scans?

Guffy

ok the girlfriend is about 10 weeks now and we are just wondering about scans. We just got our appointment with hse for first scan in aug putting her aroun 18 weeks. how many scans do you get with the hse? we had planned to get a private one at 12 weeks but girlfriend said that hse give two so she had planned to skip first one and just go private cause too many scans are bad for the baby.

any advice on this? I would have thought that the first one from hse (assuming they give two) would have been the most important as that is when she meets her gyno for the first time...

January

Depends on the hospital, ideally you should get one at 12 weeks to date the pregnancy and one at around 20 weeks, called an anomaly scan to check everything is ok.

Some hospitals only give the anomaly one though, which it seems like your hospital will be doing.

freudiangirl

I got my first scan in CUMH at 12 weeks.
I have not got a date for my next scan yet despite being 21 weeks pregnant.
Apparently it will be around the 32 week mark.
Apparently CUMH do not offer the anomally scan as a routine check.

So i say it depends on what hospital you are attending.

lonestargirl

gufc21 wrote: »

girlfriend said that hse give two so she had planned to skip first one and just go private cause too many scans are bad for the baby.

Just to point out - ultrasounds do not in any way harm the baby.

Cat Melodeon

I'll only definitely be getting one scan - next Fri at my first appointment (I'll be 19 weeks). On my previous pregnancy, I had a dating scan at 13 weeks and a big scan at 22 weeks. That should have been it, although I had a further 3 in late pregnancy as I went overdue and they wanted to keep an eye on fluid levels. This time I'll only have the one scan unless I go overdue again or develop complications. OP, would you/your partner refuse further diagnostic scans if a doctor thought they were necessary?

We're going to go for a 3D scan ourselves around Week 22 for our own benefit. There's very little evidence to suggest that scans are harmful to the baby. You'd probably be running the same risk by using a mobile phone or a microwave oven during pregnancy - no one can prove that it's completely safe, but it's hard to prove it isn't either.

Moonbeam

not if it is only a few anyway.


Ask your hospital what the norm is there.

qwertytlk

No.. Usually first scan is approx 12th week of pregnancy, or slightly before. This is to date the pregnancy. Then you should be booked for your anomaly scan, other big scan. This is where they check all babys organs, blood flow, placemta, umbilical cord, heart etc and size or baby. This is usually carried out between 20 and 22weeks. And just to mention, from what i have read, heard and been told by medical professionals, scans are not known to cause any harm to your baby.... Best of luck with everything and congratulations!

jw297

I'll only be getting my first scan at 22 weeks, in Holles St. I think there might be a second one later on, but only if there is cause for concern.
Got to hear the hearbeat when I went in to the midwife at 12 weeks, but that was it. Didn't know you could get a scan so early without going private - I'm a bit jealous!

Oral Slang

jw297 wrote: »

Didn't know you could get a scan so early without going private - I'm a bit jealous!

That's one of the reasons I chose the Rotunda over Holles Street. I got a scan at 12 weeks done by a doctor & then an anomaly scan at 21 weeks in the Ultrasound Department.

Had booked in with Holles Street originally but the fist appointment wasn't until 16 weeks, whereas the Rotunda offered me 12 weeks, so changed to them.

jw297

Ah, I had no idea the hospitals were that different - just assumed it was kind of standard across the board (probably obvious that this is the first time around for me, it's quite a learning curve!)

chirogirl

I'm at the Rotunda, they gave me a scan at 12 weeks, then I had an anomoly scan there at around 20 weeks. At 28 weeks, I went private and had a 3D scan done. I think they may give another scan towards D-Day, if any concerns / check positioning etc.

JDD

Yep, I'm with Holles St too and you only get one scan, at 20-22 weeks. I think they roll the "dating" and "anomoly" scan into one, probably for cost reasons.

i had a private scan at 8 weeks just for reassurance. I will have my first midwives appointment next week (at 12 weeks) and I'll get to hear the heartbeat at that, but no scan.

By the way, scans do no harm to the baby, they are just soundwaves. It's not like an x-ray or anything.

carwash_2006

There hasn't actually been any research done to judge whether scans effect the baby, they used to think x-rays were fine for checking pregnant women back in the 30's. Not saying there is any ill effects from them, but we cannot say definitively that there is no effect at all.

Personally I will be keeping the number of scans to as few as necessary, although since I am carrying twins it will probably still be more than I would really like, but since we don't know of any ill effects if the scans are deemed necessary to check how they're doing then best to have them.

Some people have suggested that in some babies an overuse of scanning could cause IUGR, which is ironic since a baby that is thought to have this is liable to be monitored with scans, but again there has not been enough research done on this for anyone to do anything more than speculate.