Ultrasound

What can an ultrasound detect?

What is ultrasound?

to evaluate movement, tone, and breathing,
to identify sex (not 100% reliable),
to assess the amount of amniotic fluid,
as an adjunct to cervical cerclage or suture,
to look for molar pregnancies,
to determine the structure and position of the placenta (particularly useful if placenta previa is suspected),
to determine the cause of bleeding,
for fetal surgery.

What is 3D 4D?
With 3D ultrasound a volume of echoes is taken which can be stored digitally and shaded to produce life like pictures of the fetus. 4D just means that these life like pictures can be seen to move in real time so the activity of the baby inside your womb can be studied.

How accurate is the due date with an ultrasound?
Not as accurate as you may think! It depends on at what point during the pregnancy the ultrasound is taken.

5 - 7 weeks: Measurement of the sac at five to seven weeks gives an accuracy of plus or minus ten days.
7 - 14 weeks: Measuring the crown-rump length gives an accuracy of plus or minus three days at seven weeks
14 - 26 weeks: the measurement of the biparietal diameter of the baby's head, the femur length, and the head and abdominal circumference is used; the accuracy is plus or minus seven to ten days.
26 - 40 weeks: Later in pregnancy, the accuracy declines, and may be plus or minus twenty-one days.

Sonogram of a baby at 10 weeks pregnant.

Do you really have to have a full bladder for an ultrasound?
Women getting an ultrasound are encouraged to drink several glasses of water an hour before the exam and not go to the bathroom until after the exam. The full bladder helps the doctor locate the pelvic organs and get a clearer and more accurate picture. However, this advice only applies for some ultrasounds, depending on the kind of probe used and the point in pregnancy when the ultrasound is done. This is why different women report getting different advice from their doctors about whether a full bladder is required.

When can you see What?
1st trimester: to determine whether a pregnancy is properly located within the uterus or is located in an abnormal position (ectopic pregnancy), or to confirm suspected miscarriage
2nd trimester: sex, spina bifida, disorders of the skeleton, central nervous system, heart, kidneys, or urinary tract.
3rd trimester: detect problems that may affect planning of delivery, such as intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR).

What can't you see?
Ultrasound does *not* detect:

the severity of spina bifida, only whether it is present.
DOWN syndrome
abnormal heart beat

Remarkable:
Some places (e.g. India) are considering outlawing informing the parents of the sex of the child based on ultrasound, because of the tendency for female children to be aborted.

Comments: Ultrasound

Comments 51 to 74 of about 91.
Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

tina27 - 236 days ago.
Kebler98: the same thing happened to a friend of mine. the doctor told her her baby would have downsyndrome. she greived openly and was depressed thourgh out her pregnancy but she to would love the baby no matter what. after several months of grieving she gave birth to a buitiful and perfect baby. not only did he not have downsyndrome but he had no complications to his health at all. this is why i wont have one done because they dont really Know and you are not supposed to be under added stress during pregnancy which is what this brings in the end

kebler98 - 236 days ago.
I know that my aunt was told that her last child was going to have down syndrome when she had an early u/s. They kept the baby not caring what was wrong, needless to say the baby was born and guess what she is perfectly healthy with no down syndrome so I don't know if I would use the u/s as a gudie for that. But this is just me and a personal expierence.

muddyboots - 236 days ago.
I don't know much about the U.S but I'm thinking it must have something to do with the laws on termination. What happens if you find out at 20 weeks there is something wrong? it's very late to be thinking about options isn't it?

Mom of 7 - 236 days ago.
Until i got a midwife I only got 1 u/s and that was my 20 week u/s, and I am also in the US. My midwife on the otherhand does u/s's every visit (even 3d) and he will record them for you when your done with the pregnancy. I think in the US it just depends where you go.

muddyboots - 236 days ago.
The one we have at 12 weeks is to make sure the dates are right and check for down's yndrome, (the nuchal scan or something like that) Then we have one at 20 weeks to determine the sex and any defects that may be present. So if in Canada you only have one scan, how do they detect things like Down's syndrome early? Maybe your laws on termination are different too. (don't really want to go there but thought I'd ask as I am interested)

lin - 236 days ago.
muddyboots - its standard practice here in sask. canada too that you only receive one ultrasound at around 18-20 weeks as well...unless of course there is something wrong or you dont know your dates. In a healthy pregnancy there really is no need for more than one. We have free health care, so im assuming thats why they more frugle over here!

muddyboots - 236 days ago.
Is there no standard of care over there?

kebler98 - 236 days ago.
I am in the US and I didn't have an ultrasound until 20 weeks. I only was supposed to have one other ultrasound at 35 weeks, but I started having some issues with preterm labor and a low lying placenta so all in all I had about 6. I think it depends on the doctor and your situation.

muddyboots - 236 days ago.
Wow you're lucky over there, but then i suppose you spend loads on health insurance. I am 9 weeks and had a little bleed today so I have been booked in for an early scan on thursday, but my first scan would ordinarily be in three more weeks! It seems along time to wait don't you think?

hannahe - 237 days ago.
Hi muddyboots. i live n the usa and with all of my pregnancies they have given me an ultrasound as soon as i find out (or soon after) just to detemine the age and viability of the embryo. sometimes the pregnancy tests are positive and then the ultrasound shows that there is no heartbeat :(

muddyboots - 237 days ago.
Please can someone explain to me why you have all had ultra-sound scans so early in the pregnancy. Are you in America? (I'm in England) or is it that oyu have had risky pregnancies before etc. I'm sure that normally the first ultra sound is around 12 weeks, that's right isn't it?

Mossy1966 - 238 days ago.
Ok, I am really starting to worry. I had an ultrasound at 5w 4d and we saw the fetal heartbeat which measured at 120bpm. A week later, I had a mild brown colour when I wiped and decided to get my hcg levels checked. They were 12500 ( 6w 4d) Then 2 days later I got them checked again and it was 13000, doc thought she would check it again and 2 days later it was 14000. Now, I got them checked again 2 days later again and it is still at 14000 and I am now 7weeks 4 days!! I have read that because I have already seen the heartbeat with ultrasound, that the readings are not necessarily taken but more so ultrasounds, is this true? Has anyone else had the slow rise of hcg levels?? I get an ultrasound tomorrow, but I can't help but worry.

escape2555 - 241 days ago.
Hi, I own a website about ultrasound. It explains what it is, how it works, where did it come from in the history pages. It has examples of 3d,4d Doppler, and even the different types for monitoring pregnancy to disease detection. Check it out at Genesis-Ultrasound

msfox53704 - 244 days ago.
Tomorrow I get my 18th week ultrasound and I'm hoping for a little girl. At this point I have been trying to have one for quite sometime. I am already :) ing from ear to ear. I will post tomorrow the sex if we find out !!

cbanks - 260 days ago.
1 of a kind: I did not find out with my first one and at one point I almost changed my mind, but I'll never foget the look on my mother and husbands face, who were convinced it was a girl when the dr. said it's a boy lol. It's so easy to buy neutral things now. Everyone was so mad at me because they had to buy neutral intsead of pink or blue but it truely was a great surprise.

MommyRyan - 270 days ago.
ladies. im from week 9 , just reading some posts about only seeing the sac at 5 weeks. i experienced this as well. i had one at 5 weeks 3 days at E.R (went for bad cramping in back and tummy) had another ultrasound at 8 weeks 3 days, and my doc said no baby was there, no sac or anything and to expect d&c. said it looked like a molar pregnancy....so i went at 8 weeks 6 days and an ULTRASOUND TECH did my ultrasound and there was a perfect little baby, with a perfect little heartbeat measuring exactly, to the day how far along i thought i was. the doctor who missed my sac and baby did not insert wand all the way in me, so im guessing he was looking at my cervix?? he also did not use the gel that is always used. and i wasnt laying down all the way, i was semi sitting up. it was odd! i should have questioned him but i was too busy freaking out at the news that i 'wasnt pregnant' . he had done hcg levels and at 8 weeks 3 days i was at 84,000. my point in telling you this, is always always always get second opionion before you write it off as a loss. what i went through was devastating and there was no reason i had to go through it at all. i ended up switching docs because to be honest, if a doctor cannot perform a routine transvaginal ultrasound, i do NOT want him performing my csection! dont give up hope ladies~ have another ultrasound around 9 weeks :) AND pay close attention to HCG levels

fee76 - 272 days ago.
Hi All, I am in the same boat - had an ultra-sound at 5 weeks and 1 day due to some minor spotting and could only see the sack. After receiving some posts and reading stories of others I am thinking that it is common at this early stage. From what I have researched you should get your HCG levels checked and if they are good wait-out until week 6 and you should have more joy with your ultrasound. I hd a blood test yesterday and will be phoning my OB today to get the results. Best of luck to you all :-)

Tia2105 - 279 days ago.
Had an u/s done today and saw our baby's heartbeats! Oh god, we are so thankful for this gift of life. It's so amazing to have a life growing inside me!

Tia2105 - 280 days ago.
I'm into my 7 weeks and will have the U/S done on Tues. The 1st U/S was done at 5 weeks and the gynae could only detect the preg sac (no fetus). I hope this is normal. What can one expect to see at 7 weeks U/S? I'm so nervous & excited!

tenyearslater - 284 days ago.
Dear godsgift: no worries, the same happened with me. I think the baby is so small at this point that there is not too much to see. Really all they are looking for is to see if the baby is implanted in the correct spot. I had another ultrasound at 8 weeks and was given a picture of my bean. Don't be scared. Just wait until your next u/s and you will finally be able to see him/her.

3rdtimethecharm - 285 days ago.
did n e one do a u/s at 5wk 2 days and only seen the sac. i am scared!!!! only a sac??

mama251983 - 290 days ago.
The u/s of my baby just a few days ago looked just like the u/s on this page. The doctor tried telling me it was only 6-7 weeks old because of the crown-to-rump measurement. But the u/s showed the development of a 10-week-old fetus. Ilooked at pictures of a 6-7 wek old fetus and it definently did NOT look like that! I think I just have a small baby. I can't wait to meet my baby!

KaraleeM - 291 days ago.
1ofakind-I'm due the 25th of this month and we opted not to know. I have been tempted at times to ask, but at the same time it's been fun having everyone try their 'tricks' for predicting the sex. I haven't had an ultrasound since 12 weeks, so my doctor doesn't even know what I'm having!! It will be a surprise all the way around.... :)

1ofakind - 292 days ago.
Thanks, that does help. I think the being prepared is the biggest PRO for me. I also think that I say I'd like to be surprised now, but by the time April rolls around, I'll be saying 'I WANNA KNOW, I WANNA KNOW' lol

sherrylong - 294 days ago.
1ofakind-I found out with all three of my children. It was nice to be completely prepared for the baby when it came. My Brother and his wife did not find out with their first, they loved the suprise and so did we, it was so exciting to have my brother come out otf the room and tell us it was a boy. But then they had to go out and get items for the baby after he was born. Then they opted to find out with their second, it was still exciting the night of my nieces birth, and they were totally prepared for it. I opted to find out because I didn't have alot of money to spend at once for things, so as soon as I found out I started buying and it didn't seem like we had to come up with tons of money at one time. Hope this helps.