Anybody not doing early ultrasounds? « Back to Group Discussions

[CindyCindy]

Sounds like a ton of us have had early ultrasounds. I would like to know if anybody is avoiding them all together or only doing the 20/21 week one?

[Marilyn82]

I did not get any u/s with my last baby and am not planning on it with this one at this point either, unless there is an indication for one :)

[Bmorefarmgirl]

This is our plan. We will do Doppler to listen to the hb at midwife appts, but as long as everything is going well, we will only do the 20 week anatomical scan.

That was our plan with the first babe too, but ended up in the hospital for pre-e, and they did many many scans to check blood vessel flow and measure growth. We are really hoping to not repeat that experience...

[Marilyn82]

Wanted to add that I do not use dopplers either. My MW is willing to use a fetoscope. I will allow limited doppler use during labor (it's much easier at the end of labor when things are really tough to just let them get in quick with the waterproof doppler rather than having to fiddle around with the fetoscope), The doppler uses the same technology as a u/s.

[abouttobe5]

I'm not doing one.  We've never had the intent to do one in the past but had to b/c of complications with both pregnancies.  Except that for our own reasons, we've thought about getting a u/s to determine gender.  

I'm 12 weeks now and couldn't even get in for a dating u/s in our town until I was 15+ weeks, which is way past the best time to do it.  So, with that in mind we decided that we'd go without one early on. 

The challenge is whether or not we cave to determine gender.  :)

[oikophile]

I haven't had an ultrasound and I don't think I will unless it's recommended by our midwives. It might be more convenient for me and my partner to know the sex ahead of time, but our reasons for that aren't compelling enough to make us want to do an ultrasound.

[Thyme Mama]

Dopplers are so much more powerful than ultrasounds. They do use the same technology, but 1 minute of doppler exposure is equal to over 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure. (Source: Anne Frye)

[Marilyn82]

Yep! Many people aren't aware of that. U/S uses intermittent sound waves while doppler is more consistent from what I understand.
 

Originally Posted by Thyme Mama 

Dopplers are so much more powerful than ultrasounds. They do use the same technology, but 1 minute of doppler exposure is equal to over 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure. (Source: Anne Frye)

[katelove]

We haven't had an early ultrasound and don't plan to if all continues to go well. We didn't last time either. We do plan to have an anatomy scan done, which we also did last time.

[AHomebirthMama]

I won't have an u/s at all unless my midwife wants me to get one for a medical reason. This is my 5th pregnancy (well, potentially 6th, but if so, one was a very early m/c) and will be my 4th child (unless there's more than one in there, LOL). I've never had an u/s before. The midwife I used with my youngest child used a doppler routinely, and I hated it. My first midwife didn't use one, and the midwife I have now won't use one unless I want her to. I told her that when I'm around, she can put the doppler in a drawer and leave it there. :-) I have my own fetoscope that I can use at home when I get the urge to listen to the heartbeat (in fact, just to be certain I'm not further along than I am, because of how big my uterus is already, I've been checking to try to find a heartbeat...I'll be 10 weeks tomorrow, so it's too early still.)
 

[poema304]

We are skipping ultrasounds as well as doppler, just sticking with a fetoscope. I may change my mind around the 20 week mark if we do decide to find out gender, but that would be it.  I love that our midwife is very hands off :)

[Marissamom]

the plan right now is to do a heartbeat listen with doppler next week (I'll be 11 weeks) and have a u/s about a week later because I'm scared of twins and my m/w wants to check dates because I'm still breastfeeding. after that I think we'll just do fetoscope and the 20 week u/s (because I want to rule out any major defects since we're homebirthing)

[Dealea86]

Originally Posted by Thyme Mama 

Dopplers are so much more powerful than ultrasounds. They do use the same technology, but 1 minute of doppler exposure is equal to over 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure. (Source: Anne Frye)

Originally Posted by Marilyn82 

Yep! Many people aren't aware of that. U/S uses intermittent sound waves while doppler is more consistent from what I understand.
 

I'm really sorry to be mean and disagree... but I disagree.   

First of all, fetal dopplers operate between 2 and 3 MHz, depending on the brand. Medical ultrasound machines generally operate between 2 and 18 MHz. So dopplers operate at the lower end of the spectrum, and the ultrasound is likely to be using a higher frequency than the doppler (though you'd have to check the specific machine to get an accurate number).

But even if they were the exact same frequency, it's still not true to say that dopplers are more powerful than ultrasound. Yes, u/s uses intermittent sound waves, and doppler uses continuous. But my husband - who is a physicist - says that pulsed waves are more intense than continuous waves. Here's the gist of his explanation to me:

Frequency is the number of cycles per second (measured in Hz). So let's think of it this way. Let's say we were going to tap our finger against the table 60 times a minute. That would be a frequency of 1 Hz. If we tapped our fingers like a continuous wave (doppler), we would tap our finger once every second. But if we're going to tap like pulsed wave (ultrasound), we would have to take breaks in-between tapping. Let's say that we repeat 5 seconds of tapping and 5 seconds of pausing. That works out to 30 total seconds tapping and 30 seconds pausing. So in order to still get 60 taps per minute, we're going to have to tap twice as fast (two taps per second) to make up for the time spent pausing.

I'm not trying to say that either ultrasound or doppler is perfectly safe for your baby and that you should run out and get an early dating ultrasound right now (), just that from the data I see it's wrong to say that doppler is more powerful than ultrasound and the engineer in me had to say something. If someone knows of more firm scientific evidence that explains why 1 minute of fetal doppler exposure is equal to 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure, I'm really interested to see it (really, I'm a huge nerd and this fascinates me). But from my understanding, it seems that ultrasound is probably going to be the more intense method.

[greenmamato2]

I have had two early ultrasounds so far with this pregnancy, and don't regret them at all.  I have had three losses, and am high risk, so having that peace of mind when things seem scary or like they may not be going as expected, really really helps me to relax, which is ultimately the best thing for the pregnancy/baby!  I will be listening with a doppler at the Dr. office around 13.5 weeks.  My uterus is tipped, so if we still can't hear it, he has told me we are ordering another ultrasound at that point, which I am very happy with.  I have an at-home doppler that I don't plan to use OFTEN but am glad that I have on hand for peace of mind.  I will be getting the 20 week ultrasound, and possibly one or two more toward the end of my pregnancy to make sure the amniotic fluid is at a good level and baby is doing well. I have had high risk pregnancies in my 3rd trimester before too, with a lot of contractions for 1-2 months, low amniotic fluid, pre-ecclampsia, toxemia, anemia, and an irregular heartbeat (mine). I am hoping this pregnancy goes off without a hitch, but I am all for making sure we are aware of any problems, and having that extra peace of mind. :) 

I'm so happy for you all who are so happy with the fetoscope!  I wish I had that confidence that everything was going to be ok. :)  I'm glad we all have the option to make the choices that we are most comfortable with. :)

[rad]

Since everything is going fine this pregnancy I will wait till the 20 wk u/s. My first 3 I didn't have any u/s. Then my next 3 I had enough spotting/bleeding I ended up with quite a few. I'm ging to avoid them as much as possible this time around. I found the heartbeat with a doppler this weekend so that atleast took care of some worries since I had a loss in december. But overall I think u/s are way overused.

[Marilyn82]

Originally Posted by greenmamato2 

I have had two early ultrasounds so far with this pregnancy, and don't regret them at all.  I have had three losses, and am high risk, so having that peace of mind when things seem scary or like they may not be going as expected, really really helps me to relax, which is ultimately the best thing for the pregnancy/baby!  I will be listening with a doppler at the Dr. office around 13.5 weeks.  My uterus is tipped, so if we still can't hear it, he has told me we are ordering another ultrasound at that point, which I am very happy with.  I have an at-home doppler that I don't plan to use OFTEN but am glad that I have on hand for peace of mind.  I will be getting the 20 week ultrasound, and possibly one or two more toward the end of my pregnancy to make sure the amniotic fluid is at a good level and baby is doing well. I have had high risk pregnancies in my 3rd trimester before too, with a lot of contractions for 1-2 months, low amniotic fluid, pre-ecclampsia, toxemia, anemia, and an irregular heartbeat (mine). I am hoping this pregnancy goes off without a hitch, but I am all for making sure we are aware of any problems, and having that extra peace of mind. :) 

I'm so happy for you all who are so happy with the fetoscope!  I wish I had that confidence that everything was going to be ok. :)  I'm glad we all have the option to make the choices that we are most comfortable with. :)

Agreed! It's all about  having the ability to make informed choices! I'm sorry you had so much trouble in previous pregnancies, hope this one's a little easier on you 

[JudiAU]

I'd prefer to avoid it as well but we need to do CVS and they require a ultrasound dating. After that, just the 20w.

[Marilyn82]

Originally Posted by Dealea86 

I'm really sorry to be mean and disagree... but I disagree.   

First of all, fetal dopplers operate between 2 and 3 MHz, depending on the brand. Medical ultrasound machines generally operate between 2 and 18 MHz. So dopplers operate at the lower end of the spectrum, and the ultrasound is likely to be using a higher frequency than the doppler (though you'd have to check the specific machine to get an accurate number).

But even if they were the exact same frequency, it's still not true to say that dopplers are more powerful than ultrasound. Yes, u/s uses intermittent sound waves, and doppler uses continuous. But my husband - who is a physicist - says that pulsed waves are more intense than continuous waves. Here's the gist of his explanation to me:

Frequency is the number of cycles per second (measured in Hz). So let's think of it this way. Let's say we were going to tap our finger against the table 60 times a minute. That would be a frequency of 1 Hz. If we tapped our fingers like a continuous wave (doppler), we would tap our finger once every second. But if we're going to tap like pulsed wave (ultrasound), we would have to take breaks in-between tapping. Let's say that we repeat 5 seconds of tapping and 5 seconds of pausing. That works out to 30 total seconds tapping and 30 seconds pausing. So in order to still get 60 taps per minute, we're going to have to tap twice as fast (two taps per second) to make up for the time spent pausing.

I'm not trying to say that either ultrasound or doppler is perfectly safe for your baby and that you should run out and get an early dating ultrasound right now (), just that from the data I see it's wrong to say that doppler is more powerful than ultrasound and the engineer in me had to say something. If someone knows of more firm scientific evidence that explains why 1 minute of fetal doppler exposure is equal to 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure, I'm really interested to see it (really, I'm a huge nerd and this fascinates me). But from my understanding, it seems that ultrasound is probably going to be the more intense method.

Interesting! I was basically just repeating what I have heard/read. I think it's mentioned in Henci Goer's Obstetric Myths Vs Research Realities but I no longer own that book (I "loaned" it out and never got it back, urgh!) so I can't look it up. Anyway, I'm not comfortable with routine use of either until there are some more long term controlled studies, but I'm interested to learn more! I'm not sure where this originally came from but perhaps it's outdated information. I know that FDA has allowed ultrasound machines to use more and more powerful output over recent years (don't know the technical lingo lol) too. You've given me some food for thought :D

[CindyCindy]

Originally Posted by greenmamato2 

I have had two early ultrasounds so far with this pregnancy, and don't regret them at all.  I have had three losses, and am high risk, so having that peace of mind when things seem scary or like they may not be going as expected, really really helps me to relax, which is ultimately the best thing for the pregnancy/baby!  I will be listening with a doppler at the Dr. office around 13.5 weeks.  My uterus is tipped, so if we still can't hear it, he has told me we are ordering another ultrasound at that point, which I am very happy with.  I have an at-home doppler that I don't plan to use OFTEN but am glad that I have on hand for peace of mind.  I will be getting the 20 week ultrasound, and possibly one or two more toward the end of my pregnancy to make sure the amniotic fluid is at a good level and baby is doing well. I have had high risk pregnancies in my 3rd trimester before too, with a lot of contractions for 1-2 months, low amniotic fluid, pre-ecclampsia, toxemia, anemia, and an irregular heartbeat (mine). I am hoping this pregnancy goes off without a hitch, but I am all for making sure we are aware of any problems, and having that extra peace of mind. :) 

I'm so happy for you all who are so happy with the fetoscope!  I wish I had that confidence that everything was going to be ok. :)  I'm glad we all have the option to make the choices that we are most comfortable with. :)

Thread wasn't meant to attack to those who did/do early or any ultrasounds, I was just hoping there were some mama's who didn't. 

I really don't want to do anything this time around at all.  And it seems awfully silly, but we want to find out the gender.  We have 4 kids in a 1165 square foot house already.  The girls room is quite a bit bigger than the boys, so we will need to switch rooms around if this one is a boy.  And since we have harsh winters it's something we need to do in the summer time.  So still in the debating process, that was why I was asking if anybody doesn't plan on doing any at all.

How do you all feel about the due date calculation?  I don't know when my last period was or the date I ovulated so I am a bit nervous to not have a "due date" yet.

[oikophile]

Originally Posted by CindyCindy 

And it seems awfully silly, but we want to find out the gender.  We have 4 kids in a 1165 square foot house already.  The girls room is quite a bit bigger than the boys, so we will need to switch rooms around if this one is a boy.  And since we have harsh winters it's something we need to do in the summer time. 

See, to me this is a compelling practical reason. I guess your only other option would be to keep the baby in your room until next summer, but I don't know if you'd want to do that. We aren't setting up a baby room at all just because we don't want to deal with it anytime soon :)