During pregnancy, a woman is truly never in the clear in terms of her safety and her baby’s safety. Complications can arise at any time, and depend on a variety of factors. For low-risk pregnancies, the 20-week mark can be a big milestone marked by a routine anatomy scan.
The ultrasound that occurs between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy gives expecting parents a very detailed glimpse into their growing fetus. It also gives a doctor an opportunity to look for 11 rare conditions which could be life-threatening to mom, the baby, or both — like the genetic disorder trisomy 18. While the technician can’t say anything during the scan, as their job is to take detailed sonograms for a doctor to review, the time period between the scan and results can be an anxious one.
