As soon as we arrived, we were shown to this little room. 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. How was that scan different from the dating scan? Try to relax and take it easy. I thought I was going to burst into tears. BabyCenter. We don't know, but it's not looking good'. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. Slightly marked from our peers. The doctor told me he was 98% sure this was a failing twin pregnancy. It is impossible to escape them and each one underlines your loss. Smiling at myself and picturing me and Sam becoming parents. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." This is not what I imagined pregnancy to feel like', Baby Loss Awareness Week - Voice Five - Bryony Seabrook. 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. 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. So, in the end, we said we would arrange our own funeral. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. As though I went power mad for a week, killing my innocent unborn child, and now I am tainted for ever. I believed at this point I had miscarried, they wanted me to come back I'm for a follow up scan. They said the brain was okay -, We were in there for a matter of minutes, literally -, In and out. We bought a two tests that evening (quite lucky as I messed the first one up!). But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. 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). 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. Purpose of screening. At which point they turned round and said, 'Well, there is something very seriously wrong with the baby, we don't know exactly what, but you do need to have a more in-depth scan at your regional hospital to find out the detail'. Some things can be seen more clearly than others. But it is a soft marker for Edwards' syndrome. When I think about how long it took them to deliberate ultimately, maybe not, but it just felt like a bit of a fast food situation, didn't it? 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'. Enough for two weeks after he had been cremated. All the hopes, dreams, and plans we made with our little bumps has been taken away from us. I was experiencing some light bleeding for the past few days. It was positive, and I felt elated. But it's bloody hard being miserable the whole time. 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). . 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. But for those few days they were torture. And again, you know, you read all the books and it tells you 'this is the diagnostics', but after a while you don't hear that inside your head any more No, no, no, I'm fine - because everything's perfect. I mean the lady who was scanning was very quiet for a long time. And nothing prepares you at all. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. Some of the conditions that can be seen on the scan will mean the baby may need treatment or surgery after it is born, for example cleft lip. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. We had the baby cremated. I couldn't work out what was taking so long and put it down to the doctor being young and inexperienced. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. And it's like, I really wanted to see it and I didn't, and it was it was very mixed. So that was it. Many people were deeply affected by their experiences of the 20-week and subsequent specialist scans. If you are not sure, you can contact them and ask. I wrote a few things down last night when we were trying to go over things, just to remind myself. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. 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. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. 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. My partner went out with him, wanting to see him. 26/09/2019 22:46. 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. Again, no notes can have been written down because the midwife asked the same question. You may need to have a full bladder when you come for the appointment. Please note that the opinions expressed by users in Tommys Book of #misCOURAGE are solely those of the user, who is unlikely to have had medical training. So once again we were right back down, really no, really not knowing what to expect. My partner tried to remain calm, and at my request rang my mum. And I'm glad I did and she's glad she didn't. This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. So we went home really and I sort of had to think about it all night. 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'. However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. And the local hospital wanted to send us off to the regional hospital to actually confirm that, and were not really prepared to say at that time that there was something very seriously wrong. That's fine. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Yeah, yeah. 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). In this information, the word we refers to the NHS service that provides screening. Not marginalised into being a victim. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. Can't seem to find info on the Internet. 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 hardest thing I have ever done. 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 doctor explained the options I had to manage my miscarriage. Sam squeezed my hand and told me it was ok. You've had your, you know, you've had your triple test and everything was fine. You have rejected additional cookies. We decided that we wanted medication to help me. We, I was with my mum, and they scanned and found choroid plexus cysts on the brain, which is just a mark, it's a marker on the brain, it's a, what they call a 'soft marker'. And that was a terrible moment to be sort of hanging on, waiting. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. 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. 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. I ran into the bedroom to tell Sam, who was ecstatic. In order for the sonographer to get good images of your baby, the scan is carried out in a dimly lit room. And it was just a bit of a shock because it's not really what you want to hear - you don't really expect that. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. It took 20 minutes to push him out. You will be able to discuss this with your midwife or consultant. . 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. The only thing you're thinking now is the birth, and what if something goes wrong in the birth? And it was then because we were at 20 weeks by this point, there was only fairly short window to actually, to get some more tests done, find out what the problems were, and then make any decisions that might have to be made. The consultant had said it wouldn't be like a normal delivery.
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