Know what you are getting

When I saw the BBC news headline that private scan places are raising concerns in the medical world I was reminded of a conversation I had just last week with my friend.

She asked me if I had had any private scans during my pregnancies and if I would recommend her having one. I instantly asked what her reasons for wanting a scan were.

When making any decision in life you have to really clearly know what it is you are hoping to achieve. Once you know what you are hoping to achieve the right answer is easy to find.

After having her NHS scan she felt that she wanted a more detailed explanation of the report. Rather than contacting her midwife her first thought was to have a private scan where she could have plenty of time to go through her notes and get them to double check on the findings of the report for reassurance without feeling rushed.

Upon hearing this I pointed out that the purpose of many of these scans is to offer a bonding experience and to let you see the baby, at least the one where she was going to book was. Whereas the scans you have during pregnancy on the NHS are actually to check that baby is healthy and progressing as expected. Yes parents get excited, being able to ‘see’ their baby and hear the heartbeat but that isn’t the purpose of the NHS scan. While the sonographer obviously understands your excitement, their job is to measure and check on baby not to let you see their face and start thinking whose nose or chin the baby has inherited.

This is clearly the gap in the market that many private scan places were initially set up to fill. The problem is that over time the lines have become blurred, at least in many potential customer’s minds.

I personally didn’t have any of these scans as they are expensive and with my end goals, pointless. I was really clear in what I wanted to achieve during my pregnancy, birth and once baby was here. I wanted to have a hypnobirth and therefore wanted to attend a course to learn the skills to enable this.

Spending money to see my baby was unnecessary for me. I was going to have years and years to see what the baby looked like. I was more than happy to see them during the NHS scan and purchase a scan picture to look at if I wanted to see them. As we found out the sex of both of our babies during the 20 week scan I wanted something to look forward to and seeing their features in real life was that something for me.

I wanted any money that I spent to go toward my hypnobirthing course as that matched my goal completely. We all know that babies and children are expensive and therefore I wanted to be careful about where I chose to spend my money. I only wanted to spend money on things that would help me to achieve my personal goals.

However, many of my friends had these scans and would recommend them to other parents as they absolutely loved spending that time with their unborn baby especially as they could involve baby’s grandparents in the experience.

Just because having one of these private scans wasn’t the right thing for me to do doesn’t mean that I don’t think other people should. If my friend had answered that she really just wanted to spend some time staring lovingly at her baby marvelling at how miraculous it was, I would have said that the scan was the right thing to do.

Like most things in life it comes down to personal preference.

As for my friend, after realising that they weren’t in a position to be able to offer her the medical advice she required she decided not to have a private scan after all.

It’s so easy to get swept along with all of the things that are available during pregnancy and once baby is here. It’s also easy to do things because ‘everyone’ else is doing them.

It is always worth taking a step back anytime you are deciding what to spend your money or time on and think about what it is you want to achieve. Then check if the thing you are considering is going to meet that objective or not.

I would also recommend digging a little bit deeper, are you buying what you think you are? A genuine person/product designer would have no problem in spending the time answering all of your questions and would only want you to purchase if they thought it would meet your needs. After all, if you were buying an ice maker but lived in the North Pole you probably wouldn’t be happy with your product and would tell other people it was a waste of money.

Good products and services care about your experience. Always!