- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
August 2011 Moms
Sad about NT scan
Originally I had decided not to participate in the NT scan and testing because DH and I didn't have any family history of problems nor were we in one of the risk categories. Last week, we learned that I am a carrier for cystic fibrosis so we decided to go ahead with the testing in order to be knowledgeable about any problems before the baby was born.
After scheduling it, DH was looking around to see if we'd be able to see the sex of the baby at the scan. It looked like it was a possibility, but we knew that it was still early and it would most definitely depend on the cooperation of the baby. In my opinion, he was pretty nervous about the cystic fibrosis situation and then worrying about the NT scan - focusing on the gender was just something to look forward to.
When we got to our scan, he asked the tech if she could at least guess when she was done with everything. She snapped at him and told him it was too early to see anything. That's fine, but she was pretty rude about it. She didn't say another word until she told me she was going to move the table that I was laying on because the baby wasn't cooperating. At that point, she moved it so far back that I felt like I was laying at a 45? angle with my head down for what seemed like forever. It probably seemed like an eternity because I couldn't see the screen anymore at that angle and just sat there staring at the ceiling. She kept banging on my bump hoping that the baby would move. She finally gave up and told me that they would have to rely on my blood tests only because she couldn't get the measurement that she needed.
When she was done, DH asked about the NT scan printouts that they had on the wall which noted whether they were a boy or girl. There were 3 or 4 scans with guesses, which certainly made it look like they were capable of guessing. He asked again if she could make a guess now that she was done and she told him again that she had not even looked in that area and we would have to wait until our anatomy scan.
I realize that her job for this scan was to make sure that our baby is ok. It just seems like with such an important test, she could have been just a tad bit nicer.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Sad about NT scan
That's terrible. I really wonder why people who are so unfriendly go into the medical field. People are anxious enough as it is. If they can't be polite/nice/understanding, they should get another profession!! Ridiculous.
Sorry you had such a bad experince, that stinks. I agree, some people really don't have much bedside manner & it can reall put a damper on things. We had ours today too, and I had kind of the opposite experince - i liked the tech and the doc so much i keep thinking i wish he was my ob. and although it is pretty earlt, sometimes it is possible to determine or make a prediction at least on the sex. ours was pretty obviously a boy.
anyway, hope the results come back great.
I had a similar tech do my dating scan at 8 weeks. She asked me when the first day of my last period was and I couldn't for the life of me remember... I had a miscarriage and had one cycle previous to this. She just stared at me like I was a complete idiot because I couldn't remember if it was November 22nd or 27th.
It was the 22nd... My last period for the pregnancy I lost was the 27th.
I even had to ask if there was a heartbeat at the end : Come on now. Miscarriage - scared shitless laying her eon the table. Tell me right off that the baby is alive, please. (baby is fine)
Pregnancy # 6
4 missed chances
2 loving children
1 on the way
A similar thing happened to DH and I during our NT Scan. My u/s tech snapped at DH too. This was his first time just asking questions and I think she made him feel like he couldn't. Afterward he made a comment about how the doctors never really give you information and it's like pulling teeth to get anything out of them. This is my first, so maybe I'm expecting a lot.
The whole experience made me want to look into a new OB.
Hang in there, you're not alone.
Unexplained IF
IUI#1 + Clomid + Trigger= BFP!! EDD: 8/8/11
DS#1 Born 8/11/11
TTC#2
BFP #2 3/1/12 Ended in M/C on 3/17/12 @ 7w
11/12 IUI#1 + Clomid + Trigger= BFP, EDD: 8/18/13, Beta#1 (45), Beta #2 (265) Beta #3 (2545)
S/PAIF/PAL ALWAYS WELCOME!!
This...maybe she needs to go into debt collecting...
Honestly, I think you're overreacting. I think you went in with too high of expectations. Most techs won't give a guess at that time. Just because they had some guesses on the wall means nothing. It could have been other techs who are more experienced in the angle fo the dangle. It could be that they now have a policy that they don't do guesses - since they are so often wrong at that gestational age. They don't usually talk to you through the scan, they are doing very serious work looking for very serious issues - not to mention that often the techs are absolutely NOT to give out any information, including test results and gender - often only the doctor can give that information. They are trained to gather the information, not necessarily interpret it (though most of them CAN from experience, it's the doctor's job to do the final say). And really, anything before 14-15 weeks when the genitals start differentiating is a 50/50 guess. The angle of the dangle can be fairly accurate, but most babies don't have a clear angle and are more somewhere in between. Would you rather have been told and gotten excited about a gender and had a good chance that it's wrong?
Maybe she could have been nicer, but I think if you'd gone in with more realistic expectations you would have been happier.
That would have been fine. She could have easily told us that and we would have been OK with that answer. If it's against their policy, there is nothing I can do to change it. Like I said in my OP, we went into this with other intentions in mind not for seeing what sex the baby is. None of that gave her an excuse to be a b!tch to me for an hour without reason.
This isn't that uncommon. As Fantals said, she has a pretty serious job. With our first, we never did an NT scan, but with the anatomy scan we were told at the beginning that the main point of the scan is to get measurements and scan all of the vital organs. It wouldn't be until after she was finished scanning that we would get to "play". She made it quite clear in the beginning that the main point of these scans is to make sure everything is okay. even after, because of others waiting, we only got to "play" for a few minutes and then our time was up.
I think I would rather them be more into getting all of the correct measurements than playing around with all the cutesy things. Plus, some techs aren't allowed to give too much information. Most doctors prefer to check the results and tell you themselves.