20 Week Ultrasound

I’ve heard it called The Anatomy Scan, The Anomaly Scan and The Level 2 Ultrasound, but they all refer to the same thing, an in depth second trimester ultrasound. Somewhere around 20 weeks aka the halfway point, this scan is scheduled to take all kinds of measurements, look at all the baby’s parts and ensure development is on track. If you choose to find out the sex of your baby, you might be able to get that news as well if you haven’t already (you little devils who can’t wait).

Chris and I headed to this very scan last Friday afternoon, 20 weeks +1 day into my pregnancy, very excited. We came away from it over an hour later, still very excited, and relieved all is well, but also with a LOT of new information. Just in case any first time moms out there haven’t hit this milestone yet, I thought I’d share our experience in hopes it may be a bit helpful. What is super cool about this ultrasound is that the tech is basically your tour guide, showing you around and pointing things out. We saw the parts of the brain, all the internal organs, the blood pumping through the chambers of the heart, the spine, the arms and legs and eye sockets and even counted fingers and toes. She took lots of measurements, recorded the heart rate (156) and calculated the baby’s weight (14 oz). Each time she took pictures and typed into her computer and we anxiously awaited her consistent, this is normal. The scan actually lasted quite a while due to the fact that baby P is QUITE the wiggly worm and the poor tech was literally chasing he or she around my uterus. It’s a good thing we didn’t want to find out the sex because our little one wouldn’t have cooperated anyway.

A long strip of pictures was printed and handed to us and the tech said she was going to show the doctor and would be back. This didn’t raise any alarm bells for us because she hadn’t voiced any concerns during the scan. I’d never had this type of scan before so I just assumed it was a normal step of the process. The tech returned with a doctor a few minutes later and she took over with the wand, bringing our baby back onto the screen. We went over the area where my uterine wall is thickened, also known as a fibroid. This wasn’t news to me because the tech noticed it at the first 8 week ultrasound. Apparently these are incredibly common and very rarely cause any type of pregnancy or delivery problems. My doctor wasn’t at all concerned at our first appointment following the scan so I wasn’t either. The hospital doctor then showed us a big gray blob on the screen which I know recognize as the placenta. In most pregnancies the placenta in a posterior position, or in the back of the uterus, but it can also at the top (fundal), on the side (right/left) or in the front (anterior). This means nothing to the baby as long as it’s functioning properly and has no significance on the health of the pregnancy. Mine just so happens to be anterior, directly on the front side of my uterus and right beneath the fibroid. Have I lost you yet? The doctor was quick to assure me this wasn’t anything worrisome but that she was going to recommend a 32 week scan just to be sure this combination doesn’t cause any issues. We had a good laugh about the fact that baby P had decided to take a new position which made it look like he or she was driving a car, pedal to the metal and all. And then the doctor pointed out the “bright spot” on the baby’s bowel. I had no idea what that meant but it didn’t sound like a good thing. I’m not going to go into too much detail here but basically this is a classic case of the soft marker. In my opinion these totally suck. Basically it’s anything seen on an ultrasound that could possibly mean something is wrong, although most of the time it either means nothing at all or it’s not really what it appears to be and just looks that way on the scan. This bright spot apparently shows up all the time and there can be a bunch of reasons for it. If you had first trimester bleeding, that is the single most likely explanation. If not, you still aren’t supposed to sweat it because there’s about a 1-3% chance it’s indicative of something more serious and even less chance of that if no other markers of those issues are observed. Sooooo the little teensy tiny soft marker could scare the crap out of you for nothing. In my case, I’m not worried. There were no other reasons to assume something ominous and again, the doctor didn’t seem concerned. Maybe that’s just my personality, maybe I’m just overconfident or maybe it’s instinct telling me it’s all good. But I felt like sharing this might be helpful in one way or another or at least just to let you know, your baby has the biggest chance of all of being TOTALLY FINE.

I’ll follow up with my doctor at our next regular appointment in about 2 weeks and go over everything again so I can report back to y’all with any additional information I gain on these topics. The biggest things we took away from this scan are that this little munchkin is a mover and a shaker, has legs for days and a good chance of being left handed, is less than cooperative (okay, stubborn) and most importantly, is right on track with development and absolutely perfect in our eyes. Some women report feeling movement less frequently, less intensely, and/or later in the pregnancy with an anterior placenta. Think about it, the placement of it can act as a cushion between you and the baby, muffling everything. But for me, this hasn’t been the case. I realize I don’t have any other pregnancies for comparison, but I started feeling movement at the beginning of the second trimester and it’s steadily increased each week. I definitely feel a lot more on my sides and down low as opposed to in the center of my tummy, but the kicks/punches/rolls can all be felt from the outside so I’m not just making this shit up in my head. If I’ve gained any wisdom from this pregnancy so far, it’s not to compare. I’m unique from the next pregnant woman and so is my baby. My experience is and will be just that, mine. Just because something isn’t common doesn’t mean it’s wrong. We each have our own normal and it could be 100% different even from someone who walks, talks and acts just like us.

Okay that was a friggin’ novel and I applaud you if you read it all. I’m now going to go stare some more at my picture reel from the scan and suck down this iced coffee, which will most likely result in my kid kicking the crap out of me. And I LOVE it.