I am 5 months pregnant and still no ultrasound is this normal?

Question

My other friend who is also pregnant and not at high risk has had 4 ultrasounds from 10 wks on. I don't understand why my doctor is wating so long. When I asked her she said that sometimes the insurance won't pay if you have too many but to me it sounds like a cop out for not wanting to do paperwork.

Answer 1

The normal thing to do is as follows: When you first go to your doctor and they confirm that you are pregnant, by either a blood or urine test, an ultrasound should be scheduled to confirm that you are pregnant by actually seeing the baby and also to make sure that the fetus is in place., some doctors choose to do another ultrasound between the weeks of 12-14 weeks in order to determine if you child has down syndrome, this is per the parents choice to do or not do, but the doctor does give you the choice of having this testing done. You may ask your doctor the reason why this test was not done between those weeks. Then, another ultrasound is done between the 18th and 20th week, this one is to see the growth of the child and also to check for any abnormalities, this is what they call ultrasound type 2 - as they look for a condition that has to do with the baby's spine and that is when they may tell you the gender of the child. I think you should have more communication with your doctor and ask more questions and have him give you straight up answers... You are the patient and if he is treating you like this now, then I would consider going to another doctor, you are still early in time to continue your prenatal with someone else. But I would first sit down with this doctor and have a list of questions that you want answered....

Answer 2

Insurance will not pay for an ultrasound that is not deemed medically necessary. Some docs actually don't like to do ultrasound because they feel that multiple ultrasounds could actually begin to do harm. Latest evidince says that this is unsubstantiated, but docs will often rather be safe than sorry.

With my first pregnancy I only had one ultrasound, and insurance almost didn't pay for it because they were saying it wasn't medically necessary. My doctor had to come up with some reason (I think they wrote I was measuring ahead, though that wasn't really inaccurate) so that we didn't have to pay out of pocket. Even then it was a battle with them to say, "yes, this is medically necessary."

With my second pregnancy I didn't know my LMP, so they did an ultrasound then to determine my due date, then I had my routine ultrasound to check for abnormalities. Other than that, any ultrasounds I had were done because I was having problems in my pregnancy and they wanted to make sure everything was alright.

But yes, your doctor is right. If your insurance decides that an ultrasound you're having is medically unnecessary, you get to foot the $300-$500 bill.

Just to add, if you're going to a private practicioner, then it's going to be harder to get an ultrasound as well. If you're going somewhere like Kaiser, ultrasounds are easier (they actually have little mobile units just for having an emergency ultrasound and they can be done during a regular appt if need be). Pretty much, the battle for an ultrasound can be difficult if you have to go outside of the doc's office to get one.

Answer 3

Usually a prenatal ultrasound is done at 20 weeks. I had two ultrasounds, one at 20 weeks, and an emergency ultrasound at 24 weeks due to bleeding. My sister had probably a dozen, since her doctor seemed to think his ultrasound machine was a toy (men!). You should have an ultrasound soon . . . talk with your doctor again about scheduling one. The doctor is right about the insurance companies and multiple ultrasounds, but that is no excuse for not giving you a standard 20 week ultrasound.

Answer 4

I know that my insurance will only pay for one ultrasound unless the others are medically warranted, so my doctor chose to do it at 22 weeks. That way, he could check out the organ development and everything, and we were able to find out the baby's gender at the same time. The doctors aren't the ones who do the paperwork generally, so it probably is the insurance limitation. I hope you get to have one soon!

Answer 5

It used to be that ultrasounds were ONLY done if there was a suspected problem, once they came out at all. Some doctors are all about them, some like to use them in moderation. I was excited to see my baby at 10 weeks, but it's no more or less healthy now than it was then because of the ultrasounds. If it really bothers you, think about switching your practitioner.

Just think, in this century women were having babies every day without knowing in advance the sex or if there were any visible health problems.

Answer 6

I'm 6 1/2 weeks pregnant. This is my 2nd pregnancy. With my daughter I had one internal in my OB's office during the early part because I had two miscarriages previously. Then I had one at 17 weeks. This time though my OB told me if there is nothing wrong then I won't get one until 5 months and that will be it unless something else comes up. I actually envy the girls that seem to get them 20 times but hey, that is the breaks right???

Answer 7

Get a little stern with your doctor. Maybe the case is you are not in the high risk category pregnancy. I was pregnant at 16 and only had one sonogram, but i also think it was because of my insurance. Being 5 months pregnant you should have had one already.

Answer 8

Depends on the person. Most doctors order them around 20 weeks unless theres a problem. And yes a big facter is insurance as awful as that might sound its true. You'll probably only have one(it should be soon) unless there are problems. Good luck with everyone babies are a wonderful gift.

Answer 9

This is my first pg and I'm also 5 months, and I've had 2 ultrasounds so far, and I'm having my 3rd on sept 22 to see the organ development and to find out the sex of the baby. I think you should change your dr, I would think you need at least one to see if the baby is healthy and develping ok.

Answer 10

I don't know about that. You should have had at least one ultra-sound already to see if you r baby is developing normally. Your doctor sounds like a quack. Change her!! I had 5 ultrasounds in total during my pregnancy. Insurance covered all of them. (Not saying that you should have that many). Check with your insurance provider and get a doctor who wants to ensure that your baby is developing normally and is healthy. Good luck.