Question about what I seen on the ultrasound....?

Question

The ultrasound peopple never let you know anything, they leave that dirty work for the dr. I didn't gt a chance to speak to my dr and wont for a month. When I brought the pics home and was looking at the ultrasound there was a dark round thing in the middle of the babys head.....is that the brain....has anyone had that???Also I couldn't make out any arms....just legs and feet and face and spine.......is that weird???And lastly the baby was not cooperating but she said she thinks she seen a penis....do you think her guess is pretty accurate?

Answer 1

legal depeartments at different hospitals mandate different sets of guidelines for what you can and cannot say or show a patient in regard to their fetal ultrasounds . This varies greatly from state to state and evn facility to facility ..i know that sounds harsh , and I'm not saying I agree with this policy , but it's true . Sonographers are simply employees of a department within a health system , and must abide by their rules lest the lose their jobs. We live in a very litigious society where everyone is willing to sue at the drop of a hat ..as such the insurance carriers for doctors and hospitals malpractice set forth these rediculous mandates that make the technologist seem like the bad guy . no face pictures to parents , no picture of fingers or toes ..no limb images . We aren't leaving the dirty work for the Dr. , we are simply following the protocol. Telling you we see something as simple as an irregular heartbeat is considered "diagnosing" in most states, and by law only a Dr.,PA , or NP can "diagnose". Penalties can include fines , and even jail time for " impersonating a Physician". It's NUTS.

I have been to departments where the sonographer cant have the screen facing the patient until all measurements and a full morphological survey is complete...then they can show the parents the screen but can only show a profile , a heart rate , and a cranial picture.

Ultrasounds done in the office tend to be more lenient. Most 3D/4D studios or places you go where you pay upfront and sign a waiver aren't as liable , because of that waiver ....there you get more pics , a DVD , etc... but the downside there is that in 85% of cases , you don't have registered sonographer . simply a techician,( NOT a technologist) who only is trained to get the picture ...not to even recognize if there is a problem .


As for the black spot ..it depends on how far along you are . If you're first trimester , then it's most likely the rhombocephalon , which is part of normal development. Second trimester it could be the cisterna magna , or ventricles within the brain . We , technologists , control where the beam goes , and its rare to see all of the baby in ONE image.

the good news is that in 99% of cases where the sonographer would see something REALLY SERIOUSLY wrong with fetal development , they would be instructed by the Dr reading the films to call the results STAT to your physician. It would be a liability that the hospital would NOT want to lt something serious wait the week or so it would typically take for a report to reach your OB.

Hope this helps .

~Ej

Answer 2

Umm sometimes ultrasounds just show funny things... how far along are you? Sometimes it's hard to see the arms or legs. Don't be worried about it! The radiologist would have said something if she couldn't find what she was looking for. Don't stress about it! When you go to the doctor in a month, she'll let you know if anything is wrong, until then... don't worry about things that may be just fine! You don't want to stress out your baby.

If she said she "thinks" she saw a penis, then she could have, but sometimes (when its early in pregnancy) the penis (well the testicles) and the labia could look similar. So, I wouldn't go making everything blue just yet!

Good luck :) Don't stress!

Answer 3

One of my ultrasound pics shows the exact same thing, but don't worry because I saw the brain in another shot that I didn't get a picture of. My sonographer also said she thinks that she saw a penis. We saw it too. Sonographers are very experienced and are almost always right.
Did your sonographer not get detailed and show you all of the parts of the baby? Mine went organ by organ and I saw everything,... kidneys, bladder, liver, brain, heart, spinal cord, the beginning of lungs, hands, feet, face.... she should have gave you a detailed report.

Answer 4

i actually had some pretty bad pics of mine she didnt get any with feet just a face and two profiles i actually wanted something that showed legs and arms but i guess you get whatever they give you im sure i could have asked for those other ones but i was just happy to hear that i was having a boy. it prolly wasnt anything to worry about that you seen on the babys head and the part about the penis i would go back and get it checked out the lady who did mine waited until he opened his legs for us to see he didnt want to show anything he just kept them shut she asked me to start pushing on parts of my belly to see if he would move and he did my friend started laughing about the part when she pointed out that part of his body.