My first pregnancy scan
I had my first pregnancy scan a couple weeks ago. I know your first scan can be a scary experience, so I thought I’d share what happens.
My scan happened bang on time, no waiting at all. In fact I didn’t even have time to check in at reception before they called my name. I was then taken into a room with a bed, overhead light and computer. I was immediately sat down in an armchair where both my arms were strapped into a blood pressure machine. I was told that blood pressure can be different in either arm, hence checking both. Blood pressure no problem at 120/80. A needle was then stuck in my arm to take a blood sample.
I was then asked to lay on the bed for the scan. At this point, I wasn’t even sure I was pregnant. My doctor or midwife hadn’t given me a pregnancy test and were simply trusting my at-home pregnancy test. But sure enough, there was a baby in there.
“Baby is asleep,” the doctor said as she started to push at my stomach. “Wake up, wake up,” She kept saying. After about thirty seconds of pushing on me, the baby did wake up and started moving around. Though because the baby was small, she decided to do a vaginal scan instead and asked me to go to the toilet to empty my bladder.
“Baby went back to sleep!” The doctor said after she inserted the vaginal scanner. “Wake up, wake up,” she kept saying. Though this time it took her over a minute of pushing on my stomach to get the baby to wake up.
“If it’s anything like it’s mother, it’s going to be very annoyed that you’re waking it up,” My husband said, noting that I really enjoy my sleep.
During the scan I was asked questions about my medical history — diabetes, vaccinations, that sort of thing — along with what I ate for breakfast and how much I exercised. At this time the doctor counted the limbs, checked the spinal cord, skull, heart, stomach, abdomen and bladder. All were normal. All of this took about 20 minutes.
I then waited for my blood test results to determine likelihood of Downs, Edward and Patau syndrom. Unfortunately there was a bit of fluid under the baby’s head, which means an increased risk of Down’s sydrom. So instead of someone my age having a 1:519 risk, I had a risk of 1:409.
With these ratios I qualified for a free Harmony scan being done as part of a hospital research project which normally costs £500. The Harmony test is 99% effective in determining if the baby has an increased risk for having Downs, Edwards or Patau syndrom. My blood sample would be sent to San Jose, California and I would have my results back within two weeks.
The doctor reassured me that I was still very low risk, and not to stress, though I do think that’s easier said then done. Within a week I received my results, and I’m very happy to say that I have less than 1:10,000 risk of my baby having any of these syndroms.
So all in all, a lot less stressful than I thought it would be. And, yes, there is a baby in there. My husband now also believes, and has been making me breakfast every morning!
