Early pregnancy scan is the ultrasound scan done earlier than 11 weeks of pregnancy. This scan is particularly useful for women that experienced abdominal pain, had vaginal bleeding as well as for those that have a history of miscarriage or extrauterine pregnancy.

What are the purposes of the early pregnancy scan?

The main purposes of this scan purposes are to determine:

• How many babies are there.
• How many placentas and sacs are there (in case there are more than one babies).
• That the baby has a normal heartbeat.
• The estimated due date (EDD).
• Whether the pregnancy is growing normally inside the uterus.
• Whether the ovaries appear normal.

This scan can be done either from the tummy or vaginally. We advise you to have your bladder full in advance, so we can perform the abdominal scan first. If obtaining adequate views through the tummy is not possible (ie in very early stages of the pregnancy), we will offer you the transvaginal scan. Both ways are absolutely safe for you and your baby. However, if you do not feel comfortable you can always decline the vaginal scan.