Personal stories about early fetal ultrasound
These stories are based on information gathered from health professionals and consumers. They may be helpful as you make important health decisions.
Rita, age 24: Raoul and I talked for a long time about this pregnancy and what having a baby would mean to us. For personal reasons, we would not choose to end the pregnancy if there was a problem with the baby. So we decided not to do any prenatal diagnostic tests unless something goes wrong. We trust that whether the baby is perfect or not, it will be the baby (or babies!) that we are meant to have. Our families think that our approach is a little unusual, but we are both comfortable with our decision.
Rachel, age 33: I guess that you could call me a bit of a worrywart. I just know that I will feel better if I can actually see the baby on the monitor and see its little heart beating and have that one more bit of information to reassure me that everything is okay.
Melissa, age 32: My sister had a healthy baby boy last spring after spending most of her pregnancy worrying that everything was not okay with the baby. She had an ultrasound that showed a cyst in the baby's brain. The cyst went away, and her doctor said that they are really common and almost never cause a problem, but the whole experience was really stressful for her and her husband. At one point they even wondered if they should end the pregnancy. So now that I'm pregnant, I feel torn. If there is a problem, I think I would want to know, but a false alarm would be so stressful! I think the worry would be worse for me and the baby than any problem.
Julie, age 25: I read a lot about prenatal testing, including ultrasound, so I know what it can and can't show about the baby. My doctor says that because of my age and our family histories, there is very little chance that there are any problems with the baby (although we understand that no one can ever be sure about this). So I know there really isn't any reason to have the ultrasound ... but this is the only child we plan to have, and I want to have the whole pregnancy experience, ultrasound and all.
| Author: | Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH | Last Updated: November 30, 2006 |
| Medical Review: | Renée M. Crichlow, MD - Family Medicine Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology | |
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