second pregnancy scan

Spendless

s&#64 wrote: »

I think everyone should be entitled to the 20-week scan, as that's the one where they can really look in detail at the baby & can detect certain posiible problems.

I totally agree, this was the scan that picked up that my 1st baby had a problem and wasn't going to live. The problem wasn't picked up on my 1st scan as it was too early to detect anything.

In my next pregnancy I was given 3 scans at various intervals. This was at my consultants request due to my previous history. This baby was fine and I went back down to 2 scans in my last pregnancy.

keatergreyhound

I had 17 scans last year while pregnant due to my bbay not growing and I wouldnt stop bleeding. Im in leicester which has 2 hospitals which you can give deliver in. One gives 2 scans the other jsut one. If your in the Midlands theres a place called bAbybond in Uppingham that scan privatly and arent too expensive

jellyhead

i think a 22-ish week scan should be offered as standard, to me it seems more important than the dating scan. you can roughly date a pregnancy according to LMP, and even when given a different date after the scan (here they only change the date if it's more than a week further or behind) there's still a window of 2 weeks either side when the baby might be born. the radiographer told me that babies are similar up to 20 weeks, so you could date the pregnancy from the 20 week scan, it's only after the 20 week scan that babies start to grow at different rates. i don't know how true that is.

if i hadn't had a 20 week scan i would be worrying about the baby - the heart, kidneys, etc. and the spine. all those things that can be operated on inside the womb, or a low lying placenta that might cause problem in labour. i've read that the private scans you pay for are not diagnostic, so they wouldn't necessarily pick up on a problem.

nickinoo

Jellyhead is right, the 3d scans are not diagnostic but purely a money-making for them & bonding session for the parents to be. Saying that I would have loved an extra scan as it is such an amazing experience.

There have been concerns about too many scans not being good for the baby (not sure of the whole story so can't comment further).

Where I live you get a dating scan at 12 weeks & a anomaly scan at 20 weeks (which is the important one), they will also tell you the sex if you wish.

jellyhead

they say the scan doesn't affect the baby in any way, but it certainly wakes it up!! i have an unusual movement pattern - one punch if i have a bath or eat 3 ice lollies but apart from that nothing in the daytime, just a nonstop party between midnight and 5am, but he has been really active after scans, it's wierd, i'm not used to feeling him kicking and punching while i'm standing up! i'm sure it was the scan itself that woke him, not the gel they use because that was warmed up.

Mrs_T_13

Hi Jase,

Congratulations on becoming a Dad in November! You don't mention how old your missus is? If she's over 35 she should get at least two scans (12 and 20 weeks). I know you can pay to have the nuchal fold scan which checks for Downs Syndrome and also dates the baby - this needs to be carried about by 13 weeks though, so I think it's too late for you.

You'll need to check out which hositals near you provide private scans if your doctor/midwife won't arrange one on the NHS.

The following might be useful: babyworld.co.uk, babycentre.com, fetalmedicinecentre.co.uk.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Mrs T

Spendless

jellyhead wrote:

i think a 22-ish week scan should be offered as standard, to me it seems more important than the dating scan. you can roughly date a pregnancy according to LMP, and even when given a different date after the scan (here they only change the date if it's more than a week further or behind) there's still a window of 2 weeks either side when the baby might be born. the radiographer told me that babies are similar up to 20 weeks, so you could date the pregnancy from the 20 week scan, it's only after the 20 week scan that babies start to grow at different rates. i don't know how true that is.

if i hadn't had a 20 week scan i would be worrying about the baby - the heart, kidneys, etc. and the spine. all those things that can be operated on inside the womb, or a low lying placenta that might cause problem in labour. i've read that the private scans you pay for are not diagnostic, so they wouldn't necessarily pick up on a problem.

Jellyhead -the reason I was given for the dating scan was due to needing to do the triple test at a certain time. Prior to this some several people I know had been told that their child was a high risk for Downs. It turned out that the triple test had been done in the wrong week. My midwife said that they now did the dating scan first so they could do the triple test in the correct week (s?).

How correct this is I don't know just going on what I was told in my last pregnancy. Do they still do the triple test BTW?

jellyhead

ah i see, that makes sense. hmmm, so everyone should get 2 scans as standard then i didn't think of that because i've never had a triple test. they do them any time between weeks 16-18 here whichever antenatal it slots into then if it's high risk there's the option to have an amnio.

i know it sounds shallow of me, but if i hadn't had a 20 week scan or hadn't found out the sex of the baby i think i'd have had a private scan.

jase_uk_2

Mrs_T wrote:

Hi Jase,

Congratulations on becoming a Dad in November! You don't mention how old your missus is? If she's over 35 she should get at least two scans (12 and 20 weeks). I know you can pay to have the nuchal fold scan which checks for Downs Syndrome and also dates the baby - this needs to be carried about by 13 weeks though, so I think it's too late for you.

You'll need to check out which hositals near you provide private scans if your doctor/midwife won't arrange one on the NHS.

The following might be useful: babyworld.co.uk, babycentre.com, fetalmedicinecentre.co.uk.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Mrs T

My missus (fiona) is 26, this will be our second child, our first is eight in July, the reason we would like a second scan is mainly because we would like to know the sex, we live in a 2 bedroom house and already have a wonderful son so if the new baby is a girl we will have some difficulties in a few years and would like to start making preperations now, and also cause were really excited and just can't wait.

cheers
:rotfl:

mrcow

Hi I had two private scans with my current prenancy. Both with BUPA.

One standard scan at 11 weeks as I had some bleeding, cost was £85.

One 'nuchal' scan at 12 weeks to look for signs of Down's Syndrome cost was £95.

If you'd like a sexing scan, call your local BUPA hospital, I'm sure that prices will be similar.