You may recall that the last time K___ went for a scan at Southend hospital, it was something of a farce...
This time, we left in plenty of time to get parked. We didn't even bother going into the main entrance, we just went to a road that runs parallel to the hospital and found a parking space almost imediately. This then gave us the problem of having forty minutes to kill. Fortunately, we realised we didn't have any moolah to pay for pictures from the scan and we were able to eat up another twenty minutes faffing about trying to find a cash machine.
We got into the Nightingale Centre where the scan was to take place with plenty of time to spare. K___ registered with the receptionist and I sat down. K___ came back and said she was going to go to the loo - if you recall, you have to drink loads of water before a scan - but it was occupied and she sat down. Immediately, her name was called and we were whisked off to the scan room. A bit of an inverted version of last time where we were twenty minutes late, this time we were twenty minutes early. Nice.
The scan operator asked for the notes and we handed them over. I remarked that he'd done our first scan and he flicked back a couple of pages to check. 'No, it wasn't me...' But it was, and K___ agreed. The girl who was in the room with us last time must have put her name down as the scan operator. Oh well.
K___ got up on the seat and pulled her waistband down for Dan, the operator to squirt out the jelly onto her stomach. Last time, there was a monitor over the bed. This time there was only the one over the console. Dan explained that he would do his stuff first then let us see. I realised that this must be in case they discover something upsetting such as an anencephaly baby. This is where the top of the head is missing. I can only begin to imagine how distressing it could be to see such a thing.
Dan was quite chatty with us as he moved the probe about. He kept making comments about the baby not being in quite the ideal position for the scan, but although he tried to get it to move, the baby was having none of it. Still, he didn't seem unhappy and kept saying vaguely encouraging things to himself as he took photos. Finally he stopped and turned to us and said, 'Right, well, I've done everything I need to and it's all fine, so shall we find out what sex it is?'
The moment of truth. The baby still wasn't in the ideal position, but he kept moving the scanner around by small degrees until there was something on the screen.
Was that...? I dunno. I mean, it could be. It's just not clear. Hang on... Is that... Surely that's a...?
Well, he moved it and moved it and I still didn't have a clue what I was looking at. However, Dan seemed to be pretty sure. They always caution you that they're not 100% sure, but that's so you can't sue them. I think he would have put money on being right. So, he told us and I looked at K___ and she looked at me and we held hands tightly.
'Right,' said Dan. 'There's one more thing I want to check. The placenta looked a little low, but I can't quite see. Can you,' he said to K___, 'Go and have a wee and then we'll take another look.' Low seated placentas can be a problem because as the womb stretches to accomodate the growing baby, the edges can peel and this can cause bleeding. Unless the placenta is actually over the cervix, it will normally move up the wall of the womb as the baby grows and this is fine. However, if it doesn't, it may mean the baby has to be born by caesarian section.
Dan brought up a close up of the placenta and showed us where it was in relation to the cervix. It was clear of it, albeit by a small amount. Dan said that this was okay. Their guidance showed that unless the placenta was actually touching it would be fine.
Everything was okay. We have a healthy baby.
Actually, there was one problem. The baby wasn't lying in a position that made it easy to get good photographs. I'll still scan them and put them up, but they're nothing like as good as the ones from the nuchal scan. It's a minor issue.
Well, after all that we were feeling pretty good about things, so we set off for town where K___ bought a little something for the baby.
This time, we left in plenty of time to get parked. We didn't even bother going into the main entrance, we just went to a road that runs parallel to the hospital and found a parking space almost imediately. This then gave us the problem of having forty minutes to kill. Fortunately, we realised we didn't have any moolah to pay for pictures from the scan and we were able to eat up another twenty minutes faffing about trying to find a cash machine.
We got into the Nightingale Centre where the scan was to take place with plenty of time to spare. K___ registered with the receptionist and I sat down. K___ came back and said she was going to go to the loo - if you recall, you have to drink loads of water before a scan - but it was occupied and she sat down. Immediately, her name was called and we were whisked off to the scan room. A bit of an inverted version of last time where we were twenty minutes late, this time we were twenty minutes early. Nice.
The scan operator asked for the notes and we handed them over. I remarked that he'd done our first scan and he flicked back a couple of pages to check. 'No, it wasn't me...' But it was, and K___ agreed. The girl who was in the room with us last time must have put her name down as the scan operator. Oh well.
K___ got up on the seat and pulled her waistband down for Dan, the operator to squirt out the jelly onto her stomach. Last time, there was a monitor over the bed. This time there was only the one over the console. Dan explained that he would do his stuff first then let us see. I realised that this must be in case they discover something upsetting such as an anencephaly baby. This is where the top of the head is missing. I can only begin to imagine how distressing it could be to see such a thing.
Dan was quite chatty with us as he moved the probe about. He kept making comments about the baby not being in quite the ideal position for the scan, but although he tried to get it to move, the baby was having none of it. Still, he didn't seem unhappy and kept saying vaguely encouraging things to himself as he took photos. Finally he stopped and turned to us and said, 'Right, well, I've done everything I need to and it's all fine, so shall we find out what sex it is?'
The moment of truth. The baby still wasn't in the ideal position, but he kept moving the scanner around by small degrees until there was something on the screen.
Was that...? I dunno. I mean, it could be. It's just not clear. Hang on... Is that... Surely that's a...?
Well, he moved it and moved it and I still didn't have a clue what I was looking at. However, Dan seemed to be pretty sure. They always caution you that they're not 100% sure, but that's so you can't sue them. I think he would have put money on being right. So, he told us and I looked at K___ and she looked at me and we held hands tightly.
'Right,' said Dan. 'There's one more thing I want to check. The placenta looked a little low, but I can't quite see. Can you,' he said to K___, 'Go and have a wee and then we'll take another look.' Low seated placentas can be a problem because as the womb stretches to accomodate the growing baby, the edges can peel and this can cause bleeding. Unless the placenta is actually over the cervix, it will normally move up the wall of the womb as the baby grows and this is fine. However, if it doesn't, it may mean the baby has to be born by caesarian section.
Dan brought up a close up of the placenta and showed us where it was in relation to the cervix. It was clear of it, albeit by a small amount. Dan said that this was okay. Their guidance showed that unless the placenta was actually touching it would be fine.
Everything was okay. We have a healthy baby.
Actually, there was one problem. The baby wasn't lying in a position that made it easy to get good photographs. I'll still scan them and put them up, but they're nothing like as good as the ones from the nuchal scan. It's a minor issue.
Well, after all that we were feeling pretty good about things, so we set off for town where K___ bought a little something for the baby.
Your little boy is going to look a bit funny in that top...
ReplyDeleteLG - actually, I forgot to mention that because the pics weren't very good, he didn't charge us for them.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's £3.50, total cost. The photos are non-essential and for vanity reasons only, though admittedly they cost nothing like that to produce. If you go private - like we did for the Nuchal scan - it's nearly £200. Hardly a big scam!