The late pregnancy well-being scan is a check of your baby’s development and size after 24 weeks of pregnancy. For those who want added reassurance on the scan we also check the baby is receiving enough food from you by checking the returning blood supply from baby in the umbilical artery. During the late pregnancy well-being scan we can also check the resistance to blood flow in the placenta by assessing the uterine arteries. The blood flow is assessed using and ultrasound screening technique called Doppler and is non- invasive and not harmful to the pregnancy
On the NHS if all your antenatal checks are well you are only offered a 12 and 20 week pregnancy scan. It can be a long wait between 20 weeks until baby’s arrival. Your midwife will check the size of growth using a tape measure on your abdomen however this is not an accurate method determining size and over half of small babies are missed by using this technique. Ultrasound scanning has the ability to visually assess and measure the size of your baby and also check for movements. After 28 weeks we can also more reliable assess if you are have a small, medium or large baby and assess an expected birth weight.
It is important to remember that babies do come in a range of sizes from small to large and that having a small or large baby is not necessarily a danger to the life or future wellbeing.
What do we check for on the Late pregnancy well-being scan?
A growth scan of the baby is performed to check baby’s size by measuring:
Umbilical artery Doppler checking blood flow from baby
The head: head circumference (HC)
The abdomen: abdominal circumference (AC)
The leg: femur length (FL)
The growth scan also assesses:
Placental position.
Amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby i.e. liquor volume
Position of the baby i.e. breech, cephalic, transverse.
Baby’s current state of health by looking for baby’s body’s breathing movements.
Doppler study of the uterine and umbilical artery blood flows
Black and white baby scan photos are given to you along with a full written report.
If your baby is found to have problem on the scan we have a full obstetric medical team which includes two fetal medicine consultants who will support you. We will also liaise with your healthcare team and hospital, letting them know our findings and providing a written report, we will organise any follow-up appointments.
