Friday, February 20, 2009

Baby Update

So I did end up going for the 20-week ultrasound. If I knew what I know now, I would have tried to skip the first two, but not the 20-week one, which seems to be the most medically crucial.

Of course, there were signs we losing the baby in early days. “So what?” I challenged the doctor, “it’s not like you could have prevented a miscarriage at that stage.”

That’s not the point, the doctor explained (read: yelled). Had the baby actually died, it would have put my life at risk if it had gone unnoticed. So, yeah, I guess there’s that.

Then there are these:

www.newscientist.com: "Ultrasound scans may disrupt fetal brain development"

www.askquestions.org: "Conflicts of Interest: Understanding the Safety Issues Around Prenatal 3D Ultrasound"

Bottom line, the ultrasound debate is really difficult. And I was nervous today, not sure until the last minute that I was going to go through with it. When I did, I asked the ultrasound technician to do only what was medically necessary. No photos, no looking for gender, no extra looking around for the parents’ benefit. Get in, get out.

And she was really good about that. Plus, the kid turned at exactly the right times giving her great views for checking organs and blood flow as quickly as possible.

“You two made for an easy ultrasound,” she said as I wiped the goop off my belly. She further explained that if there’s too much fat, hard to see. Too much muscle, also hard to see.

So bottom line, I’m fit. Just not that fit.

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1 comments:

Blogger About James ~ 6:49 PM

I'm not terribly comfortable with them but I tend to err on the side of science. Same as vaccines.

Having said that, our ultrasound with no. 2 went on for ever. The baby wouldn't wake up and roll over. I was terrified for two reasons. I'm sure the ultrasound went on for twice as long as average.

But she's a smart, normal 15 mo. Above average, I'd say, but I'm her daddy.  


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