Like deformaties or disabilities??
2007-02-28 13:56:19 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
My first ultrasound will be at 16 weeks.
2007-02-28 14:02:01 · update #1
I am an ultrasound tech for Ob's and yes, this ultrasound will look for abnormalities. We measure the head and various brain structures, the abdomen, and femur bone. We look all the organs, the placenta, fluid, your cervix. If you have a family history of birth defects, you should inform your doctor. You may need to see a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist and have a more indepth ultrasound (more measurements are done) And the normal heart rate for a fetus in the first trimester is 120-180 bpm after that it is 120-160. Hope this helps!
2007-02-28 14:13:29 · answer #1 · answered by Ela 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it can not. The baby is only the size of a pea. You will not be able to see anything wrong til about 12wks. But then it is still not possible to know. If they suspect anything is wrong.. they will order a amniocentesis at about 20 wks. Then those are not always correct as well. My best friend was told her child would not live after birth b/c he had some type of chromosome problem and he is now 6 yrs old. So I opted to not have any of the blood work done.. cause I did not want to worry the whole pregnancy over nothing.
2007-02-28 14:07:18 · answer #2 · answered by luvthbaby2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on how far along you are when you have the ultrasound. And yes there are things that they look for to make sure that they are correct, that is why they do the ultrasound in the first place. And they are looking at and measuring the legs, arms, head, stomach, heart, amniotic fluid, placenta, umbilical cord, ect. Although most problems will be picked up by the blood work that they do on you throughout the pregnancy. I'm sure you baby is just fine. Congrats on your pregnancy.
EDIT: yes at 16 weeks they will be able to tell if there are problems.
2007-02-28 14:06:13 · answer #3 · answered by Mommy...LT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At 16 weeks, yes in part. They can see whether or not organs are developing as they should be, but they can't pick up disabilities like Down's Syndrome or other brain-related issues. Your doctor's office should do a blood test pretty soon to detect for certain genetic abnormalities like Down's. If they haven't mentioned it, ask them at your next appointment so you'll know when you get the tests. Anything to ease your mind so you don't worry is a good thing.
2007-02-28 14:07:39 · answer #4 · answered by Luann 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The tech will take measurements of the baby to make sure that he/she is growing on schedule. A fetus measuring small could be the sign of a birth defect, or it could be nothing. If your doctor is not present at the u/s make sure you meet with him/her to go over the results afterwards. Also, the heartbeat is a major factor at this stage in the game. Too low is usually a sign of a problem. The HR should be between 140 and 160 BPMs.
2007-02-28 14:01:49 · answer #5 · answered by Level Headed, I hope 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My first ultrasound was at 6 weeks, the doctor wasn't even able to see a heartbeat for sure (though there was a blip on the screen that she thought was probably the heartbeat). So no, at that point they wouldn't have been able to tell anything.
I don't know at what point an ultrasound would be able to tell, and many of the abnormalitites would probably be better detected through lab tests.
2007-02-28 14:00:57 · answer #6 · answered by Heather Y 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only thing the doc can tell is if everything looks proportional (that's what mine told me). It cannot pick up deformities or disabilities at this point. The ultrasound at about 20 weeks is good for things like that.
2007-02-28 15:42:44 · answer #7 · answered by mommycat 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
umm they will be able to see if the spin in ok and i think the skull
2007-02-28 14:16:25 · answer #8 · answered by Christina R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋