I have my scan tomorrow and they said to drink 500mls an hour before. Surely the baby is big enough to see now without needing to do this? I can't do it, I only drank about that much for the 12 wk scan and it was painful. I feel like I constantly have a full bladder atm anyway so I absolutely won't be able to do it. So, if I don't, is there going to be a problem?
I didn't need to drink anything before my 20 week scans with my boys. I wouldn't stress too much, maybe just drink as much as you are comfortable with?
I got told only to drink what I would normally drink before my 18 week scan, they told me that everything is big enough to see so you dont need to drink the water & fast. However with the early scans (before 12 weeks) they told me I had to drink 1 litre of water as everything is so small at that stage it pushes it all forwards & makes it easier to see.
I know I panicked also as I have always had a small bladder. I even tried practicing weeks before to try and train my bladder. I did drink that much water and couldn't sit down in the waiting room. Finally my turn came and to get on the bed was just aweful. She put the scan on my belly and not more than 2 minutes later she said I am going to have to ask you to empty your bladder before we continue. I said to her, you have made my day! The scan went along just fine without my bladder being full, and they got all the pics they needed to so all is good.
I would just say drink enough till your comfortable and leave it at that. Bugga drinking all that fluid and holding it, I think with todays technology they could find something easier than having to do that!
Good luck and enjoy meeting your buba again!
P.S. Ask for pics of the gender if you want to find out, i wish I did!
I had to do that for my 19 week scan, but I'm not sure why it is. I had to down 3 glasses of water (750ml) an hour before the scan. It was very uncomfortable, to say the least - especially when you have a little baby sitting on your bladder already! But once I got into the scan, I was so mesmerised by seeing my little one up on the screen that I managed to forget all about my full bladder.
I don't know why you have to have a full bladder for the scan - but I was advised specifically to do it. I figure there must be a good reason.
Thanks guys!! I'm not going to bother drinking anything out of the ordinary then, I will just end up needing to go to the loo as soon as I get there anyway and then my bladder will be empty, lol.
i too dread this water drinking before scan procedure! i only have to have 600mls though an hour before scan. so i plan to drink it within the second half of the hour so its not building up for so long. if you have the scan and they find that you need a fuller bladder i think they just make you drink some and then wait a while longer.
SJ - I drank 600ml for my scan (mostly within an hour of the scan so I didn't hold it for too long). They did about 5 mins of the scan with my full bladder then I was allowed to empty it and the remainder of the scan (about 25mins) was with an empty bladder.
Enjoy - you are going to love seeing how big your bub is now.
I was always told to start on 1 litre 2 hours before & finish it an hour before.I don't think I once got the lot in though. I was usually still drinking in the waiting room. Never had any problems.
I didnt!They told me to drink the litre etc but i couldnt either so i didnt,interestingly my sister went for a scan the week before with some gyno problems and she told her its nonsense just drink a bit so she barely drunk a glass and they said nothing,then i went and decided to try to drink 500mls but on the way i couldnt wait so i let it all out and so i had a bottle of water on me and honestly had like 3 big gulps before i went in so i had had something and the lady never said anything,i think its because there is enough fluid now,dont worry i didnt!
I didnt even drink that much before my scan when i was 17 nearly 18 weeks, but even then when i went in they said my bladder was too full so i had to empty it and they saw baby clearly so i dont know if its all that neccessary
Thanks for the tips SJ and everyone else! I definitely dont think I could hold a full bladder at the moment. Its strange because at my 12 week scan, I just had to drink what i did normally and they saw bubs with no problem. Now they want me to drink a stack of water and hold it. (it is at a different place though)
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Drinking for 18-20wk scan
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