Ultrasound. Are women so out of touch?

[Glamourcide]

Wow, your hospital's awesome! I mean, the bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, but I think it's great that they are using the technology they have to help mothers if they choose to take advantage of it - my local hospital will only give two scans, and they would rather only do the 20-week scan but to know when an expectant mum is at 20 weeks they need to have already done a dating scan - they'd skip that first one entirely if they could get away with it. I had to ring the hospital no less than FOUR times to get a dating scan with DD2, and I was outright refused the opportunity to have an NT scan ('you're too young, it's a waste of resources' they told me repeatedly), and a good friend of mine told me the other day that the new managing director of the hospital has disallowed u/s techs from revealing the baby's gender to parents at the 20-week scan - apparently s/he is afraid parents will try to terminate if it's not the gender they want?! Umm, yeah, because a TOP at 20-odd weeks is SO easy to access, especially for such a frivolous reason, what a douche.

But yeah, even when I had threatened miscarriages, bleeding, pain, lack of movement towards the end of pg etc etc, I was denied ultrasounds every time, told it was a waste of resources, if I was losing my baby an ultrasound wasn't going to fix it so why bother? I wasn't trying to abuse the system (although I jump at any chance I'm given to look at my baby and make sure everything's okay in there), I just wanted to be able to use the equipment my tax dollars are paying for, when I had good reason to use it!

Yes, your doctor was a bit of a twat in the way he spoke to you about not wanting more scans than you deem necessary, I don't agree with his manner at all. But I think it is great that you are at least offered the chance to have more scans than my local hospital deems 'necessary'.

[LimeSlice]

Perhaps it is because so many women DON'T know their bodies, DON'T know their cycles, and have no idea when they ovulate - and believe theat everyone has 28 day cycles.
So yeah, your LMP date can be out by quite aways.

I'm not sure I am seeing your issue - you know when you are due and you didn't have a dating scan which is the 'norm' and is generally considered to be the most accurate scan in terms of deterining age.

Also, as mentioned above, most women have it to ensure a viable prenancy and to see their babies - and there is nothing worng with that.
If you know your dates, why does it matter what someone who is trained to deal with the lowest common denominator think? Smile, nod, answer his questions and be on your way, knowing you are one of a select froup of women who have an understanding of their own bodies.

[Nelle]

But that's the point - Tan's asking if women are so out of touch with their bodies that a sonographer is more of an expert on when they're due than the actual woman in question - and it seems that the answer is - sometimes they are that out of touch!

With both I've had the NT and morphology scan. With my first, I had no idea that cycle lengths could mean that ovulation happened at different times and so on - I'd always been textbook 28 days so I never thought much about it...before pregnancy I knew nothing about my body, so it doesn't surprise me that women aren't familiar with their bodies, cycles, symptoms. I had no clue. I only got into the Family Birthing Centre for a waterbirth because all the OBs were booked out! And I thought that was bad luck! Someone sure was looking out for me...

I imagine Tan, that your being confident about your dates and informed, might have been less usual than we'd hope. I'd love to see a little more education in high schools during their student development days - or was I just not paying attention (feasible option)?