Going for your scans during pregnancy is usually an exciting and reassuring experience. Scans show you amazing images of your little one, such as fingers and toes, that vital and wonderful heart beat and sometimes even facial features. Plus of course for some scans are a chance to find out the sex.
Yet for a percentage of women, scans can bring frightening and worrying news, details of possible problems and illness in the foetus and can result in a worrying pregnancy and sometimes termination of the baby.
Last year my sister became pregnant with her first baby. Everything was great until her five month scan started to show problems. Between her fifth and sixth month she had several scans with various specialists. The scans 'indicated' kidney problems, a bladder problem which could mean the bladder would have no function and turned in feet which could be an indicator of a deformity or abnormality. Rather frighteningly given todays modern technology, the scans highlighted these issues but failed to be able to determine how severe any of the issues were or even if they would be a problem after birth. Dr's said the different issues could indictate neurological problems but they couldn't be sure. The kidney may or may not be an issue, the baby could be fine or he could die at birth.
At six months my sister and her husband were offered a termination. After much soul searching they decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. They felt that there was insufficent evidence as to how serious or not the problems were for them to abort their child.
My nephew was born last month. Happily the problems are nowhere near as severe as indicated by the scans. Yes he has issues with his kidneys but they are stable and improving every day with little medical help. His bladder problem has currently been resolved with a small operation and will hopefully be fine in the future ... and the feet? Well there is no problem at all, a specialist has confirmed they are normal baby shaped feet! He is healthy, feeds well and appears to be a normal bouncing baby. The kidney specialist recently stated that she couldn't believe a termination had even been suggested.
So are scans really helpful or can they actually increase worry and stress during a pregnancy? In this case there were clearly issues that needed highlighting and my sister and her husband were all the more prepared to cope with them as a result, but the scans were in some cases inaccurate and facts were missing or unable to be provided by medical staff. In many ways there was no reason for this pregnancy to be cloaked by so much negativity and misery, and modern medicine with all it's miracles proved to be a little bit of a let down. And yet they care they received overall was excellent and supportive.
The point of this post is to reassure others who might be going through a similar thing. Scans are not conclusive, they can be misleading or simply indicative. Mums to be should trust their instincts, seek more than one opinion and overall try not to worry.
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