[Spiralshell]

Dear Sonogram People,

I understand that you are trying to do your job, and I know that getting a clear view of the tiny person who is ALREADY squashing me is very important.
However, you want me to hold how much water? for how long?
Do you know how much 32 oz of water is? A lot of frakking water! Need I remind you that 12 oz of water is MORE than enough to send my person hustling off to the bathroom with some serious urgency?
And you want her to drink 32 oz of water a full hour before the sonogram, then HOLD IT for that whole hour?
And THEN, to top it off, you're going to poke at me from the outside with a sonogram probe thingie? (Sorry, I don't know the technical terms, I'm just a bladder after all.)
You people are asking for trouble! I am not responsible for any pain, leaking, explosive peeing, or other adverse side effects of drinking that much and holding it for that long. Just saying, it's not my fault if things get.... damp.
Here's hoping your ultrasound goes well, and that you don't ever have to subject me to this medieval stretching torture again!

thanks for nothing,
Spiralshell's Bladder

PS - Please lay off this "staying hydrated" thing. Seriously, I'm tired down here! Drink a little less, would you? Huh?

 

[firewoman]

OMG I so know what you mean! I got my first kick in the bladder tonight and it was full. I'm surprised I didn't pee on myself.

 

[gumby74]

I hear ya....although, I never drink as much as they tell me to. Yesterday, I ended up having to drain my bladder because they said it was too full and the baby wasn't able to move around. Go figure. By the time the US was done, she told me my bladder was full again. Geeez

 

[eloise24]

Yeah, I'm not drinking all the water today, either! The first time I was pregnant I did . . . and the lady said "oh you are so small, you didn't have to drink the full 32 oz." Gee thanks a lot. The second time, the lady was 1/2 hour late . . . um, I was ready to kick HER in the bladder! So this time I'm drinking it 1/2 hour before my appointment time and not the full amount! Hopefully that works

 

[firewoman]

Yeah my favorite is when it is too full but they don't want you to completely empty it. Are you kidding me? You want me to just let a little of this geyser out? It is next to impossible.

 

[pjs]

My tech said "boy, your bladder really is full". Um, yeah talking about how full it is definitely decreases the urge to go...

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Yeah, you really don't have to drink that much. I did for my first, and the tech was over an hour late. I was literally crying I was in so much pain, and then the tech tells me my bladder is too full.

This time, for my u/s at 10 weeks to find a HB, I hadn't had much to drink at all (didn't know about it ahead of time)...I just hadn't peed in an hour and a half. U/S worked perfectly, my bladder was plenty full enough. I don't plan to drink much at all before my 20 week one this time around.

 

[astar326]

Spiralshell your bladder is hysterical!

i experienced this back in 7/08 and really am not looking forward to it again. i don't really want a u/s but dh does, so i think i may consent to one. i'll definitely drink less water this time.

 

[thomatuttle]

I received the info sheet on my US at my last appt. and just about died when I read that I had to drink 4 large glasses of water 45 minutes before my US appt. I mean seriously!! I have to pee within minutes of drinking half a glass of water!! I have no idea how I'm going to last 45 minutes and a bumpy half hour car ride with my bladder filled to above its normal capacity. I'll probably have to wear a little "padding" just in case. KWIM!

 

[Bromache]

Hee, hee! Yeah, the thought of that much water sounds pretty daunting. I think I'll aim for just drinking as much as I can and do my best. I can't remember if I drank the entire amount last time or not, but I doubt it. I would explode! Never been a big drinker. I just can't handle that much liquid.

 

[threadbey]

Yeah, with my first, I drank some water, but not as much as they said, and then they were more than an hour late and I am just not that into following orders like that to the letter, so I peed when I had to. It worked fine.

That was for an external (abdominal) u/s, though. I've never been told to drink before an internal one (in fact, they always ask me to empty my bladder first).

 

[Spiralshell]

Yeah, for the internal one I got to pee first. (And I'm glad because she did some serious poking around in there and I would have been really uncomfortable with a full bladder!
This one is for the nuchal translucency, and will be external. I am hoping it all goes well. My uterus tips toward my back, which worries me that they won't be able to see anything.
I'm glad to hear that many of you didn't drink as much as they say you need to. I seriously cannot handle 32 oz!! So I'm going to aim for 20-24 and call it a day.

 

[Spiralshell]

Following up -- I had the scan on Wednesday. I drank 24 oz of water within 45 minutes of the appointment, totally flouting the rules. (I was supposed to drink 32 oz of water and be done drinking it an hour before my appointment. I knew that was NOT going to be survivable!)
So anyway, even with the smaller volume, and even with drinking it closer to the appointment, I was not feeling great.
So I get in there, she takes one quick look and says: WOW, your bladder is REALLY full! You're actually squashing the baby -- we can't get the measurement like this. Go ahead and use the bathroom and we'll try again.
(And they only had one bathroom, and by the sounds of the running water and splashing, whomever was in there was taking a bath!! Finally she came out... and I got to release all that pressure. Ahhhh!)
So ultimately, fullness of bladder had nothing whatsoever to do with the success of my scan. It figures!
Picture of the little Kumquat sucking his/her thumb: Clicky!

 

[Maela]

When I had my first u/s with Dd, I drank the whole 32oz. an hour before the appt. just like they tell you too. I was seriously almost crying in the waiting room. I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand up straight. It really was one of the worst feelings I've ever had. Finally Dh told me to just go pee a little. i thought this would relieve me a bit, so I did it. It made it so much worse! When we finally got in the tech noticed how uncomfortable I was and told me I would be fine going some more; that my bladder would fill up again pretty quickly. I literally ran to the bathroom and felt SO much better.

I'm never doing that again. I'll drink a few glasses 20 minutes before the appt. I don't know why they tell people to drink that much that far ahead of the appt. It's torture!