weeks i had a bleed and had to be scanned to find cause and same happened at the weekend which is why i was scanned at 15 weeks. im hooping i dont have anymore bleeding and will wait till 21 weeks for my anomoly scan but if i do have more bleeding i will be scanned again! There is nothing worse than finding out your baby has died and you didnt know. This happened with my last mc, i had seen my baby the week before christmas and had a wonderful christmas and new year thinking i would be a mum again in aug only to find at the beginning of january that my baby had died before christmas.

hercules · 13/07/2005 21:49

I'll leave this as I'm sure sm is more than capable of defending herself.

Moomin · 13/07/2005 21:50

I had no bleeding at all with pg no.1 and yet scans at 20 and 32 wks revealed placenta praevia grade 4 which almost certainly would have been what my consultant called 'catastrophic' if it had gone undiagnosed and i'd gone into labour. Knowledge is power.

babyonboard · 13/07/2005 21:53

i never meant it as derogatory...
just a for want of a better word turn of phrase

beatie · 13/07/2005 21:53

bonkerz - I am sorry that you have had a worrisome pregnancy and I am sure the scans in your case have been a great reassurance. I hope the rest of your pregnancy continues without complication.

bonkerz · 13/07/2005 21:57

thanks beatie: i have never asked to be scanned and i know hospitals dont like to do them and im sure if i just turned up and said i wanted a pic of my baby they would send me away. In fact when i was in hospital at the weekend i asked if they could just check the baby with a doppler but was told i would need to be scanned in case there was aproblem with my placenta!

Scans are essential to women who have not been lucky enough to have stress free and trouble free pregnancies. Lots of ladies on here live for their next scans just to remain sane. If you have never had any reason to worry about your babies you are very lucky indeed but please dont think women who have lots of scans are just after a picture, i bonded with my baby as soon as i knew i was pregnant.

Norash · 13/07/2005 21:59

Waste on NHS money my ass, where does the NHS get this money from tax payers like me. Yet I don't get free prescriptions or any benefits. If anything else I am glad that I had 5 scans, saw my money go to some good use, ME!

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:01

As for thinking they are useless, I will not reeat what has been said by my "learned friends"

Enid · 13/07/2005 22:08

yes I thought pph's comment was particularly vicious I am afraid to say.

fruitful · 13/07/2005 22:11

I considered not having routine scans with ds, for the reasons you've given. I was planning a homebirth too, had the independent midwives. They wanted to do a growth scan cos my dd was small - (although not IUGR, she is naturally small). I knew they'd just throw up things for me to worry about so I refused it.

The 20-week scan showed my placenta was a "bit low". Thought about not going back for the next scan at 32 weeks cos I was sure they were scaremongering. But I went for it, and lo, placenta was totally over cervix.

2 weeks later when I woke up in the middle of the night with a lot of blood on the mattress, it was useful to be prepared, half-expecting it, and to know why I was bleeding. I knew what was happening so dh calmly phoned the ambulance, and then the person we'd arranged to care for dd in middle-of-the-night emergencies, and I grabbed my pre-packed emergency bag and off we went.

It was my first bleed and ds was born 12 hours later. There is quite a high chance (20%??) that I could have gone full-term with no bleeding, and gone into labour. I could have lost 9 pints of blood in less time than it would have taken an ambulance to get me to hospital. Ds would very quickly have been deprived of oxygen. As it was they had to fish quite a lot of placenta out of the wrong side of my cervix. Boy am I glad I had those scans.

I agree you don't need a scan in a routine pregnancy. But many pregnancies are routine until a scan shows them not to be.

Front garden NQC? Yep, that would be mad!

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:13

repeat I meant to type

Socci · 13/07/2005 22:20

Message withdrawn

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:23

You air your views on here you get a reaction

babyonboard · 13/07/2005 22:25

of course..whats the point otherwise?

Enid · 13/07/2005 22:26

well I'm glad we had the benefit of your wisdom Norash, that it was a good way of getting something for your money

Socci · 13/07/2005 22:27

Message withdrawn

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:31

Enid, I said I was not going to repeat what has been said already. That comment was in reply to, "waste of NHS money"

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:31

What's your point.

micha26 · 13/07/2005 22:37

I don't think that scans need to cause a worry - you don't have to startle because of slight deviations from the norm.

Tbh, I think scans are wonderful and I would consider next time to spend the money to get a couple of 4D scans, these pictures are just amazing

beatie · 13/07/2005 22:44

Is there anyone here who has been unnecessarily worried by the results of a scan?

berolina · 13/07/2005 22:45

I won't forget going for a scan at 6.3 weeks after my last pg had ended in mc. Seeing that heartbeat was wonderful and made me dare to hope it would be OK. That baby is at my breast right now .

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:48

Berolina that is so genuinly touching, I am so happy for you.

Enid · 13/07/2005 22:50

Berolina that is lovely

But I will also never forget seeing my baby's heartbeat at 7 weeks, being assured that as it had been picked up on the scan that meant I wasnt having a miscarriage, only to lose the baby the next day.

Norash · 13/07/2005 22:54

Enid that is really sad and I don't know how I would have coped. But I think that it is very wrong for medical professionals to offer guarantees, as in life especially in medicine there are no guaranties.

I am really sorry that this happened to you.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8