19 week Anatomy Scan

The primary purpose of the anatomy scan is not actually for determining gender but to see if there are any physical abnormalities with the baby in areas like the spine, heart, kidneys, and other organs. It can also be used to detect / confirm chromosomal abnormalities like Downs Syndrome, Turners Syndrome etc.

What I feel is most important is to consider what you would do with the information you are given if it turns out that there is something wrong - ie: whether it would change what you do or the outcome of the pregnancy.

I got the scan, not because I was planning to terminate if something *bad* showed up, but because if there was an issue with bubs, I wanted to know about it so that I could be prepared with apppropriate help on hand once bubs was born. My friends baby was able to be put on a public waiting list 20 weeks before they were born so that they had a quick wait to see the specialist once they were born. Well worth it, I say.

I've had trouble bonding which is why I had the scan. I feel alot more connected to him now I have photos and I've seen him rolling round in there and DP found the same thing.
I knew he was perfectly fine coz I'd already had a couple of scans to check his growth but if there had been any concerns then I would've used the scan to determine whether or not we'd terminate, which is a decision we'd already agreed we would've made if there'd been certain abnormalities.

Yeah, I had a friend who's bubba had heart probs picked up in the scan so they had the NICU and specialist team all ready to go after the planned c-section. I guess it just gives you more information for your planning of delivery and post delivery care.

Yep we never found out the gender despite numerous scans - JJ has a kidney abnormality (MCDK - basically means one kidney is completely useless, it's just a collection of cysts, on the ultrasound it looks like a bunch of grapes) that needed to be monitored in case it worsened and meant we had to give birth in a hospital with a SCBU or NICU as opposed to a birthing unit.

If we hadn't had the anatomy scan then we would never have known about it, in fact we still wouldn't know. He needs fairly regular scans and we need to be really aware of any issues with the one kidney that works (or any injuries later on - he won't be allowed to play rugby!).

In the scheme of abnormalities it's pretty minor, but I'm still glad we know about it. I don't agree with unnecessary scans - next time the 20 week scan will be our only scan if we can get away with it - but I do think it's worth getting everything checked out.

As an aside, if you don't want to know the gender make sure your sonographer knows right at the beginning. I had a hunch from the beginning that JJ was a boy and I was right, but we had so many scans where the sonographer would say "oh, so you know what you're having?" and we'd say "no it's a surprise" and they'd say "oh ok then" and quickly move the thingy away, so I was a bit "oh well if it's that obvious!" (that and kidney issues are more common in boys) - so it wasn't really that much of a surprise!

Determining sex is not a reason to have the scan it is just something they can do. I believe some sonographers won't check for sex though and sometimes they can't even tell anyway. They nearly couldn't with Spencer and then right at the last minute he gave her a money shot for us, I had later scans with him as well and the sonographers always checked first whether we knew the sex so they wouldn't accidentally say something if we didn't know.


The anatomy scan checks heaps of stuff, far more than what the 12 week scan covers and can pick up lots of problems big and small or you can come away knowing that all looks well. We would not have terminated but we wanted to know if anything was wrong so we could be as prepared as possible to deal with it and be in the right place with the right support there straight away.