Poll: Elective Ultrasound

[Alwaysabridesmaidf]

I am pretty impatient and sort to want to have one done. H is indifferent. Probably because there is money involved. So did you do it? Was it worth it? Was it accurate?

[hokiegirl82]

We had one done at 16w3d (they wouldn't do it sooner than 16 weeks for gender) and I'm glad we did it. It was only 4 weeks early, but I'm impatient and wanted to start planning, so I was happy to pay for the extra U/S. It was worth it and was accurate - still have a boy in there!

[mrspost08]

We just did it this past weekend. Our regular u/s is set for April 21. The tech from Saturday was 200% sure it was a boy. I guess we will find out on the 21st if she is wrong. lol
To me it was worth it. It was such an exciting day. I am still so excited! We have a DVD of the ultrasound. We watched it last night before bed. I plan to watch it today when I get home from work.

[hbear]

Call me crazy, but I don't think it's worth the risks.

I know most studies indicate there is no harm to baby to have ultrasonography done, but if I remember correctly, most conclude that it is not fully known/understood.

I choose not to have any more ultrasounds than medically necessary, just in case.

[theatre4life]

I didn't. Then again, I don't want to find out at our 20 week appointment either, so take that with a grain of salt.

[gerberdaisy]

I wanted to, but FI wasn't even sure he wanted to find out the sex, let alone do the elective. So we ended up waiting. Even though we didn't have a reason to worry, there was a fear of something being majorly wrong and we didn't want to find out at the elective place (I know they won't tell you, but my brain goes all over the place).

So, we found out last Friday during our a/s and it was great, the wait wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

[picksthemusic]

Meh, you'll find out one way or another. We waited until the A/S, and were happy with that.

[sunshine608]

No. Fisrt I was the under the care of a MFM so we found out a little earlier at 18 weeks which was right before Christmas. So it worked out. Had things been a little differently we might have paid for an elective US.

WE ended up saving for a 3D US later in the pregnancy ( this past weekend actually). We planned to do it around 28 weeks but H's work schedule got in the way.

[melsamoony]

I have had to have quite a few ultrasounds done due to some minor complications, of course none of them were late enough that we could determine sex from the u/s. I wanted to do an elective but H was against it. We had already set-up a gender reveal get together with both our parents for the day of our anatomy scan so he didn't want to change things.

In the end, even though it hasn't happened yet, I am glad I waited.

[shekels1222]

No. Won't do it with this one either. 4 weeks is not going to make a big difference either way. We'll find out when we find out. IMHO and I'm going to be in the minority here, having an ultrasound outside of medically supervised appointments is unecesarry and over the top. I just don't get the impatience.

[kermit]

We have an elective 3D scheduled a few weeks from now. I didn't really want to do it due to expense but SO insisted. I'm sure it will be fun, my parents are coming for it. I just didn't want to spend the $140.

ETA: oops, I see now you have in there to determine the sex. We already know that, this is just for fun.

[Deleted]

I didn't. Not b/c I thought it would harm the baby or anything. B/c I am a cheap bastard. I choose Panorama instead so that for my $ I not only found out the gender early I found out of there were any chromosomal defects. Killed 2 birds with one fee

[mrssandro]

I would just wait it out. You can really tell anything for sure until 20 ish weeks.

[FastHands]

Nah. I am dying to know, but my cheapness wins out. 16 days!!

[cuccaro]

Apr 7, 2014 13:00:01 GMT -5 bricco said:

We did it at 16w1d. It was ABSOLUTELY the best choice for us. Our doctor's office u/s room is teeny tiny and can only patient, tech, and one other person... so for us, this was the only chance to share an u/s experience with anyone else. The place we went was beautiful and comfortable and we brought my mom, MIL, and FIL and it was just a really fun day. We got a really good look at him and those are still some of my favorite u/s pics that we've had.

This! It was seriously one of my most favorite days ever! We were able to have both our families there and they project the ultrasound onto a huge screen on the wall. It was just so exciting finding out with everyone and then being able to go to lunch and celebrate the rest of the day. Best $80 we ever spent, especially since all of our ultrasounds at the dr. have been super rushed so far. 

[Deleted]

I would not do it just to find the gender. I am kind of sensitive about this issue just because the main reason behind the anatomy scan is to check the health of the baby and not just determine the sex of the baby so I guess I find it weird when people are so impatient to find out the sex of the baby. In fairness, I had an ultrasound at 15 weeks with my MFM and we couldn't tell (not that I asked).

[flgirl]

I only have medically necessary ultrasounds. With my DD2 we only had an AS at 19 weeks. I am in the "studies don't know the ramifications of multiple ultrasounds" group.

[sillygoosegirl]

Lol, I'm kind of dreading the standard ultrasound(s). Something about being told, "show up with a full bladder and expect it to take up to an hour."

[ngdgtco]

We did at 16 weeks to find out the sex. It only cost $40 and was a really nice experience. My A/S isn't till 21 weeks, and now I can focus on that one being purely to check the health of the baby, rather than being impatient to find out the sex. My practice only had me scheduled for three ultrasounds total during the pregnancy (barring no complications), so I wasn't concerned about adding another one that only lasted 5 minutes.

[loira]

Nope. I think there are probably places to get them done here, but I don't know anyone who's done it. But definitely go for it if you want to. It doesn't sound outrageously expensive and I'm sure you'd have fun. My reasons for not doing it are:

a) I'm cheap and we get loads of time at the A/S scan.
b) It can only go one way or the other - it's not like they are announcing a total surprise.

That being said, it has been hard to be patient. Friday can't come soon enough!

[robinsbff]

i voted no. i mean, we're team green so we didn't find out at the anatomy scan anyway, but we did want to find out i wouldn't be paying to do it early. i'd just wait.

[jewel]

Apr 7, 2014 13:37:15 GMT -5 vigurl said:

I didn't. Not b/c I thought it would harm the baby or anything. B/c I am a cheap bastard. I choose Panorama instead so that for my $ I not only found out the gender early I found out of there were any chromosomal defects. Killed 2 birds with one fee

This is me, exactly. I'm a cheap bastard, and I opted out of any additional testing. I would have done the Harmony, but it wasn't covered by insurance because I'm low risk.

[Blue Moon]

Apr 7, 2014 13:52:20 GMT -5 @mjmksb04 said:

I would not do it just to find the gender. I am kind of sensitive about this issue just because the main reason behind the anatomy scan is to check the health of the baby and not just determine the sex of the baby so I guess I find it weird when people are so impatient to find out the sex of the baby. In fairness, I had an ultrasound at 15 weeks with my MFM and we couldn't tell (not that I asked).

I'm in this camp.  I might feel differently if I didn't have complications at the beginning of this pregnancy or if I hadn't had the traumatic ectopic experience and a chemical.  But as of right now, I'm still having some PGAL thoughts and I prefer my doctor reassuring me during the u/s.  To me, they are medical procedures. 

[starlily]

Apr 7, 2014 14:54:39 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Lol, I'm kind of dreading the standard ultrasound(s). Something about being told, "show up with a full bladder and expect it to take up to an hour."

Everytime I've had one, the tech lets you use the restroom after getting certain measurements in the first 3-5 minutes.

[starlily]

I didn't do any elective ones either time. Last time I was cheap, and this time I did the Verifi screening test during first tri.

I had 2 ultrasounds (at 16 &18 weeks) in my OB's office just prior to my a/s to check cervical length, and while he always showed me the baby, he didn't confirm the sex at those times.

[bethaboo]

No, but I am so impatient that I kind of wish I had scheduled one.

[curbsideprophet]

Apr 7, 2014 12:57:11 GMT -5 hbear said:

Call me crazy, but I don't think it's worth the risks.

I know most studies indicate there is no harm to baby to have ultrasonography done, but if I remember correctly, most conclude that it is not fully known/understood.

I choose not to have any more ultrasounds than medically necessary, just in case.

You are not crazy. This is where I am at as well. An u/s is a medical tool. The FDA discourages elective u/s. I don't think all the risks are fully known yet. I know we used to think X-rays were safe and that turned out to be wrong. Does not seem worth it to me. I was happy I did not need an early u/s this pregnancy and so far the only one I have needed was the a/s at 20 weeks.

www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/MedicalImaging/ucm115357.htm

[Deleted]

Did it both times! Once at 15w1d and once at 14w6d. Accurate both times- first was a girl and currently pregnant with a boy (was confirmed at A/S) it's about $45 in my area. I am way to impatient to wait until 20w. I also go around 28-30w for a 3d scan. I love ultrasounds!

[VillainV]

We did an elective ultrasound around 18 weeks to find out the gender. It was my birthday, and we figured it would be a neat thing to do. It wasn't expensive (maybe $150 including lots of images printed out and put on a memory stick for us). I have no regrets.

[nessness]

I am really tempted, but DH doesn't want to spend the money so we probably won't. Six weeks just seems so far away!