Summary:
A baby’s arrival is something wonderful which to be honest cannot be explained by mere words. Before the arrival of your baby, you are given a course in maternity. These courses prepare and help you to overcome the transition from being just a couple (man and woman) to mother and father.
Nowadays parents furthermore want to know the sex of the baby and they adapt different means to see the baby. One such modern method is known as ultrasound, which helps the parents to see the baby.
During pregnancy 80% of the women love to have an ultrasound done so that they can see and hear the heartbeat of their child. It’s really fun to obtain photos and video of your baby and see whether the baby is ok. Pregnancy is always dated in terms of weeks from the beginning of the last menstrual period.
Ultrasounds are without doubt considered as one of the enhanced tests done during your pregnancy – Imagine seeing your baby on the screen!! Doesn’t it really thrill you to see the miracle of a developing and ever growing baby inside your body?
As pregnancy advances as a mother you start getting curious about your baby, and some parent’s common questions are "Is it a girl or a boy?" So they go ahead and use ultrasound to take a quick look to determine the sex of their baby.
How early can a parent do the ultrasound?
First Semester transvaginal ultrasound can be done when you see the signs of pregnancy at about 5 weeks. In this the parents can see the gestational sac in the uterus, which is about 2-3 millimeters in diameter. Things slowly start to change as the embryo grows and then you will be able to see the pulsation of the heartbeat.
How soon can an ultrasound tell the gender of the baby?
Ultrasound can determine the gender of the baby by 18 weeks but it’s usually not very accurate. Thin women tend to get good images whereas heavy women tend to get less clarified images. Healthy women are not affected by routine ultrasounds. Thin or weak women sometimes face some complications.
Third Trimester fetal ultrasound
Fetal ultrasounds images done in third trimester is always used to detect the abnormalities that do not develop till them. Third trimester fetal ultrasounds scans to determine is the growth of the child is normal and also to try and estimate the weight of the fetus. This ultrasound usually helps in determining the position of the baby. The fetal ultrasound images in third trimester are very clear as compared to the first and second trimester because there is les amniotic fluid and the baby does not move much. The anatomy of the baby is much larger and therefore the body parts are much clearer and in favorable positions.
Why do health care providers use fetal ultrasound?
- Confirmation of Pregnancy - Sometimes embryos develop in the fallopian tube instead of the normal uterus. Ultrasound helps the doctor detect this and treat the ectopic pregnancy before it endangers the patient’s health.
- Gestational age - Ultrasound also helps in determining the baby’s growth age and by doing this the doctor can accurately determine the growth of the baby. This also helps in determining the due date and helps the doctor track the milestones during the pregnancy.
- Number of babies - If the health provider suspects some unusual movement in the uterus then he or she usually suggests ultrasound to determine whether the baby is growing normally or has some defect. Ultrasound can monitor the heartbeat and the movement of the baby.
- Placenta - Ultrasound can help the health provider understand the deficiencies of the baby. Ultrasound helps them to study the placenta, which is vital for your baby as it provides the nutrients and oxygen rich blood. Any problem in the placenta needs urgent care.
- Abnormalities - An ultrasound can detect abnormalities in the fetus and help the health provider rectify it before it becomes serious. An early detection can help save or improve the growing fetus.
- Down syndrome - Ultrasound helps detect the Down syndrome together with some blood tests done during the 14th or 15th week of pregnancy. Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that can cause mental retardation and some other complicated problems. Using ultrasound the doctor measures the back of the baby’s neck and if the results are high or the blood tests show high risk then further precautionary measures can be taken.
- Bleeding or other worrisome symptoms- Ultrasound can detect the early bleeding or other complications and thus help the health provider handle such cases.
- Prenatal tests- Ultrasound can help detect the need of placement during prenatal tests, which is usually done to check the sample of amniotic liquid or to detect some genetic disorder.
How does an ultrasound work?
During a fetal ultrasound the high frequency sound waves are directed at the tissues in the abdominal area. These sound waves then bounce off the variations and curves of the body, even the baby. The sound waves are then converted into dark and light pattern thus creating images of the baby on the monitor, which is later recorded in the form of a film.
There are various types of ultrasound like:
Standard ultrasound - this creates a two dimensional image that helps the doctor to detect the baby’s gestational age and also evaluates the baby’s growth by measurement.
Advanced ultrasound - this is somewhat similar to the standard ultrasound but it mainly targets the problem or the suspected area.
Transvaginal ultrasound - this ultrasound is usually done during the early pregnancy stages when the fallopian tubes and the uterus are close to the vagina than the surface of the abdominal.
3D ultrasound - This ultrasound offers images with details and it’s widely used in all the medical circuits to help health care providers further evaluate the problems. Recently this process is used to analyze images after its collected from computerized tomography and MRI scans.
Doppler imaging - this imaging provides images of cells and details about circulations. This helps in detecting the baby’s blood pressure and the growth rate. This also helps in detecting the baby’s heartbeat as early as six to eight weeks into your pregnancy.
Fetal echocardiography - this helps in providing detailed picture of the fetus heart and thus is generally used to confirm the congenital heart defect.
Ultrasounds are not only used to detect the gender of the baby it’s also used for detecting the various stages and complications that may turn serious during pregnancy.
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