Most scans show that babies seem to be developing as expected, and none of the 11 conditions are found. Cardiac surgery can do some amazing things. This was on the Friday. Most hospitals do not allow children to attend scans as childcare is not usually available. It is a noise that will stay with me for ever. And of course some other measurements she needed to take like the width of the skull, which she couldn't take because the fetus was in the wrong position. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. Although the anomaly scan is often called a 20-week scan, you may have it any time between 18 and 22 weeks, although it's usually done between 18 and 20 weeks. The clinic advised a follow up scan the week after, to check on progress and to see what to do next. And still we asked to see a, Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans. It would have been nice to see someone straight away because I was in such shock. And it's like, I really wanted to see it and I didn't, and it was it was very mixed. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. Previous scans in this pregnancy and with my first child had been fun - a chance to see the baby wriggling around and perhaps find out its sex. Saturday came. The pain was bearable but uncomfortable, the hospital rang me a few days later and asked me how I was. If an abnormality is confirmed or suspected, referral is usually required, although some obvious major fetal abnormalities, such as anencephaly, may not require a second opinion (this should be decided by local guidelines). He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. Another sick joke. Within it are a number of recommendations for the communication of findings from ultrasounds. (See 'Resources'). Maybe. I should stop being dramatic and pessimistic. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. Because we knew that that wasn't normal, that wasn't what we'd experienced before, it wasn't just the, 'There's the arm, there's the leg, oh look the baby's moving'. Slightly marked from our peers. The weeks since that day have been very weird. He looked fine. We had to discuss what we wanted to do with the little body after delivery. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. At first the closeness came through a sense of guilt. We didn't feel we could tell anyone what was happening. The baby was kicking so hard that I began to believe him. I had to stop myself from yanking out the needle. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. And the next day we went back to the hospital and we had another scan with a specialist, and he confirmed it was a condition called holoprosencephaly, which I'd never heard of any of these words before, they were just such long words. It was interesting - well it was fantastic to see this fetus and to see this child that was yours that was horribly ill - but you didn't really get much opportunity to see that because the consultant was more about measurements and all sorts of blood flow and various other screens coming up. Do you have any thoughts about that? So we left it there, and we didn't actually think that there was anything really to worry about after that scan. You know there's always that bit on the bottom of the thing, 'These are diagnostics, do not bring other children,' - blah, blah, blah.. it's not, you know, it's not a family outing kind of thing, but it feels like it. I used to think the feeling of your baby kicking inside you and the sight of a foot poking against your skin were the most fantastic things in the world. And it all seemed so near at hand, you know, 31, 30 weeks, you feel like you're nearly, you're on the home stretch. 17/12/2020 17:13. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. And for that whole time, my partner and I were both crying uncontrollably. 2022. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. It is as though our pain means we've earned the right to be taken more seriously. Finally, Monday came and we went back to the hospital. That he was small. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. The following is a quote from their report: If the scan reveals either a suspected or confirmed abnormality, the woman should be informed by the sonographer at the time of the scan. He sounded like a wild animal in pain, deep pain. I wanted to let nature take its course. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. The 18 -20 week fetal anomaly scan is a watershed in most pregnancies because for the majority of women it will be the last time they are scanned before giving birth. This might be uncomfortable. Hugely upset that to think that the baby was so poorly. 13/12/2020 20:45. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. Perhaps because we are alone in this, it has brought my partner and me very close. The consultant at the time wasn't really that interested in that imagery. It would be a personal tragedy for my partner and me, but that is all. The nursery I had selected for our two-year-old son; my maternity leave; the bunk beds; the summer holiday suitable for a newborn baby. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. So, in the end, we said we would arrange our own funeral. I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. So I took the test and jumped in the shower. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. I was becoming numb to the whole process. Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. The consultant showed us the letter with our result on and, yes, there were the words "Down's syndrome". My partner spent the weekend trying to convince me that things were OK. He felt doing more blood tests would only cause me more discomfort and false hope. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. Our position in our families has shifted. Had 34wk scan last week and all is well - of all the babies found to have a two vessel cord, was told less than 6% experience any growth issues etc. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. Being generous and kind generally happens only when you're happy. But the closeness has remained after the drama has died down. factor is very strong. Having the scan does not hurt but the sonographer may need to apply slight pressure to get the best views of your baby. And they actually asked my husband to come in before they spoke to me. The doctor told me he was 98% sure this was a failing twin pregnancy. But my brain had been given a train of thought that was impossible to stop. So I was a bit ignorant of the kind of things, you know, what the scans were really doing - maybe it was, a bit na've I think. In fact, interestingly enough, going sort of. unfortunately the 20 week anomaly scan can pick up serious issues, hearing heart beats at midwife appointment doesn't let us know what's going on inside the body in detail. Seated in the antenatal clinic with lots of expectant mothers with baby bumps. It's quite common, perhaps 1 in 10 they find these, and within a few weeks they disappear. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. Public Health England (PHE) created this information on behalf of the NHS. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. Possibly with hindsight we could have been more worried about it, but was probably a good thing we weren't, because we weren't worried about anything basically. The blood test confirmed it was twins. Anyway we went in for the meeting with the consultant on this particular time, and we'd got to, I was 30 weeks pregnant by then. In this information, the word we refers to the NHS service that provides screening. Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. That he - I think I was 21 weeks and 3 days, and he was coming up at 19 weeks and 4 days, or something like that. Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. Most scans are carried out by specially trained staff called sonographers. I didn't really know what that was. Some hospitals do offer earlier anomaly scans of the baby, but they will not show as much detail as scans performed between 18 and 20weeks. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. Check benefits and financial support you can get, Find out about the Energy Bills Support Scheme, NHS fetal anomaly screening programme (FASP), Screening tests for you and your baby (STFYAYB), nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3, more information and details of support groups. I was sat on the sofa working, my son was at nursery and my partner was in the bath. I had no idea if we were doing the "right" thing. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. Sometimes a post mortem was needed to confirm the 20-week diagnosis to see if the baby had inherited a genetic problem (such as Fowler syndrome - see 'Resources'). We were denying him his life. Try to relax and take it easy. However, at the time neither of us could articulate that. No sort of questions about, 'Do you want to know whether it's a boy or a girl?' Is it the same scan or is it the same equipment? 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. I couldn't bring myself to push. Yeah - in, stomach, out. We'd just spent some time away on a, on a summer holiday and come back expecting to have this scan and be told, 'All fine. We had the 20 week scan yesterday and got some devastating news. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. The same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. My wife had been very, very healthy, more healthy than the first pregnancy, and of course was shattered by the fact that the news, the news was appalling, very serious faces. But at the 20 week scan, which was on a Wednesday, we saw the nurse at the local hospital, the sonographer, and she did a scan and she found that the femur length was quite short in the, in the fetus. I wasn't unduly worried at all. Has anyone been told the sex incorrectly at their 20 week scan? I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. And at that point I don't think we, I don't think we realised that there might have to be a decision, because we'd talked about it with, with Down's and the other possible problems, but at this point it was, well okay what can be done to fix the problem - because yes the heart's not developing properly but there must be something we can do. The scan yet again confirmed things were not good, however the sac had grown. As though I went power mad for a week, killing my innocent unborn child, and now I am tainted for ever. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. I had hope that the little bumps inside me were fighting just as much as I was to stay with me. No, we really didn't, with hindsight we probably should have, but not at all, it never occurred to us to be worried about it. We were bound to each other because of the blood that was on both our hands. We left the hospital a couple of hours later. Specialist scans I think at that time she had come to terms better with the fact that this baby was going to be terminated, and I don't think I was quite there. Maybe our son would have overcome his problems, survived his illnesses, led a happy life. He bluntly told me, he wasn't interested in whatever was seen before, he was only going to go by what he saw that day. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). How was that scan different from the dating scan? We felt as if we were in limbo. Forcing my hand to my mouth to take the tablet was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. That they could have spotted something, or not? Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). The hardest thing I have ever done. So we hid in our house. And that was scanning up from the above the head, then you were coming up through the child's head, so you were seeing the chambers in the brain, sort of it was evident in all four chambers of the brain, then suddenly one chamber was empty. With my oldest it turns out she has a minor thing that affects 1 in 1000 of the population and wont harm her at all it's just "there" and with my second the issue turned out to be nothing. And I can, the words that the scanning member of staff used, "Everything's fine", will stay with me forever. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. And it's, I can't remember exactly what it was now, it's about where the brain is supposed to form. 12/12/2012 22:41. And I knew there was no way out. Actually you could tell from the brain development as he scanned up through the chambers of the brain, that one quarter of the brain, one chamber was not evident. And, faced with feeling sorry for myself or feeling sorry for my child, I know which I'd choose. The first words I said were: "If there's anything wrong then it's my fault", I had been working 70, nearly 80 hours the previous weeks and pushed myself hard. The 18-20 week antenatal scan and further tests. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. And then, so I went to my next scan, which was the 20-week abnormality scan, and we took our first child with us, I think he was 17 months old at the time. The doctor didn't come. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. No one else felt him kick. So we'd gone through the Down's syndrome or worse scare, we'd had conversations about what we would do, if it was confirmed that it was Down's syndrome or another syndrome, another sort of chromosome abnormality. 26/09/2019 22:46. Others, including those who had been given leaflets to read about the scan beforehand as well as some who were health professionals, said that they had been nave about the 20-week scan. That was the first time I had heard him cry. We'll make an appointment with the senior sonographer, the consultant at the local hospital, and she'll do your scan and she'll be able to tell you more things'. And there [sighs] was a very dark patch over one, where the eye socket was, and they didn't know it, in the Edward's babies sometimes the eyes don't develop properly, or it might have been bleeding, they weren't very sure. And it was Christmas Eve and at the time I didn't think, the sonographer did spend a little bit of time scanning us and queried my dates several times and then explained that she couldn't quite see the baby's heart properly and would we come back in a couple of days? He wanted to talk about it, but I didn't. Tears started to roll down my face. I didn't want to go through anymore scans. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. She brought up a picture of the heart on the screen. The decision to terminate the pregnancy was my partner's and mine. It was another consultant, who said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news - your baby has Down's syndrome." The termination would be averting a tragedy. I faced another internal scan where I began to feel helpless and alone. He suggested he perform an amniocentesis immediately, to rule out any chromosomal problems. Though the 18-20 week scan can detect when certain parts of the baby's body have grown abnormally, it may not be possible for clinicians to identify why it has happened or make a firm diagnosis based on the scan alone. And how wrong could they be? I managed to tell my mum, who said she would come with us to the hospital. So we decided to book an early 10 week private scan. The chances that anything bad will be discovered are v v small. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. And so, yeah we got to, carried on with the pregnancy, kept seeing the consultant, kept sitting in the waiting room outside, because there was a terribly long waiting time sometimes, depending on what time you had the appointment. Because, when you're angry with the world for dealing you such a shit time, you begin to hate the people who populate it. Just doing it. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. So he went out for a walk. . SO much upset and needless angst has been caused by 'soft markers' found at scans. There is more detailed information about the main conditions that are looked for during this scan on NHS.UK. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. So that was it. I remained positive, we researched lots of cases of mistaken dates, inconclusive scans, and compared them to our situation; scrutinising everything to try and believe it was all one big misunderstanding. I tried to keep positive. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? No one else but my partner saw how similar he was to our son. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. We strongly advise readers not to take drugs that are not prescribed by your qualified healthcare provider. I pray it's just her heart but I can't see anything else is wrong as I have been scanned by a consultant since I was 14 weeks and every time he has said everything looks okay and she is growing consistently. My mum arrived early to look after our son, and my partner and I got a cab to the hospital. So we decided to book an early 10 week private scan. It was real. 10/03/2021 16:13, @Cormoransjacket I popped out from work, telling my boss I'd be back in half an hour. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. Sam reassured me, but the guilt had hit me along with the feeling that our world was falling apart. So it was, there was very, very little movement from the baby because I remembered first time round by that stage, you know, that the baby was quite big and it moved around a lot at a later scan. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. She didn't want to see the baby. As two youngest siblings, we were both permanently stuck in the irresponsible, childish role. And, for a few hours, I'm convinced I've made a terrible mistake. x. And even at that early stage it was beginning to sink in that there was something really not right. Scans cannot find all conditions. The ultimate betrayal. The first result, which tells you if the baby has Down's syndrome, is ready in three days, but the other chromosomal problems cannot be eliminated for up to three weeks. I had to wait yet another sleepless night. Wishing to be anywhere, but here being told the same agonising truth over and over again. Eventually, the midwife said to us very sweetly, "I think we should deliver the baby now." chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. I was willing the results to be normal. I think I was about 20 weeks cos they, the hospital I think did the 12 and the 20, that was their standard thing and, yeah, so I got the 20 weeks one. The first midwife seemed to understand what we were trying to say, and said she would ask the doctor to come and talk to us. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan This article was amended on 24 November 2015 to anonymise the writer. He was sure the consultant on Monday would see that the measurements were completely normal and that there was nothing to worry about. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. How common is it for 2nd baby to come early..? Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. The 18-20 week antenatal scan and further tests, Ending the pregnancy for family & personal reasons, Deciding whether to see, hold and name the baby, Photographs and other mementoes of the baby, Saying goodbye to the baby - services & funerals, Coping with bereavement - women's experiences, Coping with bereavement - men's experiences, Men's ideas about their role in ending a pregnancy. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. Sam followed and I broke down. So carried on with the plans, and, you know, planning for the, another baby to come along and then we went for a 20- week scan which is obviously the big one and very exciting, seeing all the arms and legs and once again everything was going fine, 'Look here's the baby, here's the length of baby'. The results come in stages. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. In some cases concerns in utero fix themselves sometimes needs treatment. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. I didn't have a clue. Reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment from a qualified health care provider. We just couldn't use the words. Somehow, I walked from the sofa up to the bathroom and told my partner. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. This was a ray of hope for us. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-tests-for-you-and-your-baby/11-physical-conditions-20-week-scan. You've had, you've had your Down's Syndrome check and that's okay. Specialist scans are performed in specialist fetal units and if clinicians feel that there might be problems scanning will be done up to 32 weeks. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . . Just that really! b>Bad news at 20 week scan. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. Many described how sonographers and doctors were very restrained and didn't speak at all until they had analysed all the baby's details. And having read, since read my information on Edwards' syndrome, a good 85 per cent have problems with the heart. But with time although we will never forget, I know we will be ok again. But they didn't. I came back probably about 17 weeks pregnant and had the anomaly scan at 20 weeks and like most people expected everything to be fine and to come away with a lovely picture but unfortunately that isn't what happened. Seeing your baby on a screen can be really exciting. So I suppose from that aspect, mind you having not been told that or sitting there, I wouldn't have thought necessarily that was odd. The consultant had said it wouldn't be like a normal delivery. See you in -. I felt I needed proof of what was wrong before I take such a huge decision and that I couldn't do it based on what someone had written on, on the paper. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. Why me and not you, you bastard? To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. Wishing to be anywhere, but here being told the same agonising truth over and . Others, including those who had been given leaflets to read about the scan beforehand as well as some who were health professionals, said that they had been nave about the 20-week scan. Three midwives came and went. And that was extraordinary to see the detail that that could offer. The same anticipation. Looked exactly like our two year old as a baby. But it was very evident. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." And my husband, we never got to sit next to each other in the consulting room, my husband was across the room from me, and I was sat next to the consultant, and we were laughing and joking with him about, you know, the home delivery, and everything was going to be, 'Are you still on for the home delivery?' Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'.