So it was just, we were coming up to the 20-week scan and I was just getting more relaxed, just actually starting to look at maybe baby catalogues or, you know, going down the baby aisle at the shops, which I'd always avoided. You know there's always that bit on the bottom of the thing, 'These are diagnostics, do not bring other children,' - blah, blah, blah.. it's not, you know, it's not a family outing kind of thing, but it feels like it. 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. He looked excited. If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. I think there might be a problem'. And I, my husband and I both ran our own business at the time so we were desperate to get back and do some work, and things were going really well, so.. The scan was inconclusive, but the size of my little bump was measuring a lot smaller than it should have for 10 weeks. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. 12/12/2012 22:41. I don't know how we got through the next couple of days. 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. An appointment should be arranged as soon as possible and ideally within three working days. We were convinced everything would be OK. 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. So she said, 'Come back on Monday. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. The blood test confirmed it was twins. I tried to keep positive. They would then re-test me in two days time. Did you, how did that scan make you feel? We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. The sonographer then passes a hand-held probe over your skin to examine the babys body. If one of the conditions is found or suspected, the sonographer may ask for a second opinion from another member of staff. And it turned out the baby's heart wasn't forming properly, the chambers weren't forming properly. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me - Tommy's Christmas came and went in a blur of emotion, it felt so wrong to be celebrating when we were in such turmoil. The appointment usually takes around 30 minutes. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. The first result, which tells you if the baby has Down's syndrome, is ready in three days, but the other chromosomal problems cannot be eliminated for up to three weeks. And I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being selfish. I wasn't ready to make a decision straight away, and I was told I could call them in the morning. I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. Because, when you're angry with the world for dealing you such a shit time, you begin to hate the people who populate it. The week that followed was an agonising wait. After that I got, I, it was about in, in 19-, hang on a minute, 2001 I got pregnant again, slightly unexpectedly. You have rejected additional cookies. 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. You get extra care and monitoring as appropriate and baby is proactively treated. 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'. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. This was on the Friday. I wasn't unduly worried at all. I was booked back in to discuss management options, if nothing had happened. Specialist scans are performed in specialist fetal units and if clinicians feel that there might be problems scanning will be done up to 32 weeks. I was disgusted - disgusted that such a tablet existed, let alone that I should have to take it. We went in, had a scan, I can't remember the exact sequence of events because the baby was still in the wrong position. 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. The doctor wanted to do another blood test to confirm a significant drop in my hormone levels. We're still not at the end of our journey, but we're much further along. The next day, it was confirmed that my bloods had again dropped. 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. 'Soft markers'. Thanks girls, it's amazing how protected our babies are in there isn't it?! I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. Not marginalised into being a victim. It was far too much power; neither of us wanted it. 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. Health professionals use the 18-20 week scan to examine the baby's size and position, and also to check if his/her brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs are developing as expected. So we left it there, and we didn't actually think that there was anything really to worry about after that scan. And still we asked to see a, Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans. It took 20 minutes to push him out. It wasn't measuring at all the right measurements for the age - there was a heart defect, the limbs were sort of distorted, the arms were, you know - you could see that the arms were very sort of contracted, the hands were contracted. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. The doctor told me he was 98% sure this was a failing twin pregnancy. 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. 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. x. Yeah, yeah. So it was, there was very, very little movement from the baby because I remembered first time round by that stage, you know, that the baby was quite big and it moved around a lot at a later scan. So we went home really and I sort of had to think about it all night. That he was small. The consultant showed us the letter with our result on and, yes, there were the words "Down's syndrome". 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. I get terribly irritated by my close friends and family. I tried not to sit still for too long, because then I became too aware of the little thing inside me. A few people recalled how frightened and alarmed they became when they sensed that the atmosphere in the scanning room changed in an instant from 'jokey' to serious when the baby's problems were detected. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. We had so much power, we could decide that this little thing should die. The doctor didn't come. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. But at the 20 week scan, which was on a Wednesday, we saw the nurse at the local hospital, the sonographer, and she did a scan and she found that the femur length was quite short in the, in the fetus. But worse was to come. On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. But you could see there was something wrong? We felt as if we were in limbo. So I was, they couldn't actually finish the scan then, the baby was moving around too much, so they couldn't scan the heart and the stomach. 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 real. By 7pm, I still hadn't delivered the baby. And so this one can't tell you anything, it's pictures, you're going, you're going to see your baby, you're going to get pictures. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound 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. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. The contractions started very quickly and within an hour my waters had broken. 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. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? She asked me how far gone I thought we were, and if I could have been mistaken. He sounded like a wild animal in pain, deep pain. I felt crushed, I wanted him to at least acknowledge what had been found already. The decision to terminate the pregnancy was my partner's and mine. He's now had the all clear and is wriggling round on . We just couldn't use the words. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. When I see a child with Down's syndrome, I have a tremendous need to explain myself and apologise a million times over. No, you couldn't see there was anything wrong. 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. It was over. Unfortunately I was not met with a compassionate sonographer. We don't know, but it's not looking good'. So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. We thought it would all be over very quickly but, in fact, it was another 11 hours before the baby was delivered. 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. Just wonder whether anyone had ever been told? The consultant at the time wasn't really that interested in that imagery. Health professionals use the 18-20 week scan to examine the baby's size and position, and also to check if his/her brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs are developing as expected. 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. I could hardly breathe. 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. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. 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.

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