For a midwife to know which way my abdominal wall is on my baby's scan pic

[architien]

When I innocently asked she told me I didn't need to know which way the baby was and she wouldn't look. It's a later on scan.
I was a bit surprised and actually embarrassed.

Want do you think about it?

well she isn't a sonographer, so no, i wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know how to interpret an ultrasound scan

however, she didn't say she didn't know, she said she wouldn't tell you. which is entirely different

But surely the way its facing just now wont necessarily be the way its facing when you go into labour? Am assuming you're fairly early on in pregnancy? They've got all sorts of acrobatics to do between now and then?

what do you mean, like you wanted to know if it was OP or the right way round? and she wouldn't check it?
it sounds as though she was a bit rude. I have asked that in a late scan before, and the sonographer made an effort to look and answer the question. It seems a reasonable enough q, so not sure why the midwife would have responded like that.

Yabu

what are you on about re abdominal wall?

Have just showed this to my midwife friend, she - and I, don't really know what you mean. What do you mean by "which way my abdominal wall is"?

Im not sure what you mean either?

?? abdominal wall

[scratches head]

I don't get it?? Explain further...

I think what the OP means is that she asked a midwife what bits were what (where's the uterus wall, which bit's the placenta, is that peanut the baby? And so on) on her printed out scan picture (from a previous appointment?) But the midwife couldn't tell.

I think relax and enjoy your pregnancy!

And the OP wanted to know which way was the right way to hold up the picture, in relation to her own body. For example, was the baby really upside down?

I'm thinking this was a trans-vaginal scan you had, OP?

Well if you think about it, how can you tell unless the sonographer tells you at the time?

As the tranducer is placed directly on your abdomen or at the side, so how would a still mean anything without that knowledge?

jessiealbright was right in thinking I was trying to work out which way was "up" as it were just so i understood my own scan. Although it was just a normal scan through my abdominal wall. It would have been better to have asked whilst the scan was actually being done i know but as another poster and i suspect a lot of folk i was just so happy everything seemed ok with the baby that I was stunned into silence in awe of the little one there on the screen. I'm a bit further on but as always a baby can turn at any point i was wondering so i could make sense of my scan pic, quite natural i thought.

She wouldn't know unless she was doing the scan as it would depend upon which way up the transducer was being held. The narrow bit at the top of the picture is the area nearest your skin and the wider (bottom) part is further into you but left and right depends upon how the transducer was held.

It seems she doesn't know and for some reason didn't want to say.

BTW, lots of people think that the scan is like a side-on view of the baby as that is what it looks like but really it's a "slice" through the baby. It's just made up of the echo you get when you send sound through the body. Sorry if you already knew that.

Midwives cannot interpret foetal positioning from looking at scan photos unless they have an ultrasonography qualification (usually an MA).

They are however very skilled in determining position from abdominal palpation. Did she tell you your baby's position from doing this?

Must admit given this isn't my field I thought I'd ask what other folk thought. I don't like to assume either way and prefer to gather information before drawing conclusions so appreciate everyone's thoughts and experience :)

My last post was bullshit. I meant that most midwives might not probably be able to determine foetal positioning due to their lack of experience in ultrasonography.

If the midwife had a feel of your tum then she would be able to tell which way your baby is facing and its position.