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Thursday, January 28, 2010

NT Scan Vent

Our NT Scan appointment was on Monday and in one word it was horrible. No, we didn't get abnormal results and in fact we didn't get any results at all. The tech was incredibly rude the moment we walked into the ultrasound room. I understand that this is just a job to many tech's and that while I don't expect them to be excited for us I do expect to be treated with respect as one of their customers. The tech instructed me to sit at the edge of the table and then proceeded to stare at me. There are two parts to the NT Scan, a blood test and an ultrasound. Seeing as how I have never done this before, I wasn't sure what they were going to do first. After a few seconds of the tech staring at me like I'm stupid she told me, "You might want to lay down, I need to start scanning". Ok lady, you instructed me to sit not lay so don't talk to me like I'm dumb!

The tech proceeded to haphazardly move the wand all over my belly without communicating what she was doing. After 2 minutes, she appeared frustrated and started jabbing me with the ultrasound wand. I told her that she was hurting me and she stated that she needed to push hard. Again without communicating, she started forcibly shaking my stomach with her wand. I told her that I wasn't comfortable with her doing that and it was making me sick. She responded that the baby is well protected. That very well may be the case but I certainly didn't have confidence in her ability to perform a safe ultrasound. I've lost count of the number of miscarriages that I've heard about on the 1st trimester board so no, the baby is not very well protected. Mr. Baby Fever asked me if I wanted to end the test and the tech said, "The baby isn't cooperating anyway so you can just reschedule". I was fuming on the way out and no I didn't make another appointment.

I feel like she was being impatient and because it was the last appointment of the day she just wanted us out of there. I've heard of many NT Scans lasting 30/40 minutes because they had to wait for the baby to turn - this lady just wanted to be done. I felt completely stressed the entire time and I felt like the baby was stressed so I'm glad we left. It isn't normal for an ultrasound to hurt or to leave bruises (yes, I have a bruise on my abdomen from the tech jabbing at me). We've decided that we don't need or want this test after this experience. It isn't medically necessary and after our 12 week appointment (which I will post about later), we are confident that everything is going well. After talking to several other ladies who have gone through this same test, our experience was definitely not typical!

12 weeks & 5 days pregnant

7 comments:

  1. I am so sorry she treated you so poorly. I would definately file a complaint with one of her superiors.

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  2. Wow, that's a horrible experience! Please tell your doctor and the office manager at the imaging center, so something can be done about that tech!

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  3. Wow! That is horrible that she treated you like that!

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  4. I'm sorry Mrs. BabyFever! :( I would definitely make a complaint. That is ridiculous!

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  5. Thanks everyone! I just finished my complaint letter and will be sending it to my insurance (I'm requesting a refund) and that office.

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  6. Yeah, that is definitely not a normal experience. At ours the tech even switched over to get us a 3D picture and took all the time she needed. We did get yelled at because our little girl got the hiccups at one point and it would bounce her up to the top of the screen and then she would float back down, only to pop up again, so we got yelled out for laughing. I'm glad you're being proactive about this situation and I hope you get your refund!

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  7. Wow that is awful! It took our baby a full 45 minutes to turn for the NT scan. Yes, it took a long time & I could see the tech getting frustrated, but she laughed with us the whole time. Instead, she just showed us other parts of the baby & took measurements of my ovaries, etc. Finally she got the pics she needed. She did have to press hard & jiggle my belly a few times but I certainly didn't have bruises! That is awful. Sorry you were rushed. I was definitely stressed when the baby wasn't cooperating but the tech was SO patient that I felt much better. You should not be charged for that visit!!

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