Guest guest Posted January 25, 2002 Report Share Posted January 25, 2002 >When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had ultrasounds every month from >month 5-8 and more often in month 9. My daughter was born 8 days late, the >night before I was going to be induced! I am not too sure about this >study... though I may an exception... >Hugs, Thanks Elisa for letting me know about this. Sounds like you had ULTRA ultra sound I ended up deciding not to have the scan. I made my decision after reading the research I found on scans, and speaking to one of the radiologists at the hospital I would have attended for the scan. The funny thing is, what most made up my mind was the conversation with the radiologist. She was very helpful and friendly and chatted with me for a good half hour. The reason she convinced me not to (and I don't think she'd like to think what she said lead to that consequence!) was after I questioned her on what conditions could actually be assisted by knowing about them from the scan in advance. There were hardly any conditions that could be helped, and they occur very rarely. One was renal (kidney and bladder) problems, where they can insert tubes to help the problem. Another is heart problems, where they are able to make sure you give birth in the best hospital to deal with this type of thing, and then operate straight away once the baby is born. Although she said that with these types of problems (e.g. heart) because there's nothing they can do until the baby's born, often nature takes it's course and the baby dies in the womb. The other main reason someone might have the scan then (seeing as though there's virtually nothing they can do for most abnormalities) is so the parents can make the decision whether to abort the baby if it had an abnormality. I gave this much thought, and realised I wouldn't be able to abort my baby if there was an abnormality detected, as who am I to say their experience of life would be worthless, or unenjoyable? And as for serious abnormalities where one could well assume suffering would be involved, how could I be sure the diagnosis was accurate? Errors in ultra sound diagnosis DO occur (i.e. false negative and false positive scan diagnoses - even the radiologist admitted these do occur). So I could never be certain whether my baby REALLY did have any abnormality, if it had been the case that one was " detected " . I was speaking to a lady who works in my local healthfood shop the other day, and a friend of hers had amniocentisis in her pregnancy where it was " discovered " that the baby had a chromosome abnormality. The friend decided to continue with her pregnancy, and the health food shop lady said her little girl is now 4 yrs old, and when she sees her she has an intellegent chat with her - the little girl is perfectly normal! So, I then realised that the " reassurance factor " reason for having the scan was not going to work for me anyway. If all was said to be OK, I'd think..but it could be a false negative. And if a problem was found I'd be unsure whether it was a false positive or not...and then I'd worry through the rest of the pregnancy about it! I would also be concerned about any negative effects caused by the scan itself. So there I had it - my answer finally! (After several sleepless nights pondering over it!) OK, so there we have it, my essay on why I didn't have ultrasound I must say I felt great relief coming to a decision. Also, if there was any problem during the pregnancy which was a great cause for concern (e.g. baby's movements decreasing) I wouldn't hesitate to have an emergency scan, I would probably go to the hospital demanding one! Obviously (IMO) in such a situation the positives would outweigh the negatives of having a scan. Thanks for all your thoughts regarding ultra sound. I'll respond to other emails (finally! soon. All the Best, Huria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2002 Report Share Posted January 26, 2002 In a message dated 1/25/2002 2:30:44 PM Pacific Standard Time, jak.remec writes: > must say I felt great relief coming to a decision Huria, Your reasons for not having an ultrasound are basically my own. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful and healthy pregnancy! Sara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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