Hellobee Boards

@kodybear: Yea! Thats exciting. I know I would love one of those handheld ultrasound machines!

I got my A/S scheduled too for March 26

@kodybear: Glad it went well in the end! There is an ultrasound wand that hooks up to smart phones, but sadly its only for sale to medical professionals

@Mrs.Someone: my bil is a dr, i should call in a favor but they really should sell it to everyone, i'm sure they'd make a lot of money off of them!

@Mrs.Someone: @T.H.O.U.: So happy to hear all the good news!

I had a busy day of appointments - i had my 12 week appt at the OB and the NT scan and everything was great! Baby looks great and i got to see him/her for a long time. It's crazy how human the baby looks now!! I got some nice 3D pics also, which was unexpected. I asked the tech if she could tell the sex but she said it was really hard at this point, but if she had to make an educated guess, she said she would probably lean towards girl. I had to make my AS appointment when i made the NT appt but I am blanking on the date - it's the first week of April!

@Mrs.Someone: @kodybear: I personally try to limit my ultrasound exposure to the briefest period necessary to determine what the doctor needs to know, after doing a bunch of reading about it. There is no evidence out there that it definitely does harm the fetus, but there is a lot of speculation that it might, if overused or used improperly. Ultrasounds are also used to break up things like kidney stones or other obstructions in the body, and the sound waves can also raise the temperature of their target. In horses I know ultrasounds are used to promote healing of soft tissue injuries by heating the tissue and stimulating blood flow to the area and have been shown to have an effect on the soft tissues when used for as little as 5-10 minutes (I have a horse and have spent far too much time in the "sport horse" world and so am very familiar with this as a treatment modality for lameness/injury--I hear it's used therapeutically in human athletes as well).

When ultrasounds were first introduced (like the one used on me when my mom was pregnant in the late 70s--with a resulting SUPER grainy lo-fi image in my baby book) the intensity output was 46 mW/cm2, and then by the early 90's was up to 94 mW/cm2, and that time period is when almost all of the safety studies that folks rely on today were performed. Then, in 1992, to allow for higher quality images, the FDA apparently increased the allowable intensity output almost eight-fold to a possible 720 mW/cm2. According to one paper I read, "There has been little or no subsequent research with the modern obstetrical ultrasound machines to systematically assess potential risks to the fetus using either relevant animal models of obstetrical exposure or human epidemiology studies" (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2390856/). So while it's probably still fine, we aren't 100% sure of that. I'm not trying to be alarmist, just to help folks make informed decisions about their care. Medical history of the 20th century is full of examples of things that were done to patients for decades as standard procedure (xrays of pregnant women, for example) and only later found to be less than ideal, or even detrimental. So I have a healthy skepticism and try to be reasonable about my approach to choosing any diagnostic or treatment option.

We know for a fact that increased brain temperature of a fetus is potentially dangerous, but what we are not 100% sure about is whether an ultrasound has the capability to truly create that scenario in a fetus (or how long an exposure is necessary to raise the brain temperature). It does concern me that the same tool that breaks up hard pieces of stuff in the body is being aimed at my baby, so I do try to limit them and have encouraged my ultrasound tech to be as brief as possible to get the information necessary during the ultrasounds I have had so far. That said, I feel like a few relatively brief exposures to ultrasound a few times during my pregnancy is a risk I'm very comfortable with, but I wouldn't want to be among the first wave of folks to get a home ultrasound machine and use it every few days. Nor would I be pumped about an ultrasound at my doctor's office that lasted 30 minutes and had the wand pointing at my baby's head for sustained (30-seconds-plus) periods of time without moving the wand. I'd be too afraid that scientists/epidemiologists would figure out in 20 or 30 years that some minor (or heaven forbid, major) cognitive deficits are caused by repeated and extended exposure to ultrasound waves during the time of most rapid fetal brain development, for example (from 6-18 weeks gestation).

Again, I am fine with a few ultrasounds of limited duration done by a licensed medical professional with an inspected device for a medical reason during my pregnancy, but I'd be wary of being among the first wave to do this at home on a regular basis or more often than necessary. But everyone's risk tolerance is different, and for many, I can see how the reassurance of "seeing" baby on a regular basis would be worth the probably small risks involved with using these devices, especially if it's not super often and not for very long each time.

@stratosphere: I understand your point of view, but please refrain from trying to scare us like this. Any ultrasound I have had or will have will be at the recommendation of my doctor, whose opinion I trust.

@Mrs.Someone: So sorry - did not mean to scare anyone!! I am sure based on my reading that ultrasounds done in a doctor's office are totally fine.

@Mrs.Someone: You are right, this board is not the best forum for this conversation. I am just such a nerd I couldn't help but share what I had learned on this subject over a few months of reading. Would it be better if I delete that post? I apologize!

So as a last response to the US ordeal, the US emits sound waves at lengths approved by the FDA. This is different then US wavelengths used to treat renal stones etc.

ACOG has approved an unlimited amount of US and I would not be doing them if I thought it caused problems.

I go by ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) when it comes to OB. As physicians, these are the same guidelines we follow and same standard of care we apply to OB. They are the most trusted source of up to date information.

So ladies, US away! and enjoy seeing your little baby! It is an extra glimpse and more baby album photo opportunities Congratulations to everyone!

You guys I'm still throwing up at least once a day. I'll maybe have a good day here and there, but it sucks soooo bad! I'm not nauseous all day like I was before, but now I'm wondering if some of it is in my head? Or like my body is so used to throwing up, it does it too easily now? Just a little gag and I'm running to the toilet. ugh.

@kodybear: Yay for getting to see baby!

@Mrs.Someone: @T.H.O.U.: @chibee: glad your NT scans went well! I'm kind of bummed now I'm not getting one! I want to see the baby!

@stratosphere: I just wanted to say not to feel bad about your comments. I don't think that doing research and being informed is ever a bad thing and you weren't telling anybody else what to do/believe or being pushy at all.

@mrskc: my nausea is pretty much gone and the only time I have thrown up is while/after brushing my teeth, which still happens occasionally. I've mostly switched to indigestion and heartburn now.

@mrskc: ugh that's awful i'm so sorry! I hate throwing up! I've been lucky enough to not vomit every day but my morning sickness is still alive and present and it's still making me miserable, i'm there with you! Eating has been a battle for survival!

Has anyone lost a lot of weight during the first trimester? I just hit 12 weeks and yesterday i found out i lost 5lbs since my 8 week appointment. I'm a little worried - i'm not a person that loses 5lbs easily (I have to drastically change my diet and work out a LOT), and I am not tall (5'3") so that's a good chunk of weight for me. My dr didn't seem too concerned but I feel like i'm depriving my baby! It's just that lately literally NOTHING is appetizing - seriously not one single thing in life. And when I do try to force myself to eat whatever, I can only really have a couple bites until it starts to seriously gross me out, and afterwards I feel like crap and it feels like it's going undigested. Please tell me this goes away soon, I'm already 12 weeks!

@chibee: with my first I think I lost like 8 pounds in the first tri and I wasn't even sick. I was watching what I ate and cut out soda so I think that really impacted it. I still ended up gaining fine in the end.

@pui: Woohoo, thats so exciting. I'm majorly jealous!

@pui: So cool! That will be an awesome babymoon!

We are going to start planning ours soon. I always thought we'd go back to our honeymoon spot--French Polynesia. Particularly this very remote and amazing little castaway island called Kia Ora Sauvage, where children are not allowed (so this is our last chance for many years!). We've always been very intrepid travelers, so that seemed like a nice tame, safe place to go. But now that I'm actually pregnant I don't think I am comfortable being that far away from "real" medical care, as I doubt even the main island of Tahiti has state-of-the-art hospitals (unlike Mexico, which I know first-hand has amazing medical care--my hubby was injured surfing there on a trip 8 years ago and we were blown away by the awesome doctors/hospital staff we encountered).

So now we're thinking Hawaii, as my husband has never been and it's not too long a flight for us from Northern CA.

@T.H.O.U.: @chibee: so happy for both of your good appts!!! y'all starting to feel more relaxed?

@stratosphere: Ahhh so exciting!!!!

@locavore_mama: oh my goodness! So scary and that totally sucks you have pneumonia.