What to Expect From a Sonogram or Ultrasound
The contents of this video are for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or before seeking any new treatment.
Welcome to The First Nine. I'm Dr. Saul Weinreb with babyssentials.com. Today, we’re going to be discussing the ultrasound or the sonogram. All expecting couples are always looking forward to that first ultrasound when they’re going to get a chance to see there new baby. You're going to go either to a radiologist center or to your doctor’s office where an ultrasonographer that’s a person especially trained in ultrasound is going to take a look at your baby with a machine similar to the one you're seeing here.
The sonographer will have you lay down usually on a bed and they’re going to put a gel, a special kind of ultrasound gel which is able to transmit the pictures to this device here called a transducer. An ultrasound uses sound waves. Sound wave is the same as the ones that I'm using to talk to you now. So, these are not dangerous to the baby at all. The frequency of those sound waves are such that you and I cannot necessarily hear them but the computer can. And using those sound waves, the computer constructs an image. So, there's nothing dangerous about getting an ultrasound during pregnancy. There's no radiation involve or whatsoever.
In general, most women will get at least one ultrasound during their pregnancy. And that one will be at approximately 18 to 22 weeks. That’s during the second trimester of pregnancy. That’s an ideal time to see all of the organ systems of the baby which should all be fully developed. By about 14 to 16 weeks or so, the baby sex is generally evident. And therefore, 18 to 22 weeks is a good time to see whether or not you're going to be having a boy or a girl. But much more importantly than that, it’s a great time to see whether the baby’s organ systems are developing normally specifically they’ll be looking at the brain, the spinal cord, the heart, the kidneys, the stomach, the lungs, and all of the baby’s extremities and other important organ systems.
Sometimes you're doctor may order initially in early pregnancy another ultrasound as well and that is noted to determine the dates and the location of the pregnancy. So many women will have two. However, unless there's a problem or an issue or something that needs to be followed up by ultrasound, there is usually no need to do anymore. If you do need ultrasounds later, it doesn’t necessarily mean there's something wrong. It sometimes just means that they weren’t able to see everything.
There are other things as well that are important to be seen on an ultrasound. The size of the baby and the location of the placenta and of course whether or not you have one or two or more babies in there. Obviously, this is going to be determined on your ultrasound.
This has been Dr. Saul Weinreb with babyssentials.com. Remember, that none of this is question can be used to take the place of your discussion and a visit with your healthcare provider. Every woman’s situation is different and you need to have that discussion about your specific situation. Thank you very much and have a great day.
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