Baby Dimensions

I have been asked this question more times than you can imagine. My answer comes from 22 years of my clients' trial and error. I always question my clients when I come across a baby who is either very active or hard to wake up. For the babies who were difficult to wake up, the consensus, as crazy as it sounds, has been that the mom had eaten some form of fried food 30-45 minutes before the ultrasound. Such as fried chicken fingers or French fries etc.;. This is entirely from me questioning my clients, not a scientific survey, but when talking to my clients and scheduling appointments, I encourage them to hold off from eating any fried foods for an hour before their ultrasound appointment. It seems to be working. Also, to get the baby awake and active, I have learned,again,from my clients and how active their baby is as I am watching them, orange juice is the ultimate baby activator.(Please make sure and ask your OB doctor before putting any of this in to practice.) I also have noticed that if you schedule your...

Ultimately, when you come in for your elective ultrasound, depends on what you want to have done. In other words, if you want to find out the gender of your baby, most facilities will do gender packages as early as 15-16 weeks gestation. Any earlier than 15 weeks and the baby is so small that swollen girl parts can look very similar to baby boy parts. If you are wanting to know the best time to see clear details of the baby's face and what the baby will look like after they are born, then you should come in anytime after 28-29 weeks. At that point they will be filled in with chubby cheeks and you can see them do a lot of neat things. After 27 weeks, you can possibly see them open their eyes and they can show expressions too! I've seen babies scrunch their little eyebrows together in a mad face and sometimes they smile or look like they are laughing!

            So, really, it's what you are wanting to get pictures of that let's you know what time during your pregnancy to come in. Each elective ultrasound...

 

 

 

            I have a lot of clients come to see me every week. Believe it or not, a lot of them don't ask me about ultrasounds, they ask me about where to get good deals on baby clothes, toys, strollers etcetera. I guess they know I try to keep my ear to the ground in figuring out how my clients can get the best deals. Talking to my clients, I have found out there are two ways that are really good. First, you can look around in your area for a consignment store. Ask your friends about who they use and find out about their reputation. I know for a fact that different consignment stores operate differently. Depending on the management, some consignment stores accept clothes and items that are a little more used than other consignment stores. In other words, consignment stores vary in their quality of merchandise. Next, see if the consignment store you have chosen have sale days. Some consignment stores have sale days where the clothes that have been in the store the longest, gets discounted....

It's estimated that about 75% of women will experience an excessive accumulation of fluid around the legs and ankles at some point during pregnancy. Swelling, or edema, is a very common discomfort of pregnancy. A couple of blogs that I have read say that while it doesn't seem right to get rid of swelling by taking in lots of fluids, that is one of the things you can do to try to combat edema. By taking in a lot of water, you are, in essence, flushing out wastes in your system that may be causing the swelling in the first place. Pregnant women need at least 8 eight ounce glasses of water a day.

            Even though most of us have heard that excessive sodium intake causes swelling, some blogs have said that not enough salt in your diet can do the same thing. Check with your OB doctor about how much sodium or salt you should consume daily.

            I have also heard about using hydrotherapy in pregnancy to help circulation which in turn should help with swelling. I came across an article in wikiparenting...

There could be many reasons why your doctor waits until later to do your 20 week or anatomy scan. Ultimately, it has been my experience that most insurance companies only pay for one ultrasound scan during your pregnancy unless there are problems. Your doctor wants that one ultrasound scan to be able to show them detailed anatomy inside the baby’s body. Depending on the ultrasound machine they use, most anatomy isn’t done forming and visible to ultrasound until after 20-21 weeks. Your doctor wants to make sure that the sonographer for their practice will be able to see all the anatomy clearly so you won’t have to come back for another ultrasound. Having to come back would cost you an out of pocket expense since the insurance company will not pay for another one for any reason.                                                                          �

            Your doctor is mainly focused on the health and well-being of your baby. Although to you, the gender is an important aspect of planning your baby’s...

On 3D/4D ultrasound, the nature of the technology does one thing: less dense areas, under the skin, is assigned a darker color. More dense areas are shown as lighter color. When you are 15-20 weeks pregnant and are looking at your baby in 3D/4D and the technologist focuses on the face, you might see a ‘widow’s peak’ or dark point above the middle of the forehead. This dark ‘mohawk’ appearance is not hair.  Your baby won’t develop hair until 25-26 weeks. The ultrasound is sensing that the bone plates under the skin are not yet fused. The machine says, ‘let’s give the area where the soft spot is forming, a dark appearance.’ The areas that are denser, such as bone, appear white. So, as you are watching your little one on 3D, remember, at 15-20 weeks, there are major changes going on. Be sure to ask the sonographer doing your session, about any concerns you may have before you leave. Hopefully, they will take the time to explain and point out, on your pictures, what is really going on with the technology.

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    Many times I get questions about the still pictures I get with 3D ultrasound. The question that I get most often is that their baby looks like they are missing an arm or leg. I patiently explain to them that just like when you take a picture with an ordinary camera, sometimes you have to get close to the part of interest. Think about getting a close up of a loved one’s face with a digital camera. If the loved one has their arms spread wide and you step up close to them to take a picture of their face, will you get their face and hands in the picture all at once? Not without a panoramic lens and, in ultrasound, that ‘lens’ hasn’t been developed yet. So, what you get is the face, which is your point of focus, but only parts of the arms are seen since the hands are out of the focus of the picture.                          The same is true with the feet. If someone is lying on their back and you have a standard camera pointed at them from the side, and then you move close to get a detailed picture of the face...

Another question I get from my clients is, “Why am I not feeling my baby yet?” Inevitably, when I get this question, my client is between 16 and 19 weeks. As always, I encourage you to consult with your health-care provider with any questions you may have, however, it has been my experience that the clients that are 16-17 weeks are usually experiencing their first pregnancy and don’t know what to expect. To these clients I say that every pregnancy is different and when a friend says they felt their baby move at 15 weeks, you can usually ask two or three others and about half the time, these other friends will say they felt their baby move at 17 weeks. Everybody is different and every pregnancy that you have will be different.

Having said that, there are some that come in and they are 18 weeks along and still haven’t felt their baby move. To answer these clients, I have to get you up to speed on the placenta. The placenta is the tissue that attaches to the inside of the womb and connects momma to baby via...

Depending on where you live, there may be several choices of elective ultrasound facilities for you to choose from and reading their websites can be confusing and frustrating. The first thing you want to find out is whether or not the person performing the ultrasound isregistered or certified. I am a registered sonographer. This means that I am registered to do diagnostic medical sonography. I took the required classes to sit for my RDMS (Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers), and passed the two hundred question test to be able to perform ultrasounds. Much like a Registered Nurse does. This is a very difficult process and you really have to know what you are doing to pass this test. I am not sure what a “certified” sonographer is,except to say the ARDMS does not recognize them to perform diagnostic ultrasounds. If you see a facility that you are interested in that is advertising a “certified” sonographer, don't be afraid to call them up and ask exactly what kind of qualifications the person performing the...

Ultimately, you can’t guarantee great pictures at your session due to the nature of the situation. The baby may be breech with the legs in front of the face or your baby may be head down but with the face turned toward momma’s back. However, there are a couple of things you can do to give the session a better chance at producing some great pictures and video. The number one thing to make sure of is to drink an extra bottle of water a day the week before your 3D/4D session. Drinking extra water builds up the amniotic fluid up around your baby giving them more room to move around and to not be smooshed up against the wall of the uterus. This gives your sonographer better odds of getting clear, beautiful pictures and video. There is an added benefit to your baby when you drink extra water. The baby uses the amniotic fluid to take into the lungs and practice their breathing, so as you drink extra water you can feel good knowing you are helping your baby’s lungs grow!

Another thing you can do is to eat or drink...