The Ultrasound Debate

Are ultrasounds dangerous? Are they necessary? Did you have one?

We spent 20 weeks, with only wild imaginings of what our little sprog looks like. We had heard her heart, but still, I was unsure that there was really a baby in there. I finally had an ultrasound and we got to see our beautiful baby girl. The ultrasound made her look like a little skeleton, but I just know she is going to be gorgeous. I mean, look at her parents. Her little skeleton face turned and looked at us. I’m sure she was smiling.

I was really uncertain about having an ultrasound. I know most people have one. Why wouldn’t you? It’s routine to be scanned once at around the 20 week mark. Or, if it’s like the hospital I’m at, it’s normal to have two ultrasounds.

Is there a danger in having an ultrasound? It depends on who you ask. Most people say there’s no harm at all. If the hospital does this routine procedure, certainly it’s okay, right?

I started to feel a weird kind of jealousy after talking to some other moms-to-be at my yoga class. It seems I was the only person in the city of Montreal that did not have all the tests that were made available to me. Should I too, have had an amniocentesis? What about the test for Down’s Syndrome that does not involve poking around in the amniotic fluid? One woman told me anytime she feels something is not right, she pays $10 at a private clinic and gets an ultrasound. Was I being an irresponsible mother by not visually checking in on the baby? It can sure start to feel that way.

Do we need to take every test and have every procedure that is available to us at the hospital or in private clinics? I’m quite sure the answer is a big fat NO.

It was the book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices, that got me thinking about possibly not having an ultrasound. Author Sarah Buckley is a doctor and mother who had home births for all four of her children; two of them were water births. In the book, Buckley gives all kinds of reasons why not to get an ultrasound. Her main argument is pretty much, “What’s the point of having one?”

It’s important to know ultrasounds are offered to every pregnant woman, but you do not have to have one. As with everything, it’s necessary to research the pros and cons and know that you are “allowed” to refuse a scan.

I chose not to refuse my scan, and welcomed it very happily. Why in the end did Mike and I decide to have one?

Personally, if you read any of my early posts, I was incredibly nervous that there was something wrong with the baby. I had opted not to take any other tests like amniocentesis etc. I didn’t have confirmation that all was well with baby until my 13 week appointment. Even then, I didn’t see my baby, only heard her heart. Spina Bifida? What if my baby’s brain was not developing properly?

Even though I was opening myself up to hearing information I might be afraid to hear (one of the reasons Buckley gives for not getting one, is often the ultrasound tech will tell you there is a “marker” for a certain Syndrome. If you have a marker, that often means nothing at all and you spend the rest of your pregnancy worrying), I was hoping the ultrasound would put my mind at ease in some ways. And it truly did. Her spine looks good, so does her brain. And her heart. We saw her little hands in prayer position, her feet up, like a very polite lady, not wanting us to know her gender. She has two legs and two arms.

I was also quite convinced there was more than one baby in there. With fraternal twins on my mom’s side and a very big belly for 18 weeks, I had reason to think I would be a two time mother all at once. That is something I would have liked to know before going into labour. You need to prepare differently for multiples. But Nancy the psychic was right. Just one big girl.

My mom didn’t have  an ultrasound when she was pregnant for me. Her doctor was very much against them, much like he was against epidurals and pro breastfeeding. On the day I was born, my mom was induced. He thought she went too far over her due date. But with no ultrasound to confirm a due date, I was born a month premature.

I was born healthy, but I don’t think an induction at eight months is the most natural thing that could have happened.

It was a great moment for Mike and me. He sat there watching the screen like a proud papa. He held my foot and took a couple photos. We got a little glimpse of what our new family will look like.