Antenatal Screening

They're a professional in their own right so they must, you know, the first thing they just must be courteous and professional. And I think that probably a good scanner is somebody who will just, you know, just introduce themselves, say what, how long it may take, what the purpose is.  

I think it doesn't hurt to just reiterate what you're there for, you know. Again you know, some people just turn up and they're not really certain of why they're there. They've just been told to go to that scan room and, you know, 'Twenty weeks - you're going to have this done.' So I think it doesn't hurt just to reiterate what's the purpose of the scan, that sometimes they may not say anything and that doesn't necessarily mean that there's any problem, and it might mean that they just need to take a little bit more time in looking for something.  

So it's just taking that little time at the beginning to sort of set the scene of the next twenty minutes, or the next half an hour, I think. And I think for the scanner to say, 'If you have any questions,' you know, either, - whatever, you know, depending on what the scanner likes, you know - to take questions as they come up or at the end, or whatever way it's agreed.  

But I think that's just such a simple thing to do, and to me such an obvious thing to do that it's the sort of thing that always - well, you know, it's one of those things that can get missed out. 

But I think, what I've noticed with all scanners is that they just take a few seconds at the start where the screen is directed at them only - and you know, obviously that's just to make sure that there is a heart beat there and that they know that before they swing the screen round so that you can see it too. So I've noticed that with, you know, the two scans that - three - four scans that I've had, that they always do that to check first.

Have they ever said to you that's what they're doing first?

No, I think it's a very subtle thing I think that they do, that they sit down and they tap in whatever information they have to do, and then it's a very quick, you know, the scanner's placed on your abdomen and it's a very brief few seconds look, and then they'll swing the - as if you're not to know any different. And perhaps that's OK. Perhaps that's OK. 

Because at the end of the day the scan is, it is a stressful thing if you're not used to that environment, if you're not used to having tests done. So maybe, you know, you don't want to over-do the information.
 

And I guess my feeling is also once you get to the point of the 20-week scan, there really isn't much room to do much after that point. And I also kind of felt at peace with that, because I remember sort of feeling - and my husband - we discussed this and saying, 'Well, if there's something wrong with the baby that's fine, you know.'

That you'd just, that's it, you'd go ahead?

Yep, and we accept it, and so that was a kind of interesting feeling to have.
 

And that 20 week scan, where you can actually see legs and arms and a face. How did it feel like seeing the baby on the screen?

That was nice actually, that was really nice. Me and... - my partner didn't come with me to that one, because he was at work and he couldn't get the time off - but his sister came with me. And we were still, we were looking to try and figure out the sex still, and just to see the baby - because she was trying to get one of the face, and the baby kept on hiding, hiding his or her face. 

So every time she went there he would just cover his hand, cover his face with his hand. And you could see it kicking its legs. I found that, I can't think of a word. I think it just may mean, some time, even though when I was three months I know I'm pregnant, but I think I actually felt more pregnant after seeing that second scan. I actually thought, 'Oh my God, I'm going to be a mum' and it started actually really sinking in after seeing that.  

And she even had to, because the baby was hiding his or her face, I had to get a, - oh, I don't know the name for it. She had to put something up me instead, because the head was down here, so that was the only way that she could. Because she turned me on my side, I went on the other side and he still, he or she still wasn't moving, so she had to put that up me just to find out if the head was all right but she said that everything was fine. 

I didn't mind. I thought, when she first said that I thought, 'Oh my God, it's going to be like a, a smear test.' And then I didn't even really feel that it was really up there. And she was moving it about and taking the head and she said, 'Oh yeah, well, the head's fine, it's the right size and your baby's at the right size' and everything else, and then took it out. 

But I didn't, it didn't really bother me. I think I was so excited anyway seeing the baby on the computer that I think, it didn't really bother me at all, I didn't really think about it.
 

Did you feel you were being adequately informed during it?

Yes I think so. The anomaly scan was done by the senior consultant in the scanning department, and as a result was extremely quick. And I know him, and know he's the, you know, the most qualified person to do that, you know, that scan, so in that sense I was very happy.  

But in the actual experience of the scan was not particularly good because it was just a, you know, he could do it so fast, technically he's so good that he'd been down the check list inside two minutes and after that was just doing things that interested him.  

And there was, you know, yeah, he said, you know, "This is your baby's face." And we wanted to know the sex, and he was a bit flippant about that, and I said, "No I really do want to know, go back and have a proper look." And of course he did, but it was all just all over very quickly and we didn't really see much.  

Whereas this time I've just had my anomaly scan, and it was a completely different experience because I was in the normal run-of-the-mill clinic and the scan, I think I was, we were very lucky, we had the scan done by a specialist midwife. And I didn't even know there were any midwives who did scanning, but apparently there are two.  

And she's obviously made a conscious decision that it is a psychological experience for the parents, and given that it is, why not make it a nice one? She has the patter and, you know, it was lovely, we saw everything. We had it all explained in detail, and it was great.
 

Then the next stage really after that was the 20 week scan. The person who did the scan I think already knew the kind of background and the slight anxiety, and was very good and was very thorough. And there was a moment or so when he kind of paused over the heart. 

You kind of, you know, both of us were breathing in. And he was kind of saying, 'Normal', and at the end of it he said to us 'You know, it looks fine, and if it wasn't I would immediately tell you.' Which was kind of very reassuring.

One of the things that we've been talking about is the extent to which the ultrasonographer actually tells you at the time what they're looking at and like you say, when they pause over the heart, do they actually say, 'I'm unsure whether there's something wrong here,' or did he tell you that he was going to wait until the end to tell you or? How did he communicate during and after?

What he did is, the form that you have when they're doing the scan is kind of a tick box list of the head, the brain, you know - is there a brain there? Are there toes there? And what he did is really went down there and said 'Normal, normal, normal, normal' to the person who was kind of taking the notes. 

And when it got to the heart he kind of paused, so you kind of noticed it, and then he said, 'Normal.' And that kind of made you slightly, it was just the pause that made you slightly nervous, but then at the end of it he said, you know, this statement of saying 'It's fine, you know. As far as I can see it's, it's fine.'

Would you rather he'd done anything differently? Would it have helped if he had said anything at that point or - ?

No, I mean I thought he was very good, in the sense that he was - I mean, talking to other people he is apparently one of the leading kind of experts on doing this, and he was just very straightforward. So you felt that he was saying what he thought and he wasn't trying to hide anything from you.
 

Well, the twenty week scan was done at this local hospital, and I can remember being very excited about it, because I thought we were going to see a really good picture of the baby' So I was quite excited about this anomaly scan. And it was a very cold day. I think it might have even been New Year's Eve or something. It was very close to the holiday, I remember that.  

And it took us a little while to find. And it was very unfortunate that there was little communication, we felt, between the scanner and ourselves. It was almost as if they just wanted to get through their quota of women for that day. And I'm sure it's because it was the holiday period, that's the only thing I can think of that, you know, that they really didn't want to be there.  

So whilst it was lovely seeing, again it was lovely seeing our baby on the scan, there was a definite lack of attention to us. And I must admit I came away feeling really worried, because I felt that I hadn't seen anything, that it was sort of vaguely indicated to me that that was the heart and vaguely indicated that that was, you know, that was the spine. And I do remember coming away feeling really disappointed, you know, deflated that I hadn't come away reassured that everything was OK.  

Deep down I think I knew, you know, in my heart of hearts that if there was a problem I think instinctively I would know. But there was just something about it that made me think, 'Oh, what a let-down, what a complete let-down.' And just felt very upset about it really. It did take me quite a while afterwards to sort of get past that. 

And I remember when I eventually went to the hospital where I had my daughter, I actually requested another scan, because I just thought, 'Oh, I think they've missed something.' because I was churning it over in my mind so much I had to be talked to, really. And they said, 'Don't, you know - they've written down here everything that they've seen. Don't worry about it, you know. They obviously have done what they were supposed to do.'  

But it was just that, it was the feeling that, because they didn't communicate - it was just, there was no sort of pleasantries I suppose, and it doesn't take much to give a brief smile to somebody, you know. You're not asking for too much.