Is Ultrasound Safe During Pregnancy?

Congratulations on the pregnancy! While you are doing everything to ensure your baby is fine inside you, your health expert will advise you for an ultrasound.

This is a routine procedure during pregnancy, and is advised to know the growth of the growing baby. In some cases, it may also be mandatory for you to get the ultrasound scan during pregnancy. So before you go for it, it is good to know what the process is and how it works.

Ultrasound In Pregnancy – Is It Safe?

An ultrasound is a scan that is performed during the pregnancy to make sure that the baby is growing well and is healthy.

• It is an old process that has been done for decades.
• It is also done if you have had any complications in your previous delivery, or have issues of hypertension, and diabetes.
• The scan is also used to determine whether you are carrying twins.

What Can An Ultrasound Find?

It is always important for you to ask your health expert – “why you are suggesting an ultrasound scan?”. This information will help you take the right decision as, after an ultrasound, depending on the reports you may have to go for further tests.

An ultrasound can come up with the following results:

• It gives you information about the heartbeat of your baby.
• It tells you if all the other organs in your baby’s body are growing well.
• Tells about the size of your baby (whether the baby’s size is according to the age).
• Gives an estimated date of delivery.
• Tells about the number of babies.
• Shows if there are any problems with your uterus.

[ Read: Electric Blanket During Pregnancy ]

What Will Happen During The Ultrasound?

During an ultrasound scan, you will be going through the following process:

• You will have to lie down on the examining table.
• A clear gel is applied to the belly area. This jelly like substance will help in easy movement of the transducer.
• You can feel light pressure of the light waves on your skin, but this is not at all painful.
• The ultrasound is sometimes done in the vagina area. The transducer is placed inside the vagina and there is no pain involved in this scan. This is generally done after the first trimester.
• The scan process takes inside of 30 minutes and sometimes may take more time depending on the other tests required.

Is Ultrasound Safe? Will It Affect The Baby?

These ultrasound scans are very much similar to the other scans. But there are two not so good effects of this scan:

1. Cavitations:

This is a condition where small bubbles are formed inside the body when you are undergoing an ultrasound.

• Rest assured there is no danger of these bubble formation in your pregnancy.
• There is no air present in the womb and these bubbles form only when there is air present.

[ Read: Doppler Fetal Monitor ]

2. Heating:

The energy from the ultrasound scan waves is absorbed by your body.

• Increase body temperature, up to 4 Degrees C, is dangerous to the human body while scanning.
• The scans increase the body temperature by just 1 degree C and so they are not really harmful.

[ Read: Heating Pads During Pregnancy ]

Remember:

Keep these few points in mind before you go for an ultrasound to make sure it is safely performed:

• The technicians and doctor should be well reputed.
• Make sure the probe is not kept constant at one single position.
• Doppler scan should not be performed in the early weeks of the pregnancy.
• An ultrasound scan is well before 12 weeks of pregnancy as the bones absorb the heat faster than the tissues of the body and the bones start forming from 12^th week.
• Ultrasound is not harmful and is in fact important to ascertain that your baby is healthy and growing well inside you.

Make sure you find out details like why is it recommended to you, how is ultrasound done during pregnancy and are there any risks of doing this ultrasound scan.

How did you feel about your first ultrasound in pregnancy? Do share your lovely experiences with other mommies in here.

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