Your first scan will be on your first visit to hospital at approximately 12 weeks.
Gel is put onto your abdomen and the ultrasound probe moved around your abdomen to make ultrasound pictures which are displayed on the screen. For your first visit a full bladder is necessary in order to lift the womb out of the pelvis so we can see your baby.
As this is a teaching hospital you may be asked if a medical student can observe your scan. Occasionally there may also be other doctors, midwives or radiographers learning to scan. The person performing the scan will be either a midwife, doctor or radiographer.
The purpose of your first scan is threefold:
1) To establish how old your baby is by measuring the baby's length.
2) To establish the number of babies in your womb, i.e., one or two.
3) To see the baby's heartbeat.
4) The scan usually takes between 5 and 10 mins.
Yes. We can measure the back of your baby's neck which, in combination with a blood sample from yourself, will screen for Down's syndrome. This is known as a CUB Test.
Some problems can be picked up in early pregnancy but generally more problems are detected at the 20 week scan