Or even better, if you're going to do it like that: scp the file and at the end ssh and touch a filename.ok. When filename.ok shows up you know that the first file has been send already.

Or, scp the file and log the scp session in a seperate file. Then, scp this second file. When the second file arrives you know the first one has arrived. Later on you can check the contents of the seperate file to look for transfer errors.