Why is ultrasound scan important during pregnancy?

Ultrasound scans play a vital role when it comes to pregnancy and throughout gestation. But before getting into that, you must know what an ultrasound actually is.

Ultrasound (or, sonogram) is a prenatal test most pregnant women opt to take, in which sound waves are used to show a picture of your baby in the uterus or womb. This enables your health care provider to check on your baby’s health and development. 

Ultrasound is often considered to be a very special part of pregnancy- it’s the first time you actually get to “see” your baby! It is usually preferred in the second trimester at 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, although some also get a first-trimester ultrasound (also called an early ultrasound) before 14 weeks of pregnancy. The number of ultrasounds and timings may be different for women with certain health conditions like as asthma and obesity.

Here are some reasons you might want to consider for having an ultrasound:

• Confirmation of your pregnancy.
• Checking your baby’s age and growth to enable your provider figure out your due date.
• Checking your baby’s heartbeat, muscle tone, movement and overall development.
• Checking whether you’re pregnant with twins, triplets, or multiples.
• Checking if your baby is in the heads-first position before birth.
• Examining your ovaries and uterus.
• Your provider might also use ultrasound for screening and other testing. Screening helps checking if your baby is more likely than others to have a health condition, although it doesn’t mean finding out for sure if your baby has the condition, for example, birth defects. After an ultrasound, your provider may want to do more diagnostic tests, to see for sure if your baby has a birth defect. Birth defects change the shape or function of one or more parts of the body. They can cause problems in overall health, in how the body develops, or in how the body works.
• Help with other prenatal tests, like chorionic villus sampling (or, CVS) or amniocentesis (also called amnio).
• Checking for pregnancy complications, for example, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, or a miscarriage.

Again, there are different kinds of ultrasound. And, the kind you get depends on what your provider is checking for, and how far along you are in your pregnancy. All ultrasounds use a tool called a transducer that uses sound waves to create pictures of your baby on the screen. The most common kinds of ultrasound are:

Transabdominal ultrasound

This kind is the most common. You lay on your back on an exam table, and your provider covers your belly with a thin layer of gel which helps the sound waves move more easily so you get a clearer picture. Then the transducer is moved across your belly.
You may need to drink several glasses of water about 2 hours before the exam to have a full bladder during the test.  Ultrasound is painless, but having a full bladder may get uncomfortable. The ultrasound takes about 20 minutes.

Transvaginal ultrasound

This kind of ultrasound is done through the vagina. You lay on your back on an exam table with your feet in stirrups. Your provider moves a thin transducer shaped like a wand into your vagina. You may feel some pressure from the transducer, but it’s painless. Your bladder needs to be empty or just partly full. This, too, takes about 20 minutes.
In special cases, your provider may use these kinds of ultrasound to get more information about your baby:

Doppler ultrasound

This kind of ultrasound is used to check your baby’s blood flow if he’s not growing normally. Your provider uses a transducer to listen to your baby’s heartbeat, and to measure the blood flow in the umbilical cord and in some of your baby’s blood vessels. You also may get a Doppler ultrasound if you have Rh disease. This is a blood condition that can cause serious problems for your baby if it’s not treated. Doppler ultrasound is usually used in the last trimester, but it may be done earlier.

3-D ultrasound

A 3-D ultrasound takes thousands of 3-D images at once. Some providers use this kind of ultrasound to make sure your baby’s organs are growing and developing normally. It can also check for abnormalities in a baby’s face.

4-D ultrasound

This is similar to a 3-D ultrasound, but also shows your baby’s movements in a video.
 
Ultrasound is risk-free and hence, safe for you and your baby. Since it uses sound waves instead of radiation, it’s safer than X-rays. Ultrasound has been in use for over 30 years, and no potentially dangerous risks have been associated with it yet.