Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. She advised I be referred to the EPU to be assessed. I thought I was going to burst into tears. I went away and came back, and she couldn't get a good picture. There is always a chance that a baby may be born with a health issue that scans could not have identified. I still feel guilty, I still cry at random times. Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. The sonographer will be able to tell you the results of the scan at the time. And so we had to go out a couple of times, [wife] had to walk around, and she had a drink of water, which is supposed to sort of change things inside, or help the baby turn around or something because the sonographer couldn't get the measurements she wanted. 2022. And they took me to another room and they explained that the baby had what they thought was ventriculomegaly or something. So we gave up and said we'd arrange the funeral ourselves. 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. The same rush of excitement. As I left the room to compose myself. I had to be rescanned latter. I managed to tell my mum, who said she would come with us to the hospital. 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. We left the hospital a couple of hours later. Is it the same scan or is it the same equipment? You have rejected additional cookies. . I broke down and started hitting my disgusting body that had done this. 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). At the time the same thing had, exactly the same thing had happened to my friend a month before, and her scan was absolutely fine. What happens at the second midwife appointment? She wanted to have a look at the skull, which was the main thing, but she couldn't see it from where the baby was. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. 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). I endured 12 hours of medication and in the early hours February 7, 56 days after my first scan (at nearly 18 weeks), I miscarried our babies. 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. We were denying him his life. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. Like many things, the theory is very different from the reality. As soon as we arrived, we were shown to this little room. And I said, I was still laughing, and I thought he was joking with me, and he said now I sort of could tell from his face that by that point he wasn't really joking anymore. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. And I knew there was no way out. 20 week scans look for 11 different anomalies as a rule, however, indicators (markers) are not terribly reliable and in all the literature I found, the targets set for stonographers look like they only pick up around 50% or less of these variants. And, for a few hours, I'm convinced I've made a terrible mistake. It would be a personal tragedy for my partner and me, but that is all. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. It felt like a lifetime to reach our 12-week-scan. I was saving my child from pain and suffering. It is also sometimes referred to as the mid-pregnancy scan . Most scans are carried out by specially trained staff called sonographers. He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . She describes having to make a momentous decision very quickly, and the ferment of relief, guilt and grief that followed, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. This does not mean there is anything to worry about. My partner's face was lit up, seeing the baby for the first time. This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-tests-for-you-and-your-baby/11-physical-conditions-20-week-scan. However, a few hours later there was another shift change. So we left it there, and we didn't actually think that there was anything really to worry about after that scan. During the examination, sonographers need to keep the screen in a position that gives them a good view of your baby. I give obsessively to charity, especially those linked to sick children. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan 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. My partner really wanted me to, and by that time I had no sense of what was right or what I should do. As I say, I'm not a very nice person at the moment. Abortion has never raised any moral dilemmas for me and I am an atheist, so there are no religious issues. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. And then I can't remember an awful lot more about that scan apart from that feeling of searching of how to react in an unknown situation - your brain's kind of trying to work out what to say, what to do, but I had no idea what to say or what to do and I think my first thought was, does that mean our first daughter's okay? 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. It felt as if we had gone power crazy. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. Because, when you're angry with the world for dealing you such a shit time, you begin to hate the people who populate it. I had an appointment with my consultant 2 days later, and again he said, you know, 'Very common - shouldn't worry about it too much, you know, if, the problem is if they find anything else wrong'. Spina bifida can usually be seen clearly on a scan and of those babies who have this condition, around 9 out of 10 (90%) will be detected. For women who have been given distressing news about their baby during the scan, there should be a health professional available to provide immediate support. I feel empty and incomplete. Thankfully I was met by an amazing sonographer, she was compassionate and understanding. After half an hour of lying on the bed, I was starting to get nervous, but was excited to find out that the baby would be a boy and that I could see his little heart beating strongly. Well, at the regional hospital it was a 3-D scan. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. She asked me how far gone I thought we were, and if I could have been mistaken. You may like someone to come with you to the scan appointment. But for those few days they were torture. So that was it. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. My baby might have Down's syndrome. And I can just remember flashing a look at you as if to say, 'Have I made a mistake here somewhere? 12/12/2012 22:41. It was horrible. I couldn't bear to see the baby and asked the midwife to take him away immediately. Sometimes women were told that the sonographer had found a 'marker' or sign of a chromosomal condition and had to wait for an amniocentesis to confirm the findings. This one cannot show you anything, that's what's inside your mind. Never lacking a sense of the dramatic, it felt as if we shared the responsibility for the terrible, dirty act that we had committed. 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. 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. Tears started to roll down my face. I believed at this point I had miscarried, they wanted me to come back I'm for a follow up scan. The chances that anything bad will be discovered are v v small. I would be put to sleep, and when I woke up I wouldn't be pregnant any more. It was far too much power; neither of us wanted it. 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. So I no longer trusted my instincts. Laura miscarried her twin babies in February. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier diagnostic tests (e.g. We must have had one before that as well, we must have had one before that, but it came back quite normal. Yeah, yeah. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. Desperately trying to hold onto the glimmer of hope we'd been given. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. And I went for, I went for a normal 12-week scan, at my local hospital and everything, they said everything was fine, there was no problem. And I'm glad I did and she's glad she didn't. From losing my dad to his battle with cancer, to then having to face another battle with cancer and my mum; thankfully she pulled though. I travelled to work that day feeling amazing. Not surprisingly, people aren't quite sure how to deal with me. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?!