Medical ultrasound

Usually, women have one or more ultrasounds in the first months of pregnancy. Most women also opt for a 20-week ultrasound. Sometimes it is necessary to have an extra ultrasound at another time during the pregnancy. These ultrasounds are done on medical grounds.

MEDICAL INDICATIONS

Indications for extra ultrasound examination are for example:

  • blood loss
  • a low lying placenta
  • the need to measure the growth of the baby
  • too much or too little amniotic fluid
  • (suspicion of) an abnormal position of the baby
  • gynaecological problems with the uterus or ovaries

Your midwife can tell you more if you want to know if there is a medical reason for you to have an extra ultrasound.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

If you are having an extra ultrasound made, there are a few things you should know beforehand. Sometimes the ultrasound can give you doubts and worries if it reveals things that are not quite right. Often the ultrasound is repeated at a later time to get more clarity. Parents may experience this as exciting or stressful.

With each additional ultrasound scan in the third trimester of pregnancy we look at the baby's anatomy, but in less detail than with the 20-week ultrasound (SEO). It may be that disorders are seen which have not been discovered before. Of course, that is a shock! At this stage of the pregnancy a termination is no longer legally possible. However, you can (depending on the condition) ensure that the baby is well cared for after birth, by referring to a specialist center.

Even if everything looks normal on the ultrasound, there is no guarantee that the baby is healthy or growing properly. The imaging depends on the position of the baby, the location of the placenta and the mother's abdominal wall (a muscular or thick abdominal wall makes the ultrasound more difficult). This may make it difficult for the ultrasound technician to assess things or cause them to be missed.

Assessing the growth of the baby with an ultrasound is sometimes difficult. It sometimes happens that a baby has a higher or lower birth weight than expected by the ultrasound. Despite the advanced technique of the ultrasound machine the measurements can be a bit unreliable. Ultrasound is a safe examination method. Up to now, no adverse effects of ultrasound waves have been reported. It is impossible to give a guarantee that unknown effects will never occur.

COSTS

An extra ultrasound scan is reimbursed by the health insurance company on the basis of a medical indication. PUUR Birth Centre will submit the claim to your health insurance company.

WOULD YOU LIKE AN extra ULTRASOUND?

Would you like an extra ultrasound, but without medical indication? Then PUUR Birth Centre offers you the possibility to have a ultrasound at your own expense. These ultrasounds are without medical indication and at the request of the pregnant woman. The costs of such an ultrasound are to be paid by the pregnant woman herself.

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