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Ultrasound
Ultrasound is a commonly used procedure that uses sound waves to produce an image. These sound waves pass through the woman’s abdomen and reflect off the maternal and fetal structures to form a picture on a monitor. Although ultrasound is a reliable and safe way to know about the growth and development of your baby and the well-being of your pregnancy, it may not always be able to provide complete information due to a number of factors. In other words, it is possible that an existing abnormality may not be detected by ultrasound.
Ultrasound is available only when requested by your doctor or midwife.
Ultrasound during pregnancy may be used for the following:
- Early in pregnancy to confirm a heart beat, identify twins or triplets, or help predict the due date
- Nuchal translucency (NT) ultrasound for prenatal genetic screening
- Detailed ultrasound after eighteen weeks, to see if the baby is growing and developing as it should, to help make a diagnosis when a fetal abnormality is found, and for prenatal genetic screening
- To locate the fetus and placenta during amniocentesis, which increases the safety of that procedure
- Along with fetal heart monitoring, when a pregnancy has gone beyond the due date, to check on the well-being of the fetus and to help with decisions about induction of labour
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