Has anyone else had a lot of ultrasounds? Sonographer worried me!

[LookAtMeImJennyDee]

Hi all -

Have had a bumpy start to my pregnancy as was suspected ectopic to start with, then my GP told me I was likely to miscarry & then, whilst I was in floods of tears and told him I had another hospital appointment, changed his tune and told me "oh, well then wait and see what happens".

Anywhoo after that bumpy start I was being monitored from early on in my pregnancy so I had an internal scan at about 5 weeks to determine the location of the pregnancy (luckily all is growing in the right place!) and then had to come back 2 weeks later at 7 weeks to find the heartbeat (which again, was there. So thankful!). As I suffer from Acute Anxiety Disorder anyway and am managing this via counselling I was understandably very nervous and paid for a private scan yesterday at 9 weeks.

That works out at 3 scans in the space of 6 weeks and the sonographer told me she thinks women should only have 2 ultrasounds in their whole pregnancy as the heat from the ultrasound could cause issues. I'm assuming she means issues with development as opposed to causing miscarriage but this has worried me now. I also have my 12 week scan booked in in three weeks time and am wondering if this is now too many scans!?

Have done some Googling and found people who had difficult pregnancies and needed constant scans but am just wondering if anyone else had a lot of scans in their first trimester?

Am sure am worried bout nothing but as its my first its always lovely to hear reassuring things! Sorry for the long drawn out story too, just didn't want to miss any details!

more than a dozen here. Dd is fine. take no. notice whatsoever!

I'm 15 weeks and have had 5 scans so far - for a while, I was on a weekly recurrence! I have never heard that they can cause any harm either. Don't worry and enjoy them!

Multiple pregnancies are scanned frequently. If they were bad for you then this wouldn't be the case.

I had a total of 12 scans from 13-34 weeks during my twin pregnancy. I know women who suffered TTTS with their twins who were scanned fortnightly which would mean more than 15 scans!

Try not to worry, all will be fine

Rue yes I've read that is the only proven trend! Really not a worry though.

What rubbish. How can this person call themselves a sonographer. I have bipolar and was scanned at 6, 7 and 13 weeks then every 3 weeks and now at 34 weeks am scanned every other week. So I will have had over 20 scans by the time this baby arrives.

I do understand about the anxiety and how hard that is to manage. But on this you do not need to worry

I read this to dr DH & he said 'what complete bollocks'
He said there is a very tiny theoretical risk but only if the ultrasound was left in one position for much much much longer than it is in a scan, then there might (not proven only a theory) have a risk of heating the tissue.
He said it is a theoretical risk only and in the conditions of a pregnancy scan it is a very safe procedure and not an issue no matter how many you have.
The sonographer shouldn't have said that to you especially as if you are having additional scans you are likely to be more anxious anyway.

I had about a dozen at least. Dd is a bright six year old. Don't worry.

I had 32 ultrasounds with my last pregnancy. I was 42 when I became pregnant. My gyno asked if I would like to be part of a study documenting fetal development in 'geriatric mothers' using weekly ultrasounds. I enjoyed seeing my baby grow week by week. She is six now and is very healthy..( knock wood)

This is such bollocks I don't know where to start.

Generally the more vulnerable the pregnancy, the more scans are given, so the most at risk get the most scans and there is no link whatsoever with developmental issues.

The sonographer sounds quite unhinged, to be honest.

Was it a private scanner who said this to you, I really can't believe a trained professional would say it (you don't need any qualifications to work as a sonographer in a private scanning clinic)

To be honest I think it was more the anxiety, I think she was having a passive aggressive dig at you. eg oh you are having a scan because you are anxious, but doing so might be making you worse not better.

Because of my history I am very anxious in this pregnancy and most docs I have met take the attitude that being anxious is a normal reaction to what I have been through and shows my mental health is intact iyswim, but I have met a couple of lesser trained, lesser skilled healthcare workers, real jobsworths, who seem to think I shouldn't be and it is OK for them to pass comment, make subtle digs etc

I have actually had a specific conversation about whether scanning is ok in a meeting which consisted of me, DH, a professor of obstetrics, a consultant specialising in prematurity, a midwife sonographer, a bereavement midwife and an EPU nurse, all of whom were working in a major teaching hospital which is a leading centre of research into the causes of miscarriage and fetal abnormality, so frankly, they have forgotten more than that sonographer you met will ever know.

So far this pregnancy I've had
6 weeks internal scan to check in right place
8 weeks internal growth scan
10 weeks external growth scan
12 weeks dating scan
14 weeks internal placental check scan
16 weeks internal placental check scan
16 weeks external growth scan
18 weeks internal placental check scan
20 week external abnormality scan
22 week internal placenta check scan
22 week external abnormality scan (they wanted another look at the heart after the 20 week one)
24 week internal placenta check scan

All of these scans have been at a NHS teaching hospital and ordered by the consultant. Hope this helps to reassure you.

I have heard of it and there was a Swedish study done, but I'm in a similar boat to you, had several early scans and now have growth scans every two weeks and I don't think there is any conclusive evidence that ultrasounds can cause any damage.

I'm very surprised your sonographer made that comment as sadly there are so many complications in pregnancy that can occur and require ultrasound and there is no evidence that these can cause problems; it's sometimes just hard to avoid.

Here in Spain all women have at least 3 scans and may have as many as 5.
That's the state health system, private care does a scan every month.

State care, with a normal pregnancy you you easily have 5:
before 12 weeks transvaginal scan to confirm
12 weeks nuchal
20 weeks abnormalities
32 weeks growth
go over 40 wks and you have at least one more.

With DD (in Spain) I had 12 wk scan, then privately before an amnio, then during and after amnio, 20 weeks and 32 weeks and would have had another if I'd gone overdue, so that was 6 scans I had.

Hi I've had the 12 week scan all was looking ok, 20 week scan they found an abnormality, 3rd scan approx 3 days later, a scan at 24 weeks, a scan at 25 weeks and the last one there at 26 weeks. I'm due two further scans 1 being an MRI.

Basically I wouldn't worry about having too many scans. The doctors know what they are doing and if they were in any way concerned about the amount of ultrasounds you were having they wouldn't have had so many.

If we hadn't had the second scan in the 20th week our baby's condition would never have been diagnosed and I'm just grateful that we were given a re-scan back in week 20. Don't give yourself any more stress :-)

Currently pregnant with twins and as standard scanned every 4 weeks because they are non identical. If they were identical it would have been every 2 weeks!

The sonographer is an idiot!

had GD in both PGs and neurosis... had loads of scans, every two weeks for a while! both babies born healthy.
sonographer was thoughtless!

I live abroad so am seeing a private obstetrician, and she does scans monthly as standard. I also have had 2 extra ones due to being an oaf and falling over, and some spotting. We asked her about the risk, and she said that she wouldn't recommend having them daily, but for the time it takes to do an ultrasound, there's no risk to the baby!

Fucks sake, where the hell did she get such shite information?

I live just south of the US (private healthcare) and we have a scan each month. Due to early bleeds at 6 weeks and a serious scare at 30 weeks due to norovirus, I had upwards of 15 scans.

Total crock of shit, I had high risk pregnancy I had them daily after 18 weeks because my waters had gone and werent being replenished, sometimes even more than one a day. She shouldnt have said that as its just going to worry you, when both my younger children are fine lol

rubbish. heat from ultrasound?

I had 6 kids, 1 MC and pg again so had a fair amount of ultrasounds in the last 13 years - and have never been warned about this.

DS4 was footling breech so I had about 5 or 6 scans with him.
in other countries you are routinely scanned at every antenatal app/monthly - can be up to 8 scans!

I wouldn't worry about that, please try not to.

good luck with pg, it is a worrying time for everyone, I hope it will go quickly for you and baby will be healthy.

Ultrasound can cause heating but if it is conducted properly by someone with the proper postgraduate training and importantly, using safe equipment then you don't need to worry about this. To be safe the guidance is that they should not be done unnecessarily. I think the Sonographer was confused or just not clear in her explanation.

It is well established that the biggest risk of all is when it is conducted by someone not properly trained, sonographers are trained of course but tbh there are other professional that have a look at things using ultrasound that might not be properly qualified to do so.

I have my 9th scan next week. Had them at 5,8,9,10,12,13,20,28 and about to have 34 weeks due to recurrent miscarriage and meds I was on in first trimester. The only reason there is any link with lots of scans and poor outcomes is that it's high risk pregnancies being scanned a lot.

How ridiculous. I have a private ob (not in the UK) and they do ultrasounds at every appointment - and there are 12 appointments during a standard pregnancy.

The sonographer was extremely unprofessional - I would go as far as to say incompetent - say that to you, particularly given your anxiety disorder!

A friend of mine had pre-eclampsia and she had a scan every week from 16 weeks and baby is doing well now! I have never heard of anyone having issues that could be related to scanning.
Another friend of mine is pregnant and living in Dubia, and they give her a scan as standard at every single midwife appointment.
Once again science gets ignored with people making up their own pregnancy facts... I wish there was more science in pregnancy related info!!

In some countries it is standard practice to have one a month (in my opinion this is a money making practice - but this is another thread).
I had 5 or 6 with each of my DD. No problems to report (that I know of).

I had them fortnightly from 20 weeks (+ the 12 week one) as sonographer at 20 weeks had picked up what he thought was growth retardation and they just wouldn't drop, each sonographer confirming the previous. I had consultant-led care for the whole pregnancy (luckily a good consultant) In the end I had a month off in the middle (about 7 months) because we went away, and booked myself (via the GP) into the Harris Birthright centre in London for an in-depth scan because they weren't going to "allow" me a home birth. The King's sonographer btw couldn't work out what the fuss was and DD2 was born not at the 4-5 lb consultant predicted but at 7lbs9oz.

So all in all, DD2 was scanned 10 times. She's 16 now, extremely bright, and seems fine in all respects.