What is the point of Ultrasound scans?

Question

My wife is planning not to keep her appointment for a scan next week when she will be 20 weeks pregnant.

She says there is no point as she feels that she and baby are in excellent health and even if there was something wrong with the baby she could never consider abortion. She also says that ultrasounds have never been proven to be safe and it is not worth the risk for a glimpse of the baby when she can can feel it move inside her.

I was quite taken back from this, as I thought all women looked forward to seeing their baby on screen.

Apart from reassurance, what else does an ultrasound do?

Answer 1

An ultrasound is the easiest way to check for adnormalities such as heart defects and see if the baby is developing well. It is usually done as a precaution and for reassurance and a chance for bonding for the mother.

However, the majority of defects can be detected with the old fashioned ways such as fundal measurements, fetal heart dopplers and blood-tests.

Ultrasounds have never been proven to be safe. It is noted that babys tend to move alot more during the scan, perhaps this shows discomfort to the baby.

For discussions between midwifes about ultrascanning, see:
http://www.radmid.demon.co.uk/scans.htm

About bonding, I'm sure feeling your baby kicking inside her will do more for bonding than some silly shadow of a picture.

I do not agree with doing scans for 'the sake of bonding' and I feel this is vain that you need to see it to believe it. However, I feel your wife should go for this scan and get it over and done with and not have it hanging over her.

At the end of the day, this is your wifes decision, it is her body afterall.

Answer 2

Even if you feel that you and the baby are in excellent health, it needs to be done because there might be something that the doctor's can't see going on. I had placenta previa when I was pregnant. That is where the placenta is covering the cervix instead of being on the top or side of the uterus and for that you need a c-section. To go into labor with that would kill the baby because all of their weight would be pushing on the placenta and they would get no oxygen, nutrients, etc your entire labor and delivery. I had absolutely no symptoms and did not even know I had it until they did the ultrasound. What I am saying is you can think that you are in the best of health, hopefully she is, but something's there is just no way of knowing. It's not a matter of whether you would have an abortion or not. What if there was some physical defect with the baby that they would have been able to treat immediately after birth and because your wife didn't go to her appointment, no one ever knew anything was wrong? Then the baby would have to wait for possibly life saving treatment because she was being stubborn. I have never had any problem's from having ultrasounds, and when I had my previa, they did them every couple of weeks to check on things. Even if there is some risk of potential side effects, which honestly I have never heard of, the doctor isn't going to prescribe something that can do more harm then good to her or the baby. They do it for a reason and not just so that the parent's can see the baby. Have her talk to her doctor about her concerns.

Answer 3

An ultrasound can pick up on a lot of different things. Besides that, I am a little confused...why wouldn't want to see her baby on a screen? If I could, I would have on of those machines in my home and hook myself up to it everyday, lol. I literally could stay there all day looking at my baby. To me, it's amazing. But anyway, there are medical reasons why doctors suggest u/s. The 20 week one is suppose to be the BIG one. Is this your first baby? Personally, I see ultrasounds as reassurance that everything is going as it should. I can't feel the baby yet or at least I dont know if Im feeling the baby or not so when I get ultrasounds done I feel so much better and at ease.

Answer 4

Could be many different reasons for her not wanting the scan, I loved seeing my children at the scans and found it reassuring that everything was going well. But everyone is different, it can be scary to go for your first scan, she may have already had one at around 11 weeks and had a negative experience that put her off? She may be afraid to go for lots of different reasons. Being pregnant is a wonderful time but there is always pressure to conform to things like this and some women don't feel its necessary and choose not to, which is their choice, its an extremely personal issue. As long as she is taking good care of herself which I don't doubt she is that's the main concern. It is your baby too though and may be worth talking about what you would like as well, although it will be her choice in the end. Hope it works out for the best

Answer 5

With the millions of ultrasounds performed every year, if they were unsafe, we would have seen the effects by now. Doctors wouldn't perform them routinely if they didn't believe that the benefits for doing it greatly outweighed the risks.

The point is to measure the baby to make sure it is growing appropriately, to see if there is the right amount of amniotic fluid, anomalies with the placenta, etc. Even though if something was found to be wrong and she wouldn't abort, it's important to know if the baby is healthy, because if it were not, for instance, if there was low fluid or if the cord did not look properly attached to the placenta, etc., they need to know these things and monitor the baby's (and your wife's) condition very closely for complications, or, for the need to possibly induce labor early if the well being of the baby depended on it. In some cases, there are actions that can be taken to correct, or minimize risks to the baby's health if they are found early enough via ultrasound.

Naturally, she has the right to refuse whatever she wants. But if she truly had the safety and well being of the baby in mind, she would talk more with her doctor about her concerns and she would follow their recommendations. If she does not trust her MD, then she should find another practitioner who shares her values. If there is no trust between patient and MD, then it is a dysfunctional relationship, and why would you pay money for a doctor's care that you aren't confident in?

Answer 6

I look forward to ultrasounds weeks in advance! Its one of the rare opportunities you and your wife would get to see your little one in the womb, and amazing to watch! At my last ultrasound my baby was sucking its thumb and kicking about like crazy, and you usually get a picture to take away as a keep sake..Although your wife feels that the baby is fine (which it most probably is!) it is always safer for both her and the baby to have the scan just to make sure..she cant really know things are fine just by instinct!...many problems which are spotted in utero can be sorted out and managed before the baby is born, and this is why attending scans makes sense..imagine if there was a complication when baby arrived, and you knew that attending a scan could have prevented or eased this?

Ultrasounds are perfectly safe, and as well as checking on your baby's development, it allows you to bond with baby before he/she arrives. We have a 3d ultrasound booked for next week, and I cant wait to see my little one again!!

Speak to your wife, and if she is concerned about safety of ultrasounds, I am sure her midwife/doctor will reassure her and give her more information..good luck! :-)

Answer 7

hi,
you sound like a very caring father already, you know its your baby to and if you want to check all is OK then you should tell her. sorry but i think she is being a bit selfish but don't forget your wife is pregnant and i know i wasn't thinking straight when i was pregnant.
the point of scans is to check the baby is OK ( as you said)
also there may be a problem that needs to be seen whilst in the womb that can be put right before birth, i know your wife would never get rid of her baby but its just so nice to see it and hear its little heart beat. its something you should both be doing together its a wonderful experience as each scan is different. Also these scans have never proven to be safe but have any baby's been proven to be harmed by the scan i don't think so.
i had problems with my baby that was only seen in the womb and had 6 scans all in all. I could feel my baby fine and i felt fine but she wasn't sitting right and i had to try and move her i was in hospital for ages.
sorry to go on but its not just the scan they are checking your wife is healthy to by taking blood etc.
anyway my baby is fine and healthy 11 months now and i don't regret seeing her little hands waving around in the womb i must say i cried my eyes out.
hope little one healthy and good for you.
congratulations and good luck hope Ive helped you a bit
Blondie xx

Answer 8

Are you being SERIOUS??

This is a selfish act, it's not for your entertainment to see the baby, it's for the medical team to measure and take notes of fluids and other important things.

So what happens if the life of your wife and baby are in danger?

Ultrasounds are safe, they are not X-rays.

Feeling baby move inside maybe a good thing, doesn't mean that your wife or baby have no problems.

All the people that can't afford or don't even live in a country that provides ultrasounds and here's you and and your wife cancelling.

I'm sorry but there is some selfish people in this world.

Answer 9

An ultrasound scan puts womans minds (an dads) at rest that everythin is ok. Just because she can feel the baby move dosnt mean everythins ok. The scan can detect problems that could even be sorted with baby still inside her womb. But if left to long can prove fatal. If i were u id try an tlk her into havin the scan. Its your baby to an you have as much right to know if your baby is ok. x

Answer 10

from reading a lot of the other answers you have received I'm not going to state the obvious that this scan is a foetal well being ultra sound. However what i would suggest is that if your wife is adamant she is going to miss this appointment that she calls the hospital to make them aware of this, take it from someone who has had pregnancy problems, the wait for a scan can be unbearable and if she can free that appointment up for another women then so be it xxxx congrats and good luck