How do they monitor stuff??????

staticdoor71

Hey pplz,

I had my first antenatel class on Tuesday, well, it was called "early pregnancy class"... Im 15W 5D.

I had my first scan on Sept 27, So i was like 13 weeks then, and we were told that we dont get any more scans till i forget when??

How the hell do they monitor that 1-your still pregnant, 2-your baby is moving, 3- its growing like it should be?? Surely a scan is the only way to truely check on it?

And to be honest I wanted some more pictures of junior as it was growing to add to my scrap book of stuff thats going on while its in my womb

Hannibal Smith

You get one scan at 12 weeks and then another at around 20 weeks (though some hospitals now seem to be skipping the 12 week one going by posts on here) You might get a 34 week scan depending on whether you have any complications.

In the meantime when you go to your antenatal visits they check the size of your uterus by feeling your tummy and they have a little hand held heartbeat monitor thing to check for a heartbeat at every visit. Some consultants now seem to have small monitors in the room so sometimes you might get some sneaky peaks of your baby if that's the case.

As baby gets bigger, you'll feel the movements yourself.

foxinsocks

I think the fact is that most pregnancies work as designed. Baby grows and develops just as it should, so they play the averages, only giving scans when they deem absolutely necessary. Hannibal is right though, it shouldn't be long now before you actually feel the baby moving yourself, so you'll know full well you're still pregnant

They do various other checks at each appointment to test for the more common complications, they test your urine for protein, white cells, and a few other things. As the baby grows they'll give your belly a rub to make sure it feels the way it should. They'll check your BP, and ask questions about how you feel. They'll use the doppler machine thingy to listen to the baby's heartbeat.

You can always pay and get scans done privately if you really want to, there's nothing stopping that! I think if I went public I would probably have done at least one, if not more, just because the scans are so awesome.

Personally, I've gotten a scan every time because I have a 'high risk' pregnancy, and I've also gone private. I think I've had 10 or 12 scans now, but like i said, they play the statistics, so if you aren't high risk, they assume everything is as it should be unless something obvious happens to contradict that (like pain/bleeding etc).

vibe666

my wife got really worried at around 8 weeks as she had the feeling she was pregnant from about 6 weeks but around 8 weeks she felt 'different' and started panicing that there was something wrong, so we went for a private early scan at femplus in blanchardstown and they confirmed everything was okay. it was about €120 for the scan, but it was worth it to put my wife at ease and that did her until the first official antenatal scan.

apart from that we did the 2D/3D scan at 26 weeks in the babyscan clinic in swords which was totally awesome. you can really see the features of the baby and when he was born, you could definitely see the resemblance from the 3D scans, so what you see at 26 weeks is pretty much what you'll get on the big day.

implausible

While it is amazing and all-consuming when you are pregnant for the first time, it's worth remembering that it is the most natural thing in the world and has been going on since time immemorial. Scanning is a relatively new technology that helps to figure out what's going on, but most of the time it's really down to relying on the mother's sense of what's going on and the doctor's basic skills.

And to answer your questions - the vast majority of the time you will feel if you are still pregnant, you will feel if the baby is moving or not and you or the doctor will know if s/he is not developing at the correct rate.

If you're genuinely worried or want more pictures, there are lots of places that offer private scans.

qwertytlk

Hi congrats on the pregnancy. Im not going to repeat the info already given here as but just wanted to say that if you do decide to get a private scan done wait untill your around 5+ months as the pics are much better. The 3d scans are amazing. Its an actual picture of your baby, and a video. I could see my sons mouth opening and closing and him making kissey lips! Absloutley brilliant. Expensive (i paid around 150 or 170) but well worth it. Best of luck with everything:)