Charlie O'Brien: Baby scans at Window To The Womb

I am currently 27 weeks pregnant with baby No.2 and I feel incredibly blessed and lucky.

Before our son Noah, we experienced two missed miscarriages, Asherman’s Syndrome (internal scarring) and then the discovery that my losses were caused by elevated natural killer cells in my body.

It was a lot to take on board and I went through some really dark spells.

During my pregnancy with Noah I was on a combination of treatments until past 20 weeks and this time I was on medication until 17 weeks.

Catch up on Charlie's gender scan

Scans are very much part of modern pregnancy healthcare and usually something that women and families really look forward to. But up until recently I hated scans – they literally terrified me.

My first missed miscarriage wasn’t discovered until the routine 12-week scan. It was the worst shock of my life. My second loss was also discovered at a scan at seven weeks, even though I’d seen a beating heart a few days before.

Subsequently scans became a massive point of anxiety for me – and I had to have many more than the usual amount.

Every scan I had with Noah utterly filled me with dread. I couldn’t look at the screen until my consultant or the sonographer told me all was OK. I simply couldn’t face being given devastating news once again.

I felt the same in the early stages of this pregnancy.

I had a scan at six weeks and faced the wall until my consultant said 'say hi to junior!'.

But for some reason – as this pregnancy has progressed my anxieties have all but disappeared and I’m loving the experience so much that I’ve just booked my second private scan!

'I’m loving the experience so much that I’ve just booked my second private scan!'

We went to a private clinic called Window To The Womb at 16 weeks for a gender scan.

It was such a positive experience because it wasn’t in a medical environment everyone was friendly and chatty. There was calming music playing and I loved every second of seeing our baby and discovering that she was a girl.

I loved it so much I’ve actually just booked a 4D scan at 28 weeks that we can take my parents to. This is in addition to the three other medical growth scans that I’m also having.

It took me so so long to get over my fear of a scan I now want to embrace and enjoy the experience. Some may think I’m mad and some even question the safety of ultrasounds. But there is no actual evidence to suggest they pose any danger whatsoever and if it brings our family joy – what’s the harm?

If you’ve been in a similar situation to me with previous pregnancy loss and find scans really hard – I thoroughly recommend a private scan to allow you to enjoy the experience.

But DO go to a reputable clinic with proper medical staff – as there are some dodgy ones out there.

Charlie X