First Pregnancy Scan – What to Expect

It all happened last November when we were heading back to Singapore for our Home Leave. We discovered the good news and have to quickly arrange for our first pregnancy scan appointment.

We were actually planning for a routine medical check-up.

So the thing is, in France arranging a doctor's appointment takes ages. And since we were covered under international insurance, why not arrange a medical checkup back in Singapore.

So we went to the clinic to get an "all comprehensive health check". And we were told to have an X-ray done. At that time, Mummy had missed her period by 1 day.

And the X-ray requires her to declare that she is not pregnant. Somehow or rather, she rejected the X-ray scan, bought a pregnancy test kit.

And it says "Positive!"

We cannot be sure of it, so we phoned the doctor and requested for an additional blood test since we had done it earlier.

A few days later, we had our follow up, and the doctor told us of the good news! Indeed we were excited, and a lot of uncertainty awaits us.

We were back in Singapore for 2 weeks and discovered this at the start of the 2nd week. The next day, I tried calling women's clinic to arrange for an appointment.

Interestingly, the clinic assistant rejected us because it is still too early. I even had to explain to her that the reason why the need to arrange an appointment is to seek professional advice.

We were told just to google it. Wah piang, if can google everything then why do we need a doctor?

We have many questions in our mind.

• First is, what if we cannot get a gynaecologist in time in France?
• What is the next appointment we need to make?
• What do we need to do when we are on the flight? (13 hours flight)
• What are the medications or supplements that we need to take?
• What are the things we need to take note?

Yes, all these we can have several answers on the internet. But we wanted just 1 point of professional advice.

So in the end, the clinic assistant "accepted" our request for an appointment.

Anyways.

If she does not accept, there are so many gynaecologist clinics in Singapore.

Appointment Day - Pregnancy First Scan (5th Week)

We were all excited about Mummy's Pregnancy first scan and what to expect.

So what can you expect during the first scan of pregnancy?

In general, on your pregnancy first scan, the doctor will check if it is an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo implants outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tube.

And since it is still early, we cannot detect it through an Ultrasound scan on the womb.

So, a transvaginal scan (scan through the vagina) is required.

The doctor should prescribe you Folic Acid and some other medications or required supplement.

The Bill S$ 200.

We had folic acid prescribed earlier from our medical check up, so we did not have it from this visit.

We arranged for a 2nd scan 4 days later as we were due to fly during the evening. This time round, the doctor prescribed Duphaston, a super expensive medication. S$2.50 per pill.

It is known as the 安胎药。Since we will be taking a long haul flight back to France.

The Bill S$300 because he gave us 63 Duphaston. It is said to prevent miscarriage at early pregnancy stage.