We had been toying with the idea, ever since we found out we were pregnant, if we should have a early scan or not. I didn't want to tempt fate by doing so, and I didn't want to set myself up for a fail either. Due to being so sure on the dates of conception and the first day of my last period, we didn't get referred for a dating scan. A dating scan usually is offered if you don't know when you had sex last and have irregular periods, so yeah, it quite obviously is for the purpose of figuring out how many weeks you are.
So there's a private scanning clinic in my town, quite expensive at £89 for a dating scan, but you can't put a price on piece of mind. I had this awful anxiety about getting all the way to the 12 week scan, when our little Willis will have fingers and toes and look like a real baby, to find that something was wrong or that they couldn't detect a heartbeat, and for me I just had to settle my mind and know that this was legit 100% real.
I hadn't felt sick for the 7 weeks so far, but Jesus Christ, I sure did feel nauseous that morning of our private scan!
Anything before 8 weeks, is done by an internal scan, basically a big white dildo prong, slightly uncomfortable but I mean, bigger things are due to come out eventually so I mean, what's a dildo prong in the grand scheme of things?!
We were sneaking our way through town, trying not to bump into anyone and slide into the doors which lead to the private clinic.
It was such a lovely experience, we walked in and it smelt like a spa, they had big candles on everywhere and low lighting. I said to the sonographer, “I'm sure I'm 8 weeks but my doctor thinks 7, can we just try an external scan first?” She warned me not to be worried if I didn't see anything externally as it's quite rare that you do because the baby would be tiny, but she found our little Willis straight away and that dinky heart beating SO fast. I made this weird noise, like an "aww" mixed with a "ohhhh" and Todd grabbed my hand.
There was our little baby.
So would I do it again? Absolutely. 12 weeks might not sound like much, but when the world is moving around you in slow motion, and you've got this big secret, I couldn't possibly wait. I must just be a lucky pregnant lady so far, but having no symptoms isn't reassuring and rather than working myself into a stressful mess, I had the scan.
I appreciate it isn’t always good news for some, I just personally couldn’t have waited 12/13 weeks wondering if there was a baby, which was ok in there or not. There’s never a right time to hear bad news mind, but I think sooner rather than later would’ve worked best for us.
I'm writing this having already got to 12 weeks and having had both a private and the NHS initial scan. I can honestly say for my first scan, had I have had it at my own workplace, with the NHS, I wouldn't have felt very special. Private, if you can ofcourse afford it, was such a gorgeous way to see our baby for the first time.
