Anyone not having any ultrasounds? « Back to Group Discussions

[Angierae]

We will be 23 weeks on Friday, and I haven't had an ultrasound yet. I've done the 20 week one with my other three children, and really find myself reluctant to have it done this time. Not to mention we have to pay out of pocket so the cost is a factor. 

I always have found out the gender, and felt good afterwards to know with more certainty how the baby is doing. But I also hate that one time during the pregnancy/birth that I step into a hospital and turn my intuition off in favor of technology.

Anyone else that has skipped them in the past or is not doing them this time?

[zebramama]

We didn't do one the first time around (this is our second), and I felt really good about the decision the whole way through. There's not enough data to support the 'necessity.' Some argue it's important to know where the placenta is, but most of the time if it's in the wrong place, you get warning signs.

I think it's a really personal decision, but a reasonable one to make. I was happy keeping the waves away with that one.

Funny that we've actually had 2 ultrasounds this time around though. Our first kiddo likely has high functioning autism so we wanted to look for any obvious disabilities early with this one (meaning chromosome stuff; we know we're rolling the dice with the spectrum) so we'd have time to decide what we could handle. It's been soooo different doing all the testing. I actually feel settled by it now in the end (all done and all looks good), but I must say, the no intervention pregnancy was a lot more mellow.

Enjoy whatever you choose.

[cynthiamoon]

I had ZERO symptoms or reasons for concern with my pregnancy, and it turned out I have placenta previa and now have to consider all sorts of new things in case it doesn't correct itself. If I hadn't known this, I would have made some choices that were pretty risky, like flying 6 hours over the ocean. 

I am VERY happy I chose to have a US. Otherwise, I might not have known until something scary happened, and that would have been much worse. 

And chances are, everything is fine, and you get to enjoy some peace of mind you might have not had otherwise. 

IMO, just because technology can perceive something we cannot isn't a bad thing. It's something to be grateful for. 

[Tenk]

I'm not one skipping them, as a matter of fact, I've had maybe 8-9 ultrasounds already.  I'm sure that's beyond some women's comfort but for me, it's a medical necessity.  I'm on pregnancy # 12 and we have 5 living children.  We have experienced 4 early miscarriages, one 18w loss, and one 38w loss, so for us, the testing and ultrasounds are needed to make sure baby is ok and my uterus is holding up.
 

[heyitskalista]

We considered skipping it. But we live 40 minutes from the hospital and will be having a home birth. So we felt it was important to make sure things were ok in there!

Its a hard choice to make, for sure! Good luck with your decision!!!

[MonkeyPrincess]

I didn't have one with my last pregnancy, because there was no indication to. My fourth, I got one at 11 weeks to have the dating on my side, knowing they were going to want to induce. My third and second, we had one anatomy scan midway, because I didn't realize I didn't have to. My first had probably 5 or 6 for suspected IUGR.

This pregnancy was IVF and twins, so we've had 5 so far...first to see how many sacs, second to confirm heartbeats in both sacs, third was just because, but the parents were able to see their babies then so that was what they wanted. I had another for bleeding at 16ish weeks, and just had another because of contractions.

I will likely have transvaginal u/s for checking cervical length, at least biweekly from now on. They also want to do growth scans every 6 - 8 weeks or so to keep track of their growth, which can be trickier for twins; I asked to stretch the time in between bc they originally said every 4 weeks! Until 32 weeks, then they want nst's and bpp every week! I'll be stretching those out too, as long as all looks well...

[CountryMommy]

Personally, I do the 20 week anatomy scan routinely. I would do additional follow up ultrasounds if deemed medically necessary. However, I would not do any extra unnecessary ultrasounds for gender determination or anything else that was not actually needed.

I know someone whos second baby was born with several serious congenital heart defects so I think that experience has weighed into my decision for ultrasounds. Prior to her ultrasound, there were no indications that anything was wrong with baby and there was no family history. It was a completely shocking discovery that changed her birth plans (oviously) She had a natural vaginal birth with her first baby who was healthy and had no defects. She ended up needing to deliver her second baby at a childrens hospital in another city to recieve the necessary interventions at delivery and after the birth.  

[ashleybrook]

we didn't last pregnancy...and won't this time unless something comes up unexpected. i'm happy to leave well enough alone unless given a reason to look. 

[wrenmoon]

None for me either.

It's not only a question of necessary or not but they are expensive for us and it would be a lot of money to spend on something without a really good reason presenting itself.