Should I have caffeine before my ultrasound?

It's a reasonable assumption that a little caffeine will wake your baby up enough to be nice and active during your ultrasound, but the use of any stimulant prior to your session should be avoided. While we all get a mild sense of euphoria from artificial sweeteners and caffeine, they both produce a "crash" effect shortly after consumption. That crash could occur anywhere from a half hour to an hour later in adults. For your baby, stimulant crashes occur much quicker - within minutes in most cases. The net effect of that well meaning soda is that your baby will be wide awake in the car on the ride over and asleep during your ultrasound. See the activity time to sleep time table on our website for more information. The use of stimulants in an attempt to wake your baby will usually result in a rescheduled session. Remember, a little natural sugar (a small portion of your favorite fruit) twenty minutes before your ultrasound session works best.

How long are the sessions?

"How long is the ultrasound?" I get that question a lot. The textbook answer is that while ultrasound is safe and effective for diagnostic medical imaging, it is a form of energy...therefore the lower the exposure the better. If you follow our basic guidance - meaning you have eaten a lite snack twenty minutes prior to your session and you are happy and relaxed, our experienced sonographer can quickly locate your baby and obtain a variety of great pictures and videos in a matter of minutes. Every session is guaranteed. The entire session is recorded on DVD.  It's difficult to put an exact time on a session because some sessions require more technique and skill level than others. 3D sessions are guaranteed to include an office visit and a ten minute DVD, 20 images on a CD-Rom, two color pictures and two black and white prints. This is also the length of time that most babies are awake or active.  Inexperienced operators can take as long as a half an hour just to locate your baby's desired features. Some even advertise guaranteed 30 minute sessions, which we believe sends the wrong message. Your session should be just long enough to capture images of your baby. A professional, registered sonographer will allow you more time to actually enjoy your baby simply by spending far less time locating it.  Most folks won't be happy with a guaranteed thirty minute session if they end up with a DVD recording of the placenta and a couple dozen pictures of the lower extremities. Remember, its about quality, not quantity!!!

Holly

How many guest can I invite?

I always tell my clients that I don't mind a crowd if they don't, but its also very important to remember the three key tenants of a successful elective ultrasound: Mom must be "happy, fed, and relaxed". Sounds simple enough, but it may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of reschedules are attributed to mom not following that simple guidance. If you are running late, you will inevitably feel some degree of anxiety or stress. When you are stressed, you're baby is stressed. You transfer that anxiety directly to your fetus. Anxious or stressed  babies tend to curl into their safe and familiar fetal position, making it impossible to capture the facial features every client expects. The same scenario holds true when inviting extended family and guests. Due to the positioning of your baby, many ultrasounds require creative yoga positioning to get the best images. Some of this positioning may be embarrassingly uncomfortable in front of your in laws. Once again, if you're embarrassed, you will transfer those emotions to your baby and your session simply won't work. Your entire session is captured on video, so  I often recommend that clients use the DVD to share their special moment with family and friends as opposed to having a large crowd accompany them during the ultrasound itself. Again, I don't mind if you don't mind, but it has been my experience that a family reunion assembled to view your ultrasound often causes unnecessary anxiety and usually results in less than desirable outcomes.

Holly

Ask the expert...

There are many 'old wives tales' and myths floating around the internet about elective 3D ultrasounds. The web is full of bad advice and misinformation on the subject. I'm Holly Poe, and I'm a registered diagnostic imaging professional with twenty years experience in obstetrical and vascular ultrasound. I discovered very early in my career that the task of obtaining clinical indications by ultrasound was a difficult one at best. Ultrasound requires a thorough understanding of the human anatomy, a mastery of the physics of sound, and lots and lots of supervised practice. Ultrasound is widely considered to be the most operator dependent medical imaging modality used in clinical practice today, and while the professionals may make it look easy, its anything but. I've seen over fifty thousand babies in my career and I love it as much today as I did when I first started. Its a feeling that never goes away; that first glimpse of a beautiful baby. I founded Small Wonders Imaging because I love what I do. On this blog I will do my best to dispel the many ultrasound myths and correct the misinformation that has become so prevalent on the subject. If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Whats the best gestational time? Should I have caffeine? Can I bring family and friends? How long is the session, can I get more time?

We'll cover all of these and more. Stick around. The answers might surprise you...

Holly