My 13 Week Scan: New Questions Raised

In my last post, I discussed what I thought was a miscarriage at nearly 13 weeks pregnant. When I arrived at the ultrasound clinic expecting confirmation of loss, I was completely shocked when the sonographer told me there was a heartbeat. The baby was fine. There were other reasons for what had happened the day before.

My Mum and I left that appointment feeling shocked, overwhelmed, and a million other emotions. For the rest of that day, my focus was simply on how grateful I felt. Everything else — including what the scan might reveal — could wait.

The following day, I attended an appointment with my obstetrician. She discussed the results of my scan. The bleeding had been caused by a large subchorionic haematoma. A subchorionic haematoma occurs when blood collects between the placenta and the uterine wall during pregnancy. There was nothing that needed to be done at that point, but it would need to be monitored.

My doctor went on to advise that I also have a high risk of pre-eclampsia. This is persistent high blood pressure that develops during pregnancy. She recommended that I begin taking half an aspirin tablet each day to help prevent or delay its onset.

There was also something mentioned about my hormone levels. There was a lot to take in during that appointment, and I don’t recall the exact details, but I was told to start taking progesterone again.

Before I left, I was told that I still needed to attend the 13-week scan. During what I thought was a miscarriage, I had called and cancelled that appointment. My doctor confirmed that her office would contact the clinic and try to have me fitted back in as soon as possible.

Shortly after I arrived home, I received a phone call advising that the clinic had squeezed me in for the 13-week scan the following week.

When I originally booked the scan, I was told I would need to complete some blood tests beforehand. My doctor also discussed the option of an additional blood test called NIPT. The non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a screening test for certain genetic health conditions. I chose to complete this test, and my results came back as low risk for chromosomal conditions, which gave me some reassurance. I knew the 13-week scan would also check for some of these same conditions, and given that the NIPT test has a very high accuracy rate, I felt reassured going into the appointment. It was one less thing to worry about.

When the day of the scan arrived, I realised I wasn’t feeling quite as I had expected. After the scare the week before, I was on high alert.

On arrival for the scan, I was given a form. I was told that there were several dates and embryo details I would need to confirm. No one had advised me of this ahead of time, and I was completely unprepared.

Normally, I am someone who plans ahead and has everything ready if I know it will be needed, so I felt quite frazzled. The receptionist asked me to take a seat and see what I could find out.

In the end, I sat in reception scrolling through my calendar and staring at my phone. It felt like a complete brain meltdown. Not complaining — just explaining — but fatigue had really been kicking my butt, and my brain doesn’t work at full capacity in the afternoon. It was later in the day, and I had been driving for an hour to get there. So I wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Eventually, the clinic phoned my specialist. They know her well because they work in the same building and see many of her patients. They were able to confirm the information they needed.

When I finally went in for the scan, the sonographer looked at my completed forms and said, “Hang on, how far along are you?”

“Thirteen weeks,” I replied.

She gave me a slightly confused look and pointed out that I had written down that my embryo transfer was in November, not December. That would have made me around twenty weeks pregnant. I felt like this entire appointment had started off terribly.

The scan itself went well. It was amazing to hear the heartbeat and see my baby on the screen. The sonographer said everything appeared to look good and that there was a healthy baby growing. Their specialist would still review the scans, but at first glance, things looked fine.

As I was leaving, they explained that the specialist would contact me directly if there were any concerns.

Later that evening, when I was at home, I noticed I had missed a phone call after 6pm. There was no voicemail message left. When I called the number back, it connected to the answering service for the ultrasound clinic I had visited that day.

A small sense of alarm crept in. I remembered them saying that if there were any issues, they would phone. That thought stayed with me through the night and into the next morning.

Fortunately, I was already scheduled to see my obstetrician the following day to review the results.

As I sat in reception waiting for my appointment, the longer I waited, the more anxious I began to feel. By the time I was called in, I had barely sat down before asking, “What’s wrong?”

I didn’t even wait for her to answer before explaining about the missed call and how the clinic had said they would only phone if something had been picked up on the scan.

Clearly, I was having a moment.

My doctor reassured me that the baby was fine. She explained that the scan had simply identified a couple of things that she wanted to discuss.

My results showed a slightly increased risk of atypical aneuploidy. Aneuploidy simply refers to an atypical number of chromosomes in a cell. Even though my NIPT test had previously come back low risk for chromosomal conditions, my doctor recommended that I be referred to Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) for a further scan.

The screening also indicated an increased risk for pre-eclampsia. We had already discussed this at my appointment the previous week. The report also noted the large subchorionic haematoma that had been identified at that same appointment.

Before I left, my doctor explained that light bleeding might continue for a while. She said that a referral would be sent for the additional scan. That is where things currently stand.

This experience has shown me that there isn’t a “safe zone.” I had assumed that once I reached twelve weeks, things would be smooth from there. I hadn’t really considered that unexpected things could still happen.

When you are new to all of this, you only know what you know.