4D Scans are done at different gestational ages to obtain information about your baby’s wellbeing.
Early Scan (before 12 weeks)
Early gestation before 8 weeks is when we want to check viability of the pregnancy. We use 2D imaging to make sure your pregnancy formed in the correct place.
The CRL (crown-rump or head-bum) measurement needs to be done to establish your gestation and estimated due date. After 6 weeks we also need to demonstrate a fetal heartbeat to confirm that your pregnancy is viable.
This is normally a quick scan and should not take longer than 5-10 minutes. As we do transabdominal scans only it will be helpful if the patient’s bladder is full.
12-14 Weeks
This is one of your most important scans of the pregnancy. Your baby is fully formed at this gestational age, and we will assess the structure and growth of your baby.
The sonographer will take great care to wait until your baby is in the correct position to be able to measure the nuchal translucency (fluid in your baby’s neck fold) and nasal bone. Together with the tricuspid valve flow (in your baby’s heart) and Ductus Venosus flow (flow from heart to liver) we will have all the measurement to combine with your blood results for a risk assessment for chromosomal abnormalities.
We screen specifically for Trisomy 21 (Downs Syndrome) Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13. These are the most common chromosomal abnormalities. By checking the structure of the baby, we can sometimes identify other abnormalities as well which may or may not be linked to chromosomal abnormalities.
This is a very exciting scan as you can see your whole baby’s body. You will be able to see how your baby moves around and get a good idea of what he likes to do all day. This scan is in 2D, 3D, and 4D.
14-19 Weeks
While this is not a standard referral period for a screening scan, we always check your baby’s structure, progress, and growth during this time. We will also make sure that the cervix is normal, that you have enough amniotic fluid and your placenta is healthy.
With this scan you will get 2D, 3D and 4D imaging showing most of your baby’s body on one
image.
20-24 Weeks
This will be your second screening scan. With this scan we will check the structure of your baby, the cervix, amniotic fluid and placenta. All the brain and heart structures are now more visible than before, it is also a lot easier to check for things like cleft lip and palate, club feet, kidney abnormalities, etc. There is a total of 36 checks we will do at this scan. It is a comprehensive and interesting scan, and our moms and dads normally experience a lot of peace after they have seen how well their baby is doing and understand what we check and why.
26-34 Weeks
This is the scan where you will be able to see your baby’s face as it will look like at birth. The best time to do this scan is between 30-32 weeks. In this period your baby’s facial features are fully formed and if baby is awake, you will even see different facial expressions. They might even open their eyes, and they often suck on a piece of cord, especially if you just had something to eat or drink and they like the taste.
The weight and wellbeing of your baby as well as surrounding structures like the placenta, amniotic fluid, cord and cervix will be included in our assessment.
Some of the 4D images are sent away for post processing to get an AI photo of what your baby may look like. This image is as close to a photograph of your baby that you can get. The ethnicity and gender is taken into account to optimise the image created.
35-Plus Weeks
This will be another quick 2D scan, more for birth planning than pretty face pics. We will assess the baby’s position, weight, amniotic fluid, placental position, cervix length and cord position with this scan. More often than not the baby has very little space left to move around and might also be facing mommy’s back which makes it difficult and, in some cases impossible to see baby’s face properly.
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