"Unkind and insensitive"

My last pregnancy sadly ended with a still birth at 38 weeks. This was only detected when my labour began through a scan that picked up no heart beat.

As a result, I find the scanning process brings back memories of that difficult time and causes me a great deal of anxiety.

I am now pregnant again and was reassured that my 20 week scan would be carried out by a consultant.

On arrival I was greeted by a doctor who said she was being trained in scanning. At no time was I given a choice as to whether I was ok with this. She proceeded to scan me in the presence of a consultant but it took twice as long and the communication was mostly between the two of them which made me feel more anxious.

My 12 week scan had been done by a sonographer and couldn't have been more different. She did everything she could to reassure me and her communication skills were fabulous.

I came away from my 20 week scan feeling more anxious and upset and wishing I had been seen by a fully trained consultant or a sonographer.

As a health care professional myself, I understand that we need tone trained on the job but I also feel that training on someone who has had previous devastating news through the scanning process was unkind and insensitive!