Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

In case you are a future mother to be and you go to your doctor most probably he or she will suggest you to have an ultrasound in pregnancy.

Ultrasound is actually performed by a device which takes an image from the inside of the body with the help of sound waves and is able to show the baby on a screen while it is still in your womb.

What is a pregnancy ultrasound?

There are a lot of things that such an image is able to tell your doctor, including the size of the fetus, the heartbeat of the little one, the development of the organs, and also an approximate due date. The pictures that you see are projected on a screen and it is just like a movie.

How does the pregnant women’s ultrasound work?

As it has been mentioned before this machine is using sound waves that are so high that the human ears cannot perceive them. These are able to get through the skin.

The waves are focused to a given part of the body. The machine registers the waves that bounce back and translates them into an image on the screen.

The ultrasound of pregnant women is not at all similar with the x-ray exam because there is no radiation used. This way it becomes safer for both the mother and the baby.

There are several sectors of medical science that the ultrasound is used in and its presence in prenatal screening is in many cases priceless.

Why is the expecting women’s ultrasound done?

Besides the mentioned areas that the ultrasound can help in, there is some other information as well that this exam could provide the mothers with.

These include determining whether there is more than one baby on the way and if the size of the baby corresponds with his or her age.

The ultrasound of expecting women could also show how the baby’s organs are developing, if the placenta is at the right place and if there are some issues with the fallopian tubes, uterus or ovaries of the mother.

The specialists say that every woman should have at least an ultrasound in pregnancy. Usually this is done between the 18^th and 22^nd week.

The reasons to have such an imaging medical exam are to see the position of the baby, the status of the placenta, to know how much amniotic fluid is surrounding the baby or to see possible genetic abnormalities.

What happens during the maternity ultrasound?

Before having the ultrasound, the doctor will tell you what needs to be done and where do you need to go. In some cases women are required to have the bladder filled with urine but that is not necessary during the third semester.

The ultrasound for maternity will be done by an ultrasonographer.

You will have to lie on the table and he or she will put some clear gel on your belly. This way the machine can move easier on the body and the sound waves can also travel easier.

During the ultrasound before maternity you will feel some pressure, but you shouldn’t feel any pain. In the majority of the cases the exam lasts for 30 minutes. An ultrasound in pregnancy isn’t an exam that you have to worry about.