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 1 to 24 of about 91.
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Jenny-May - 9 days ago.
Urgh! Watching that little one is makin me understand why im constantly throwing up! haha xx

babywebster - 12 days ago.
This will be my second baby I have an almost 5 year old boy. I have had 5 m/c since my son, the dr says i am 9 weeks and 1 day prego. I thought I was only like 5 weeks or so due to i spoted on sep 21st. The dr has me going in for a ultrasound tomorrow and i am hoping i am 9 weeks cause of all the m/c's. Also I wanted to know if anyone else feels like they feel the baby at 9 weeks cause i feel that way. i feel this weired feeling through out the day and i feel so different then when i was having my son.

JustinsGurl - 17 days ago.
I need help! I am in my 15 week of my first pregnancy and have yet to have an ultrasound or hear my babies heart beat! I am a little freaked out as I am also lossing a large amount of weight, my belly is not growing, and have yet to feel any movement.........is this normal??

manda-may - 27 days ago.
Bianca the ultra sound technician got it right with my twin boys. She even put little arrows on the pictures all pointing at their tiny willies! Just in case we didn't know what we were looking for on the pictures. It was very funny! You could definitely tell that they were boys from the position they were in, and unless they each had 3 legs, they were absolutely 100% boys! You can see my pics on my page if you like! lol.

Little Rickys Mom - 28 days ago.
LOL... Lorna J.... My daughter looked like she had a squish face... sometimes it is just how they are positioned in the womb.. :-) As long as the Ultrasound tech didnt seem concerned I'm sure every thing is fine with baby. As for Ultrasounds being wrong? They say that it all depends on the ultrasound tech's experience, and position, and many other factors can give false guesses... And that is all it really is, an educated guess. I was told that my 8 year old daughter was 'probably' a boy. They didnt give me another ultrasound to confirm this. Well, we bought all boy stuff, and she was a girl. :-) To this day she is a trickster. I guess the only way we know for sure is on Delivery Day....

biancaispreggo - 28 days ago.
Just wondering if anyone has had ultrasounds before which predicited a certain gender and it turned out to be different at birth? i've been hearing alot of stories of ultrasounds predicting a girl and it turns out to be a boy!! lol

LornaJ - 30 days ago.
My baby looks like she has a huge upper lip in her 2D ultrasound and now I am freaking out! Has anyone else experienced this?

pattys - 43 days ago.
Hi Everyone...I'm just curious to know how many ultrasounds one gets during a normal pregnancy or does it vary by your Doctor? Thanks!

Jcombs - 67 days ago.
I had an u/s at 6 weeks and will have my 10 week u/s in the morning. If my baby is this active O Boy I can only imagine how active it will be when its born.

Beautifulash - 68 days ago.
i got a sono last week for the first time in this pregnancy and im 10 weeks...i was so happy to see that my lil one is doing fine im so excited this is my second lil baby and im so happy that my almost 2 year old son is going to have a little brother or sister!!!

Beautifulash - 68 days ago.
i got a sono last week for the first time in this pregnancy and im 10 weeks...i was so happy to see that my lil one is doing fine im so excited this is my second lil baby and im so happy that my almost 2 year old son is going to have a little brother or sister!!!

ddcpmum210 - 72 days ago.
Hi ladies. I am supposedly 16 weeks preg. and i still haven't had an ultrasound. is that a bad thing and should i press to get one? i don't have any insurance and im going to see a nurse on the 11th. do you think they will give me one, or even a doppler?

Bri - 72 days ago.
amandapmills - Many of those places will need a permission note from your doctor. Basically saying that it was ok that you were having these done. I only have two u/s but I paid for a 4D with my son at 29weeks. It was awesome because it wasn't for medical reasons. They just wanted good pictures of him. I'm thinking of doing it again with this one.

amandapmills - 72 days ago.
Alot of women dont know about this so I wanted to share with you guys!!! Most of us only get 2 U/S during our ENTIRE pregnancY!!! Well in my area where I live we have an U/S school and they are always needing volunteers for their students. I didnt know about this until my friend told me about them. So of course I called them up and volunteered. the U/S class lasted 1 hr and I got many pictures!!! So you might wanna google u/s schools in ur local area or call your hospital and ask them. Let me know what ya'll find out!!!!!!! amandapmills

ummazzubayr - 73 days ago.
yes, this happened to me with my last pregnancy I had something called a missed abortion. The baby stopped developing but my body didn't recognize it I guess you can say.What is even scarier for me was that I seen the heartbeat at 7w and a few days. When I went for my 10 w. checkup there was no heartbeat, ultasound confirmed baby died at 8weeks. I had no symptoms of miscarriage. But, I wasn't sick which isnt normal for me so I was all ways suspicious. Now, I'm 9 weeks with morning sickness and everything seems to be going well. At 9 weeks you should be able to see and hear a heartbeat follow up with your doc or another ultrasound..

tobij - 82 days ago.
I went for an ultra sound today. By my Calender I am 9 weeks today. On the ultra sound, the technician saw a nine week fetus, but no heart beat. I have had no cramping, no bleeding. IS there hope? someone please help me if you have been through this......

Twomarchbebes - 88 days ago.
A gifted sonographer can tell you from 11 weeks and it's not the size of the genitals that is the cause of inaccuracy its that they actually look quite similar early on. If it's a boy, they are more likely to see something of course. If at a twenty week scan they tell you 'we aren't sure' put your money on girl because usually that means a clear penis hasn't been spotted. Just as an fyi. I could 'tell' my son might be a boy from something I saw in an early scan but it was just a guess. At eighteen weeks oh my it was very clear he was a boy.

Bri - 89 days ago.
I go in next Monday for my level 2 u/s. I'll be just over 20 weeks so I'm excited. The baby is definately big enough to tell. Just as long as baby doesn't have his or her legs crossed I'll be fine.

DJs Girl - 89 days ago.
Thanks for the info Bri. I hope if I do find out then, it's acurrate. Every calender I look at says I'm having a boy. I hope it's right. :o)

Bri - 89 days ago.
It is posibe but a lot of imaging center won't tell you even if they suspect. The parts are just so small they could get it wrong and unfortunately people have been sued over stupid things like that. My center told me right up, I didn't even ask. She just said, 'you know it's too small to find out the sex yet.' But, there are girls in my week that found out that early. I think one did find out a few weeks ago that the lady at 12 weeks was wrong. Now she isn't quite so sure since she's been told both sexes now... Even if you do find out, don't go shopping or at least keep receipts.

DJs Girl - 89 days ago.
So has anyone found out what they are having at 12 weeks? I heard it's possible.

angiemamma - 92 days ago.
off to my dr appointment, hopefully get to hear the heart beat today!

xylina - 97 days ago.
hello i have a question I have taken pregnancy tests and still pregnant have been missed a period in 2 weeks. i feel pregnant nauseas and boobs hurt and tired i am like 5 or 6 weeks preggo and i had an ultra sound yesterday and nothing showed up... Is that normal does anybody know?

alison33 - 101 days ago.
Thrilled1981~ Nope, your baby is going to have a BIG head. LOL Kidding, yes, this is normal, as the baby grows, the body will catch up with the head and look more balanced :)

DJs Girl - 101 days ago.
I absolutly love this video. I can sit here and watch it for hours. LOL I hope mine is this active and bouncy. LOL