Pregnancy and Ultrasound

Transcript

What are some of the things you’re going to be finding out about on your anatomical 18 to 20 week ultrasound? Well, first of all, the ultrasonographer is going to look at all of the baby’s organs, as many as are visible at that gestational age and get a good idea about whether all of those organs are growing and developing properly. So it’s going to have a look at the four chamber heart and a more intricate heart ultrasound can be ordered if there are any problems. For example, hearts are best seen at 28 weeks, but at the 18 to 20 week ultrasound, there’ll be a good estimation of whether the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the spinal cord, the facial features, and even the gender of the baby are all developing properly. They’ll also be an indicator of what’s called soft signs. If there are any suspicious indicators of things like down syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities, there’ll be a good look at the gastrointestinal tract, the reproductive system. They’re also going to look at the placenta. So is it in the front in the back, is it over the cervix, which would be a placenta previa indicating a possible need for C-section. If the placenta stays low and over the cervix throughout just station, it’s also going to look for amniotic fluid. Is there too much? Is there too little, those kinds of things and the cervix it’ll measure the length and the thickness of the cervix, which should be holding the baby in at that early stage in the 18 to 20 week gestational period.