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). Went off for the 20-week scan, which you didn't, you weren't there, were you, for the first scan? And that, that was when things where it started going a bit wrong. Sometimes specialist scans such as 3D scans, or MRI scans, are used to examine the baby in greater detail. The pain was bearable but uncomfortable, the hospital rang me a few days later and asked me how I was. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. I tried not to sit still for too long, because then I became too aware of the little thing inside me. I had to be rescanned latter. Not marginalised into being a victim. I let out an animal scream and [wife] kind of leapt onto me on the bed. I just want to be normal again. 'I was having nightmares and panic attacks. So at least then we went to that next stage prepared for the worst really. We strongly advise readers not to take drugs that are not prescribed by your qualified healthcare provider. Again, we weren't understood. I could hardly breathe. Do you have any thoughts about that? It is impossible to escape them and each one underlines your loss. So I trusted him. I was then told yet again bad news. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. This article was amended on 24 November 2015 to anonymise the writer. 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. Some people had underestimated how serious any abnormality found at this stage could be for the baby. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. It's, I mean you can't tell from these scans what you're looking at really, but I remember thinking, 'it just doesn't look quite right' or something, but I didn't give it much thought. The first words I said were: "If there's anything wrong then it's my fault", I had been working 70, nearly 80 hours the previous weeks and pushed myself hard. Abortion has never raised any moral dilemmas for me and I am an atheist, so there are no religious issues. And I thought that if I were faced with the possibility of having an amnio, hours of discussion would follow - I would spend days mulling it over. Another sick joke. I did think it was a bit strange that she wasn't talking, and then she sort of said, 'Oh, I think there's a problem. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? It seemed a very arbitrary system, and so you quite often sat outside in the waiting room for a couple of hours before you actually got to see the consultant, which was, seemed you know, I kind of remember thinking before we went in to see him on the particular day when we found out there was a problem, 'Why are we sitting here? And still we asked to see a, Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans. So it was quite common, this is what happens. We left for home feeling completely numb. Sometimes a post mortem was needed to confirm the 20-week diagnosis to see if the baby had inherited a genetic problem (such as Fowler syndrome - see 'Resources'). An hour passed and I started to panic. 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. Our nightmare began when I went for my 20-week scan. I was becoming numb to the whole process. Emma was 20 weeks' pregnant when a routine scan revealed that the baby she was expecting had Down's syndrome and heart problems. 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. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. But the consultant had found more spots on the heart and the measurements were the same. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford. Why me and not you, you bastard? As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. It seemed inconceivable that we would not be having a baby in May. And how wrong could they be? They sort of drew some diagrams, and they said, 'But we need to refer you to a specialist to confirm the diagnosis'. 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. The nursery I had selected for our two-year-old son; my maternity leave; the bunk beds; the summer holiday suitable for a newborn baby. 80 percent of my pregnancies have ended in death and I felt like they were telling me those babies didn't matter. I couldn't work out what was taking so long and put it down to the doctor being young and inexperienced. We went, I went in to the scanning room and they're quite bland facially anyway, whether everything's fine or not they just look at the screen to start off with and do measurements but I very quickly realised that the woman's demeanour wasn't, even for a bland face, was concerning. Being generous and kind generally happens only when you're happy. Sometimes a post mortem was needed to confirm the 20-week diagnosis to see if the baby had inherited a genetic problem (such as Fowler syndrome - see '. The scan looks for 11 different conditions in your baby and cannot find everything that might be wrong. My belly was growing and I was feeling great. But now that's changed. Could you tell? In some cases concerns in utero fix themselves sometimes needs treatment. Sometimes doctors will wait to give the baby more time to develop and carry out repeat scans - this had confused several parents we talked to who had gone for repeat scans not knowing that the baby might have a problem. This image shows a baby's face and hands at 20 weeks, and gives you an idea of what you'll be able to see at this scan. Sam reassured me, but the guilt had hit me along with the feeling that our world was falling apart. It is extremely rare for these pregnancies to reach term as they typically spontaneously miscarry early in pregnancy. We would terminate the pregnancy. I couldn't have the added responsibility for changing his mind. It doesn't remove the guilt, but I don't know what else to do. There, I would give birth. So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. But that was too easy. Last reviewed July 2017. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. It was, 'Oh we'll come back to that'. I've been incredibly lucky to have such amazing support from Sam, my mum, and close friends and family. We felt as if we were in limbo. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound scan. 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. I thought surely everything is ok, as they couldn't detect twins the week before. Public Health England (PHE) created this information on behalf of the NHS. 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. I went home feeling crushed; Sam and I both felt helpless. And before they gave me any of the results she asked a colleague to come and told me she wanted to check something, with a colleague, and by then I was getting very concerned because I'd never had that happen before. Can you remember that minute. I wasn't ready to make a decision straight away, and I was told I could call them in the morning. 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. Unfortunately I was not met with a compassionate sonographer. As I say, I'm not a very nice person at the moment. But you could see there was something wrong? Likely to have serious medical problems all his life. So choroid plexus cysts on their own, no problem, but if there's something else wrong, then that's a problem. I tried to keep positive. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. We had so much power, we could decide that this little thing should die. All pregnant women should be given the booklet by their midwife or GP Screening tests for you and your baby by Public Health England, which gives detailed information about the types of scan offered and what they are looking for. Rather sharply, my partner tried to explain. The doctor or midwife looking after you will let you know before you come. I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. Instinctively, did it feel right? Although the anomaly scan is often called a 20-week scan, you may have it any time between 18 and 22 weeks, although it's usually done between 18 and 20 weeks. We didn't name him. The clinic advised a follow up scan the week after, to check on progress and to see what to do next. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. 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. I felt empty, scared, guilty and incredibly heartbroken. Try to relax and take it easy. He bluntly told me, he wasn't interested in whatever was seen before, he was only going to go by what he saw that day. 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. 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. This might be uncomfortable. I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. You've had, you've had your Down's Syndrome check and that's okay. I think I don't everything just seems a real blur because it was, it was such a strange experience. I mean, you just, you're just overwhelmed, it's so much fun. But on, in the middle of March, 10th March it was, we had a 20 week scan. We bought a two tests that evening (quite lucky as I messed the first one up!). I couldn't really believe what they were saying. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". So we'd gone through the Down's syndrome or worse scare, we'd had conversations about what we would do, if it was confirmed that it was Down's syndrome or another syndrome, another sort of chromosome abnormality. Again the legs were quite twisted, they said that the baby's sternum was very short - things weren't in proportion you know - the head was quite large, the neck was very thick, there wasn't really like a neck as such it was just things were kind of - there were lots of things that obviously the consultant could see that we weren't aware of. And I knew there was no way out. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. We decided that we wanted medication to help me. Tommys is a registered charity in England and Wales (1060508) and Scotland (SC039280). It was just a few little things like the kidneys were hard to find, and the stomach was hard to find, but that might be because it wasn't filled with fluid. 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. 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. 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). Had 34wk scan last week and all is well - of all the babies found to have a two vessel cord, was told less than 6% experience any growth issues etc. The hormone levels had dropped, but they wanted to scan me again. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. Usually, sonographers will ask a senior sonographer colleague to confirm findings and this should be done immediately. 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'. ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENT AT 20 WEEK SCAN. I've still had no cramps or bleeding so fingers crossed everything is ok I just couldn't believe I fell down the stairs, I can't remember the last time I ever did that! I didn't think my instincts were worth much. . Check benefits and financial support you can get, Find out about the Energy Bills Support Scheme, NHS fetal anomaly screening programme (FASP), Screening tests for you and your baby (STFYAYB), nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3, more information and details of support groups.