Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? 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. . The sonographer will be able to tell you the results of the scan at the time. 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. I'd had the scan in the scanning room, I can't remember what they call it now, it's silly, it's gone from my head. And I could see, before she even said anything I could see that there was something wrong with the heart. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong. I was then told yet again bad news. She didn't say at the time that it was a major problem or that it was something to watch out for. By this time, we were tired. blood tests, CVS) were clear - and as one woman put it, 'after the triple test* (Down's syndrome screening) you stop thinking anything can go wrong'. Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be. The appointment usually takes around 30 minutes. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. But even if I was there, I still think I would have wanted to see the detail on the scan. 80 percent of my pregnancies have ended in death and I felt like they were telling me those babies didn't matter. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. It feels very lonely and isolating. . We must have had one before that as well, we must have had one before that, but it came back quite normal. I was becoming numb to the whole process. On the third day, we got a phone call. He wanted to talk about it, but I didn't. Being deeply unhappy and kind to others at the same time is nigh on impossible. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. Again, we weren't understood. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. Yeah - in, stomach, out. 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. I was wondering if anyone has been is this situation and can give me a glimmer of hope. The baby kicked, blissfully unaware of what I had done. This time, they discovered the baby has a two vessel cord (only one vessel from placenta to baby instead of two) and I've been monitored to make sure the baby grows properly and kidneys aren't damaged. There, I would give birth. 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. This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. Despite this new discovery, the sonographer was still concerned. We don't know, but it's not looking good'. And, faced with feeling sorry for myself or feeling sorry for my child, I know which I'd choose. On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. 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. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. Instinctively, did it feel right? It was far too much power; neither of us wanted it. I tried to show him the notes and the photos. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. Specialist scans had a powerful effect on some parents because they could see the baby more clearly and in some cases people recognised which parts of the baby's body were not working properly. And I assumed my partner would feel the same. An hour passed and I started to panic. And she said that, you know, as the, if the baby did develop further there would probably be other problems with internal organs that weren't really that visible at that stage. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. It is a noise that will stay with me for ever. Never being able to look after himself. Sam followed and I broke down. You've had your, you know, you've had your triple test and everything was fine. So at 20 weeks I went for my scan with my husband, with my daughter, to get our photographs. It's a bit at the back of the brain and - no I can't remember what it is - it's called, it's something that's called Dandy-Walker mal, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have produced a report on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales (May 2010). But my brain had been given a train of thought that was impossible to stop. I didn't really know what that was. 'Yes, if that's okay with you,' kind of thing, like you do. And for that whole time, my partner and I were both crying uncontrollably. This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. We're still not at the end of our journey, but we're much further along. We were told to go to the hospital immediately. We couldn't say we'd lost the baby, because he was still kicking away, but we couldn't pretend everything was fine, either. 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. And attribute some blame to them. And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. There was cause for concern. I did. 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. 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). So obviously quite relaxed. And I felt like a murderer. All pregnant women should be given the booklet by their midwife or GP Screening tests for you and your baby by Public Health England, which gives detailed information about the types of scan offered and what they are looking for. My partner went out with him, wanting to see him. It was, 'Oh we'll come back to that'. Again the legs were quite twisted, they said that the baby's sternum was very short - things weren't in proportion you know - the head was quite large, the neck was very thick, there wasn't really like a neck as such it was just things were kind of - there were lots of things that obviously the consultant could see that we weren't aware of. The baby was kicking so hard that I began to believe him. I went away and came back, and she couldn't get a good picture. SO much upset and needless angst has been caused by 'soft markers' found at scans. Two days, after on Christmas Eve, (my 12 week date) I had more blood tests. No one else ever met the object of my grief. It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. There are no known risks to your baby or the mother from having an ultrasound scan but it is important that you consider carefully whether or not to have the 20-week scan. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. 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 wanted to do another blood test to confirm a significant drop in my hormone levels. 20-week ultrasound (anomaly scan) - BabyCenter Australia I wanted to let nature take its course. The pain was excruciating, but nothing compared to how I felt inside. I think it's the same - in fact I think it was probably the same room, same consultant - and [sighs] I suppose it felt upsetting because at the dating scan you're full of hope and this scan we knew wasn't going to be good, we knew it was maybe the last time we would see the baby moving around. And everybody knows and everything is right. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. If you choose not to have the scan you can still have all other parts of your routine antenatal care. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". Many parents were shocked by findings from the 20-week and later scans. I am a darker, harder version of myself. 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. We were convinced everything would be OK. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. She advised I be referred to the EPU to be assessed. No one else felt him kick. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). See you in -. It is essential that all practitioners performing fetal anomaly ultrasound screening should be trained to communicate abnormal findings to women, as such information is likely to have significant emotional impact. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. But the closeness has remained after the drama has died down. You could see her face, and the major aspect that was, that was the indication of what was wrong was the thickening at the back of the neck in this instance, which, when you're looking at a fetus is, you know, sort of half a centimetre thicker or not is completely immaterial to me, and would look like a completely normal neck, but from the point of view of the consultant was severely abnormal. 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. We needed closure, to allow us to grieve properly. So we decided that, to have the scan and we went along I think early in the week for that, and spent quite a lot of time with the consultant after that. I could hardly breathe. And I, and, I felt the weight of deciding what to do about 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. And I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. Just that really! However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. Dont include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. We didn't feel we could tell anyone what was happening. Those two weeks were agonising for us both. Originally I hadn't wanted to go down that road. 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. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." He then told us what the prognosis would mean for the child. And my partner and I would have a completely different life from the one we'd imagined. Did you, how did that scan make you feel? And then all of a sudden, I was still laughing and we were all very upbeat, and then suddenly, he suddenly said, but I was still, still laughing, and he said to me, 'Oh, there might be a problem, there might be a problem with the, I think this baby has hydrocephalus'. Public Health England (PHE) created this information on behalf of the NHS. There was complete silence during the scan. I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. Tears started to roll down my face. The hormone levels had dropped, but they wanted to scan me again. If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales company number 3266897. I don't know how we got through the next couple of days. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. This might be uncomfortable. I felt more informed, and I felt that that was what I needed in my head to see you know, that I've got to accept now that this, all these things are real on the screen and this was really my baby that's suffering all these things [sighs], but I was sad as well. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. At that point, I got very not upset but quite sort of strongly severe sort of with the people at the hospital saying, 'Look, you know, that's 24 hours, possibly a 48 hours' wait - that's not something that's tenable. And I'd been on the internet looking up all sorts of things and everything was so negative, it was very depressing, because I thought, 'Well, maybe they've made a mistake, or maybe it's something they can fix, I don't know'. This was a ray of hope for us. These opinions do not represent the opinions of Tommys and are not advice from Tommy's. I popped out from work, telling my boss I'd be back in half an hour. Most scans show that babies seem to be developing as expected, and none of the 11 conditions are found. But now that's changed. I have horrible thoughts. This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. Your mind has closed to the possibility that there could be anything wrong. The termination would be averting a tragedy. I remember thinking, 'that doesn't look quite right'. How common is it to find anomolies at the 20 week scan? - Netmums 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. Registered office: Nicholas House, 3 Laurence Pountney Hill, London, EC4R 0BB. I had a horrible feeling of relief. . 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. And I thought that if I were faced with the possibility of having an amnio, hours of discussion would follow - I would spend days mulling it over. We understand the real meaning of "shit happens". I just want to be normal again. When he came back, he agreed on a termination. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. And it's like, I really wanted to see it and I didn't, and it was it was very mixed. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. We decided that we wanted medication to help me. 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. For once in my life, I had been organised. In some cases concerns in utero fix themselves sometimes needs treatment. I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. I took my vitamins, stuck to the healthy diet and put on a brave face. The decision to terminate the pregnancy was my partner's and mine. I didn't sleep that night I don't think. Which she reassured us that she'd be absolutely fine, this was a one-off. I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. 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'. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. Severe chromosomal conditions such as Edwards' syndrome are now often picked up in the first trimester antenatal screening but itwill usually be more obviousat the 18- 20 week scan, though usually a firm diagnosis will not be made until one or two specialists have weighed up all available evidence about the baby - which usually means that another expert needs to scan the baby again, or until the woman has had an amniocentesis. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. Laura miscarried her twin babies in February. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. So I trusted him. It was exactly like the labour I had with my first child. Do you have any thoughts about that? The people who did know what was going on seemed far too sure that we were doing the right thing, that there was really no choice to be made. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. The same unique expression he had when he saw our two year old born. I had to wait yet another sleepless night. How common is it to get bad news at 20 week scan? | Mumsnet My partner spent the weekend trying to convince me that things were OK. We need to have your opinion'. Went back a week later for the scan and, you were with me for this one, weren't you? Just doing it. Some things can be seen more clearly than others. We had so much power, we could decide that this little thing should die. I then found that soft markers means 'vague unproven suggestion of a link', and that echogenic locii are small concentrations of calcium which are incredibly common and harmless. While some parents understood the clinician's restraint - even when they had to wait an hour or more for a definite diagnosis - others disliked being kept in suspense and wanted to be told what the clinician was thinking. And I know I can't hurry up the process of grieving. So I sort of went home quite, fairly kind of happy and I, at, at this point I hadn't any idea things could go wrong anyway. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. But he was wrong. For many other women, the 18-20 week scan was the point at which they discovered the baby had serious problems. I had hope that the little bumps inside me were fighting just as much as I was to stay with me. You have accepted additional cookies. After that I got, I, it was about in, in 19-, hang on a minute, 2001 I got pregnant again, slightly unexpectedly. He suggested he perform an amniocentesis immediately, to rule out any chromosomal problems. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier . All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. It is as though our pain means we've earned the right to be taken more seriously. We've got the same battle scars. 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. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. But it was very evident. But it's bloody hard being miserable the whole time. So we decided to book an early 10 week private scan. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Scans cannot find all conditions. My partner tried to remain calm, and at my request rang my mum. I'm trying to understand because I haven't seen a 3-D scan, what it tells the parents? We talked about the different sorts of pain relief I could have and I opted for a morphine drip, which I could control. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. At this point it wasn't looking great. 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. I know its hard- but i really wouldnt worry about it too much as the worry will stress you and your body out. I feel empty and incomplete.

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