every 4 week ultrasounds just because I'm fat :0)

[delphmoon]

Hi all,

I had my ob appointment yesterday and was told because I am overweight (heavily) that I will need to have an ultrasound every 4 weeks to monitor the babys growth.

I am the same size now as I was last year when I had DD. I had a cruisy pregnancy then with an induced vaginal birth, and DD was a healthy 7pounder bubba.

So...

I said this to the Ob and he said the policies have now changed in the hospital from last year and all large women are required to have 4 weekly ultrasounds to monitor the growth of bubba as it is 'hard to locate and feel for the fundas of overweight women' therefore hard to plot growth.

If there was a concern or something I can understand but my 20 week (and 24 week) ultrasound was fine in terms of babies growth. I have no medical conditions, no gest diabetes etc.
I am not a huge fan of ultrasounds so I don't really see there is a need for such frequent ones- maybe at 34 weeks...but at 28, 32, 36 and 40??

I can't decide what to do because I'm all confused as to whats best for 'cookie' so girls- what do you think? WWYD?

TIA

[toomanyshoes]

what a load of BS

I'm heavily over weight, had two kids and I didn't need any extra scans because of weight. Both kids where average weight when born.

I just wouldn't go.

[Doing my best]

I too am heavily overweight, and only had the dating scan, the scan at 13 weeks, and 20 weeks with both kids.. Both were born healthy weights as well..

I would be saying thanks, but no thanks, unless there are health problems that arise.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Is there anyway you can get a second opinion? that just sounds absolutely ridiculous. Ok i would understand if maybe your previous pregnancy had complications or maybe you had a medical condition or the baby wasn't keeping up to track with growth but if everything is 100% normal then i dont see why they need to do it. Is there anyway you can refuse?

I'm sorry if im being unhelpful i just dont understand just as much as you do. I was overweight when i was pregnant but i never had any difficulty with them not being to feel the baby... Hopefully someone else will have a better insight for you xoxo

[ubba82]

If you don't feel comfortable going then don't.

[mel_cur]

Sounds weird to me. I am 120kg and so far have had only 2 scans - 12w and 21w. I am having another at 31w but that is due to GD (which I did not have last time). Every 4 weeks seems really strange considering you have had no previous issues

[Little Chicken]

Morbidly obese here. Normal scans here, extra one in the last preg to rule out placenta previa, otherwise no one complained about difficulty of estimating.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Yeah it is amazing the difference in idiot ob's and what they think about weight etc....
My BMI is 42.2 (not that i think i really look that fat) and the booking ob I saw today said I should be fine because i had an easy complication free labour last time at the same weight.
She has referred me to the hospital dietician in the hope i can avoid any further weight gain this pregnancy but otherwise she was cool with it.

[Miss.B]

I'd get a second opinion hun, every 4 weeks seems a bit rich to me and isn't that a bit too much exposure for bubs anyway??????

[delphmoon]

Thanks girls- thats what I thought...I'm not being a difficult hormonal pregnant woman by refusing then

What a load of BS and completely unnecessary I think. Unfortunately there is no place to go for a second opinion- country town and one hospital limits choice...lol...

I am quite OK about refusing the scans but was left doubting myself as to whether I was being reasonable or not about refusing- now I know I am completely reasonable...LOL

xx

[RhiChiChi]

Never heard of that before & I was obese when pg with DD. I had quite a few early scans due to my past history of m/c but after that I only had a couple more. My OBS only ever did the urine test, listened to the HB & checked the position of bubs. I think it is a load of crap. Just don't go.

[ubba82]

I am not obese so asking this as a genuine question. Can you still feel the baby moving and kicking due to the extra weight you carry? The reason I ask is that if you can feel the baby moving and kicking so obviously growing, then I wouldn't think you'd need any extra scans than the next person. And even if you really had to hade extra, 4 weekly just seems too many.

[mel_cur]

I am not obese so asking this as a genuine question. Can you still feel the baby moving and kicking due to the extra weight you carry? The reason I ask is that if you can feel the baby moving and kicking so obviously growing, then I wouldn't think you'd need any extra scans than the next person. And even if you really had to hade extra, 4 weekly just seems too many.

The baby kicks from the inside so it has no effect on feeling it with any extra weight you carry. You can still see the baby kicking etc from the outside as well, but everything wobbles for a little longer

[The[cookie]Doctor]

It can take longer to feel the baby but believe me you can still feel it. I think this one is more evident than my DS and
this one has an anterior placenta too!

[Fleur]

Never heard of it before.. I was very overweight when I had Pie, and was only referred for the 13 week & 19 week scans.

[delphmoon]

I have felt cookie kicking from 16 weeks. I said this to the doctor too and said to the doc surely me as the woman carrying this baby has some credit in being able to determine if the baby is growing IYGWIM. I think I would notice something is wrong but It appears my maternal instinct counts for zip!

[alish]

im not overweight and i have an u/s every 4 weeks.. its just my dr's policy to make sure everything is going ok! its annoying cuz he is an hour away and i have to take the whole day off work cuz he runs hours late & when i finally get in im only in there for 10 minutes .. but i must admit i love seeing my baby girl every month!

your doctor is tactless! you dont have to have one if you dont want to! youre right, you know your body and baby and you know when something is up

xx

[Yeddi]

I'd be looking up and handing them some info on ultrasound use from WHO, then politely refusing. Having done a lot of stuff with sonar, I'm hesitant to do too many ultrasounds. In fact I asked that they only used a doppler for 10 seconds, so the middies would have to use a pinard first to find bub, and the doppler was only used to quickly confirm. I allowed 1 ultrasound in my pregnancy, and I gave them a time limit and required a break in between. I wasn't overweight at the time though, so I could see why a pinard might not be able to used on the more endowed woman, so doppler use may not be able to be used less (unless you simply don't go in for the check up), but you can certainly reduce u/s use.