Ultrasound. Are women so out of touch?

[Tanya]

So I went for my FIRST u/s a couple of days ago and when I was booking in over the phone the receptionist asked it I had had my previous u/s this pregnancy there. I told this would be my forst u/s for this pregnancy. I was quite taken aback because when I was pregnant with DD#4 only 3 years ago I had to request a NT scan which cost $150.

So I go for my u/s and the sonographer asks what my edd is going from my first scan. I tell him that I have not have a previous scan and this will be my first. He asks me why, because this should be my THIRD! I tell him this is my choice and I didn't want any other scans. So apparently now you go for a dating scan, the NT scan and the 20 week scan! Do we really need all of these? It seems a lot of women are taking the dating scan even when they do know their dates.

I tell him my LMP and he proceeds to tell me that they can me erroneous by quite a large date but I reassure him that I was having regular cycles (even if they weren't regular I would still have a good indication of my 40 week edd). Again when scanned for DD#4 they took only my LMP date, not an u/s date and I wasn't questioned as to (insert bossy man voice) "why I hadn't had any other scans"... and mind you this was the exact same sonographer that I had with DD#4!! Are they uneducating these people?

Do the medical professionals think that they and their medical equipment have come so advance that women don't need to be in tune with their bodies? Or is it that we have become so reliant on these procedures that we just to take any notice anymore!!?? Why are competent women questioned so harshly and disbelieved when they do know their bodies?

Oh and my 40 week edd according to the u/s was one day off what I told him!!

[Arimeh]

I never get the NT scan - figure that they would pick anything up at the 20 week one if anything was out of the ordinary.

But I did always get a dating scan, just to see if there was a heartbeat because my sister miscarried at 8 weeks, so its a paranoia I always had I suppose.

[Tinks]

I agree with Camme Lot. I think many women are just using scans to see their baby. I knew one girl who kept making up reasons to have an ultrasound just so they could confirm (over and over) that she was having a girl.

[Poppetty]

I agree with Camme Lot. I think many women are just using scans to see their baby. I knew one girl who kept making up reasons to have an ultrasound just so they could confirm (over and over) that she was having a girl.

I knew a woman who had a sonographer friend so went for ultrasounds weekly for "fun", bub was born at 27 weeks. Due to number 1's early arrival she "had" to have weekly ultrasounds with number 2 who arrived at 32 weeks. Who can say if the excessive ultrasounds contributed to bubs premature arrival, I don't know but I have read that excessive ultrasounds can indeed lead to premature labour.

[Visitor8]

nope the U/S person was wrong

I had to ask for a dating scan for Ash, this time around my first scan was the NT scan. The MW at the hospy said the dating scan isn't done routine anymore unless you don't know your last AF date.

[amber]

I had an US every time I saw my OB. I needed them to feel like everything was still okay in there. I didn't have any kind of innate feeling that my DD was healthy and safe (until she started kicking me and then I felt some relief).
Maybe the sense of being in tune with your body and knowing your baby is okay is something that not everyone has
I certainly wish I had it though, it would have saved me a lot of stress

[Tanya]

Amber, I had some trouble feeling comfortable with pregnancy this time around esp since my previous pregnancy ended early because my baby died and I was not aware it had happened. So I don't believe that I am so in tune with my body that I know if something is wrong (I wouldn't have had any scans if that were the case). I am simply questioning the reasons for the medical profession to disregard a woman's LMP date and replace it with their own because these dates "can be so wrong". I just think it's a shame that women are questioned and not believed when they protest to know when they are or will be 40 weeks.

[Willow]

I've never had that experience Tanya and I agree it sounds like rubbish. Unfortunately all of the early scans I've had have been due to bleeding and a fear of m/c - especially after we lost our second babe at 12weeks. If not for those 'viability' scans (hate that term) the only routine scans I've ever been told about is the NT scan (which has always been explained to me as being optional) and then the morphology scan at 18-20 weeks.

With my last pregnancy, we did do a dating scan because we had absolutely no idea when the pregnancy had occurred. I was b'feeding, only had one period and thought I was infertile so wasn't paying much attention to my cycle.

[Arcadia]

I am beginning to question ultrasounds entirely. They are expensive, time consuming, and for me, didn't tell me anything I didn't know. They used to be unsual, not the norm.

The dating scan irks me when you know your LMP...I cant help feeling its to ensure they have a record of 'their' dates so they can induce you when they decide baby's ready

[maz]

. So I don't believe that I am so in tune with my body that I know if something is wrong.

wonder if he was the same idiot that told me Tank was a girl 3 times in a row....and told me that nothing was wrong with my baby at the last u/s at 37weeks when I knew there was then proceeded to tell me my pink bundle was infact a blue one and then argued with me that he had told me all along it was a boy. He couldnt even tell me that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Tanks neck 3 times and that the blood flow had detiriated!! I knew something was wrong...my body was telling me with the way I was swelling and my heart rate was through the roof..but no I was just being an over reactive pg woman grrrr dont get me started!!

the tool's dont realise how much mental stress they put on mum's to be either with the continuous u/s'. The stress leading up to it that everything will be alright, the stress if something is slightly wrong..the stress when THEY ARE WRONG!!!!

[jackrose]

I am simply questioning the reasons for the medical profession to disregard a woman's LMP date and replace it with their own because these dates "can be so wrong". I just think it's a shame that women are questioned and not believed when they protest to know when they are or will be 40 weeks.

I had a similar experience to you Tanya and I was left feeling just as frustrated and quite disillusioned with the 'system'.

I had been trying to get pg for a bit and had a very firm handle on my dates. I knew exactly when I became pg, and I knew I had a longer than usual luteal phase which would affect the dates.

I told the technician this at my scan and he dismissed my dates, saying the longer luteal phase doesn't matter and my dates are most likely inaccurate . Sure enough, his scan came up with a date 10 days out from mine... (At a time I couldn't have possibly become pg based on our BDing!)

(BTW My personal calculations for my first pg were spot on too)

It was so infuriating to be dismissed in such a manner when machines cannot possibly be calibrated to take into consideration different people's variations. They can only give an estimate by their very nature!

A person who works in the industry told me that the ultrasound software has a number of different figures it can use depending on the person they are scanning, ie data based on different cultures so that if an Asian woman is being scanned, they can use data from her race rather than using the data from an African race. He said that most people don't even know how to change this variable so the same tends to get used for everyone.

But, it is the delivery of the opinion which is most offensive. To just dismiss women when they tell what is going on in their body is not cool.

I was so relieved when I had an appointment with my IM and we discussed dates, I told her about my dates and she accepted without question. When I mentioned my longer luteal phase she said "Oh, well that makes a difference" and adjusted the date accordingly. I feel very satisfied!! (My ticker reflects my dates not the ultrasound!!)

One other last offence, during my 20 week scan, I asked if the technician could tell me where the placenta was. He completely fobbed me off and said, "Oh, don't worry about that, there are a lot worse things that can happen than having an anterior palcenta" When I explained that I realised that, but I needed to know as I was having a VBAC so it was important for me to know whether there was a risk it was around the scar area he decided it was ok to look for that and let me know Then later in the scan decided to question me on the safety of a VBAC!!!! "So your doctor is happy about you having a VBAC? Interesting"

I just ignored him.

How dare he make a comment! I am sure I am more up to date on the reading and research regarding VBAC than he!

Sorry to hijack a bit there Tanya, I just feel your frustration at the disempowerment (is that a word!?!) of women by the medicalisation of birth!

[Visitor8]

wow I haven't ever had a bad experience!

Even this time, I was measuring small for my dates I gave but they went with my dates not the scan

[Daydream Believer]

I didnt have a dating scan & refused the NT scan this time around. I've only had the one scan so far & it was 20-21 weeks

[~Raven~]

In my experience, the first scan at 10 weeks is to confirm a viable PG, the NT one is totally optional (ie only if you are choosing to have the test done) and then the big one at 18 weeks or so.

Having said that, there is a big deal made about measuring for dates even though the dating wasn't the motive behind the u/s. Guess it's a sign of the times that so many women either have no idea about their cycles (I was one of these first time around) or put such blind faith in what the medicos say that they aren't used to being told anything contrary to what their machines tell them...

Bit sad really!

[~clover~]

I've never had an NT scan. I had early scans with the older 3 just to check on things coz I was really sick, but thats it til the morph scan.
This one I really did have no idea of dates, so had a scan at 8 weeks & I'll be having the morph scan & thats it.
I don't know many people who've had more than 2. & FWIW I've always found my gp has gone off LMP over scan dates anyway. My babies always measure ahead. Its only ever a few days though.

[ElleJay]

I had all three, but that's because I have erratic AF (For eg. I had a month where I had AF twice! Then it disappeared and didn't come back for I think it was 52 days )
But they have no right to have a go at you - it's your choice and I think they should respect that

[Cassius2]

when i went to book in my NT scan i was told i *had* to have a dating scan too. i was so taken aback that i booked it in...only to call back later and cancel i used FF and knew when i O'd so it seemed completely irrelevant.

last time i was pg with DD 3 years ago, dating scans werent given as par for the course at the private hossy i went to. i wonder if that has changed now?

[Trillian]

I don't think that it is that women are so out of touch, but it's a perpetuating cycle. Some women *need* that reassurance of a scan, maybe due to a previous loss, or that she is unsure of her dates etc. Some will just take every opportunity they can to see their baby on the screen and I think some Drs will play on that. My Gyno is an ob and he has a very flash u's machine in his rooms and he will give every single pg woman a scan at every single appointment. I think that the majority of women just don't realise the damage too many scans can do to a baby. I told SIL recently (who sees my gyno for her pg) that having a u/s is to a baby what tapping on a fish tank is to a fish, and she was shocked! She had no idea. Her sister is of the opinion that we have the technology so we may as well use it. She is a nurse btw. My other SIL (DH's sister) is 17wks and has not had a single scan. She just didn't realise you had to. She has only seen a Dr once during her pg to get the 9wk bloods done and that was it.

I think that women have inadvertently created this situation where it is now routine to have many scans during a pg and we still have the mentality where we just don't question what Dr's say to us or feel that we have a right to even challenge it in the first place. So I think that only we can stop it kwim? We can ask 'do we really need that scan and why do we need it?'

ETA - just wanted to add that I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but something that has just happened kwim?

But I'm sorry that you were spoken too like that Tanya it wasn't necessary.