Since we haven’t been able to rest easy since the brief anatomy ultrasound I had last week, I decided to email my Dr about my concerns.
I want to be able to feel confident in this practice and know that they won’t rush through my visits and give me one-size-fits-all care. I felt comfortable forgoing the first trimester testing because I “knew” that the anatomy scan would alert us if there were any major anatomical problems. But since it was the most incomplete experience I can imagine, I don’t feel at all comfortable.
If, God forbid, this baby should have any major health problems, I’d want to be prepared so I could have the best plan of care lined up for the pregnancy and birth.
I still have my concerns about his heart because it is still skipping beats. A fact that my Dr isn’t aware of because they didn’t so much as listen to him on the ultrasound or doppler. And when I told the dr I saw at my last appointment about my concerns for his heartbeat, she said if it looked like a normal beat on the ultrasound, she wasn’t worried. …… But in order to know that fact, they’d have to actually look and listen, amiright?!
So, below is the email I sent. We’ll see if she says anything back. I wanted to email instead of talking at my next appointment because I was afraid I wouldn’t get it all out. And I don’t want to be interrupted, so this works better.
Dear Dr name removed,
I debated on contacting you about this, but my husband and I have talked it over and decided that we are not entirely comfortable with the anatomy ultrasound we had on June 21st.
I don’t want to seem in any way to be doubting the practice or the skill of the sonographer. (She was very nice and I really enjoyed chatting with her during the ultrasound.) My only issue is that the ultrasound itself seemed very brief and incomplete.
I asked some of my low-risk friends and family members what their anatomy ultrasound was like since I didn’t know if I just have higher expectations because of being managed as high-risk with my previous pregnancies. But the girls I asked confirmed that their anatomy ultrasounds were more detailed like I am used to.
For example, I didn’t see any detailed measurements of the heart and other organs aside from baby’s brain. The heart was visulized, yes, but each part was not measured. The heartbeat was not listened to nor was the heartrate measured. The entire ultrasound was around 10 minutes, maybe less, whereas my anatomy ultrasounds in my previous pregnancies took close to an hour to assess each organ and limb and that is also what my friends and family members experienced.
Name removed and I feel that we would be much more comfortable with a more detailed ultrasound at some point in the pregnancy since we don’t really feel reassured about baby’s health from this anatomy ultrasound.
I really hope I am not coming across as high needs! Like I said, I feel bad to even bring it up. I just know my husband and I will rest much easier if we have a bit more information on baby’s health.
Thank you so much for your time and your patience. 🙂
~ name removed
Never be ashamed about being concerned about your babies! I hope they listen and give you another ultrasound to comfort your mind. I was never high-risk, but I was always worried… always. I would have been just fine with an ultrasound every week! 😀
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Thank you. I actually did have weekly ultrasounds from 32 weeks till birth with my last 2 babies and I STILL worried all the time. I have a hard time deciding whether im overreacting and overanalyzing or if I actually have a reason for my concerns. But i do believe this is legitimately something that needs addressed asap.
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Without a doubt! Especially if the baby’s heartbeat was skipping a beat at any point. That should be verified over and over that it’s not doing that anymore.
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Right! And I need the dr to hear me on that concern and look into it for my peace of mind. Not dismiss my worries as being invalid.
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Ten minutes?! I’ve never had a 20 week ultrasound that was under 45-50 mins (and that’s with baby cooperating). The ultrasound tech told me last time that they have a checklist of almost 90 items that they have to visualize/measure.
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Yeah, that definitely didn’t happen here. She showed me his leg (just one), his arm (again, only one) belly circumference, head circumference, brain, a quick glance at the heart, spine and kidneys but no measurements. And a potty shot to verify gender. The end.
I actually kind of wonder if she got confused and thought i was there for the dating scan. Since it was my first official ultrasound with that practice…. who knows.
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Definitely sounds like a mix-up to me. The main reason for these ultrasounds is to look at every single organ and bone and to make sure that everything is there and also growing properly! Hope you get a ‘real’ ultrasound soon!
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Thank you. Me too. I’ll update if I hear back from the Dr.
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I think you put it very nicely. It’s so worrisome thinking you may upset your doctor but you definitely have a reason to be concerned about this, even though my mom and MIL are both fond of saying “back in the day, you just had to trust that everything was going to be fine”. Not exactly helpful but a good point. I for one am grateful for the technology of ultrasounds. 🙂
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I’ve been telling myself the same … “back in the day”. My mom had 10 kids with 0 ultrasounds. Then again, DH’ s Grandma birthed a baby who was born with her heart outside her body. Sadly, she only lived a few hours. The bottom line is, my insurance paid for an anatomy ultrasound and that is what should be performed. My Dr’s job is to keep me and my baby healthy. It’s what she makes the big money for. I’m finally learning to advocate for myself and my family. I tend to keep my mouth shut so as to not rock the boat. But I’m afraid to do that here because i need to know that they are going to be as alert as my previous Drs were if something were to happen, like baby in distress etc. But I’d totally be lying if I said I wasn’t scared silly that my Dr is going to be offended and get an attitude with me. We shall see I suppose…..
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You’re so much like me! I think you have your head on straight though, and that’s a good point about insurance paying for an anatomy scan. Trusting your doctors is huge too.
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Thank you. 🙂
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I hope you either get a receptive and helpful reply or can change practices to one that will hear and address your concerns. If your gut says speak up I encourage you to keep doing just that. I’ve never heard of or had an anatomy screen that lasted less than 45 minutes. I had 4 with my last successful pregnancy and 2 with the prior one (because my kids are special and each showed cause for concern – cue stress). So mine were at least an hour but I know from the 3 ultrasound clinics where I’ve had them done that anatomy scans are always booked for 1 hour in case something arises because they take 35-45 to complete even if uncomplicated.
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Thank you for your comment. I just posted her reply. I’m really happy with what she had to say. 🙂
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