By the early 20th week of pregnancy, it mostly confirms that you are going to be a mother, a very emotional and lovely moment for a mother ! Congratulations for carrying your baby in your tummy safely for so long and creating a caring and lovable environment for your little one who is one the way to be in this world. But your responsibility does not end here. In fact, it is just getting started as you need to be more prepared as well as caring.
It is for sure that your baby bump is getting all the attention as well as attraction because everyone is excited to welcome the little one, advice and love must be received from all near and dear ones of yours. Here is one such advice that you need to follow as it is mandatory. Since the 20th week is most important to both mother as well as baby, do not miss the anomaly scan. Midwife and healthcare professionals will be with you through your pregnancy and will be observing for any pregnancy complications, using some of the physical tests, types of lab tests, as well as ultrasounds.
What is Anomaly Scan?
Anomaly Scan also called a mid-pregnancy scan is inclusive of an ultrasound scan and is done between the 18th and 21st week of pregnancy to take a closer look at the baby and its growth also to have an idea where the placenta is lying.
The scan aims to look if everything to this period is not having any major physical abnormalities in the growing baby. This scan is viewed as a dating scan where a greyscale 2-dimensional (2-D) image is produced which gives the side-view of the little baby that is all the way carried all the way by mom and is growing in the bump of the mother. This image describes the baby’s face and hands in early weeks and gives the consult doctor and specialist an accurate vision of what is going inside. This can be undoubtedly super exciting as first time parents are getting a visual of their upcoming new born baby!
Why is Anomaly Scan done?
The anomaly also known as mid-pregnancy is done for keeping an eye if the baby is facing any physical problems in the growing stage. Although the scan can obviously not reveal every problem, instead it gives an accurate overall idea about the baby’s body parts as heart beat rate, brain development, spinal bone, face structure, kidneys, abdomen parts it also allows the sonographer to identify the conditions whether everything is going right.
Mostly the scan proves that the baby is growing in the right way, but in a few cases, the expert may find a problem.
How is it done?
A specialised sonographer asks the patient to lay down on a couch and uncover the abdomen and apply gel on the abdomen.Then he/she passes a small ultrasound probe over the skin of the abdomen to examine the baby’s body and to check whether everything is going in the right way or not. The ultrasound gel is applied on the skin to make sure there is proper contact between the probe and the skin. As the probe moves, a grayscale 2-D image of the baby will appear on the screen. For a better scan, the sonographer will advise the patient to have a full bladder before the scan. At times the sonographer may apply slightly more pressure on the stomach to see a better view of the baby.
An ultrasound examination of your pregnancy is mandatory and highly recommended at 19-20 weeks gestation.
At this stage the scan can confirm:
- Confirm that the small baby’s heart is beating
- Detect multiple pregnancies in order to check the health status of the baby
- Measure the fetal size as per 20 week baby scan
- Assess the position of the placenta which can help to see that baby’s growth all parts are safe and no internal injuries are recorded
- Check the volume of amniotic fluid around the baby so that the diet is given properly and the baby can grow to its full capacity.
