3D Ultrasounds

essiexo698

I have been debating going to an elective 3D/4D ultrasound office to see my little girl & what she looks like in there, I told this to my SO and he is not into it at all. Now I feel a little guilty that I am so interested in what she looks like instead of just waiting to see after it's all over! Are any of you going to get one or have already? What were your feelings?

louloutte87

We decided the creepy orange face is a bit too weird for us. That and we don't know the sex so didn't want it to accidetally slip. It's also hugely expensive, money which I would rather spend on baby when it's here.

However the technology is amazing and if you're into that then go for it!

lola2bee

I did it with my first child and it was ok but not the best pics. I too am debating on doing it for this one because I can't wait to see her.

Megaphone2752

We did one on Valentine's Day and it was fun. Ours was $99 which was money we would have spent on a date anyway. Our baby was curled up with her legs over her head and one hand up, so it took a long time to see her face, but it was cool to see her in there!

cassidyrae21

We did ours on Valentine's Day as well, it was my gift & we got amazing pics of her. It was so much fun & my SO had a great time. We got an animal with her heartbeat & a dvd of the whole ultrasound, so in my opinion it's totally worth it.

nogitron

It happens that I've been visiting with my parents at the end of the second trimester both pregnancies so we've gone and done a 3D ultrasound both times since they miss all the rest of the pregnancy.
The wax baby look is a little weird but I like getting the sneak peek! Makes it a little more real.

morganhood22

You should totally go ! It's the most amazing thing ever. I went at 22 weeks and had my parents our daughter and my best friend with us. It was an awesome experience to share it with everyone ! The pictures you get will last a life time. It's worth every penny !!!!

mrshall1027

We had one done this past Friday, so I was almost 29 weeks.  It was so cool!  They do a look a little weird, but you can get a good idea of what they're going to look like.  Our daughter definitely has my husbands nose and I think she's going to look a lot like my youngest stepdaughter.  If you don't mind spending the money, I think it's worth it.  Our came with pictures and a DVD of the ultrasound as well.  We also got a coupon for $50 off the next ultrasound we do, which I think we may do around the 36 week mark.

BabyShirah

I'm def doin it!! They told me to wait til at least 28 wks and it'll give you a good idea of what your LO is goin to look like!!! It's $170 where I live, but you get 4D pics, a stuffed animal w ur baby's heartbeat, get to watch the US on a huge screen for about an hour, plus a cd of the entire US!! I done it at 17wks and even tho it was still 2D, it was amazing!!

tdart14

I don't believe in medically unnecessary ultrasounds.

MrsS728

Our office does the 3D/4D during the regular ultrasound. We have beautiful pictures of our little girl at 24 weeks. 

TBsquared

We did one last pregnancy. I am not doing one this time. Although it was cool its nothing spectacular and its expensive! 

paintedtulips

I got a freebie 3D shot at my 20 week anatomy ultrasound (my tech was awesome). I love it! But if I hadn't gotten it, I wouldn't go and get one. Ultrasounds should never be done after 24 weeks unless it's medically necessary. And in fact, ultrasounds in general shouldn't be done unless necessary, so I would never get an elective one. It's not good for the baby.

LadyBlood

I had a 3d ultrasound done at my 20 week appt. to better check the babies spine and palate. They also printed a couple pics for us. Not that we could see much cuz he kept his hand by his face. But I loved getting a better idea of how my baby looks.

khaleesi123

My mother wants it so she is paying for it. I wasn't that interested at first because I already did one at 16 weeks and got the dvd and everything but now I'm really excited because I miss seeing that little cutie and it's such a good experience. They told us the best time to do it is at 30 weeks so that's when we are going its $180 here but because we did one already they did a package deal for $300 all up. Plus we get 2 bags of random goodies each time we go in but I REALLY WANT THIS STUFF TOY WITH THE HEARTBEAT EVERYONES TALKING ABOUT it sounds awesome!!

rosannewild

I've gotten freebies at my ultra sounds. I'm high risk and have an IVF pregnancy and a strange issue with the umbilical cord attachment, so they do some extra checks. My next US is next week ( 28 ) to do a growth check. DH was at the week 20 US and really got emotional. He said seeing her 3/4D really hit him that this little being is ours. He loves all of the photos we get from these Appts. The most recent seems like she's smiling!

shelles423

My DH said we could either spend money on that or newborn photography. I definitely decided on the newborn photos. Although i really would love to see our little girl. The last time i got to see her was at 17 weeks so it's been too long !

anydots55

DH and I were going back and forth for a while over whether or not to do it but we finally decided to. I'm scheduled to go in at 29.5 weeks and really excited! It's a 10-15 minutes ultrasound and we get a few prints and a CD.

tynisd5

I just scheduled mine for next week, I'll be 29 weeks. I can't wait to see my little one. We are spending less than $60 on it. Worth it!

scdsutton

There's no evidence that states that elective ultrasounds are bad for baby or ultrasounds in general. Making a statement like that only scares moms who have had them done. I've done the 3D for both my first and this pregnancy. Its cute to see how big their cheeks are or how little their noses look. Do what you feel comfortable with.

Benitess21

We went at 18 weeks to determine the baby's gender since we were so impatient.. we we're willing to pay for the 4D, but our tech said she would show us but it wasn't worth it with LO being so small, therefore didn't charge us for it. During our 20 week scan, our ultrasound tech at our Dr's did surprise us with the 3D/4D scan and we loved it! Yes, it looked a little weird but those are best done 28+ weeks as you can get a better look of LO. When asking my Dr. about her personal opinion on U/S she assured me that they don't harm baby whatsoever being done via sound waves, so don't freak out. My husband misses seeing our little viking so I know we'll be setting our appointment soon. 

All in all, it's completely up to you and your DH. 

FTArmyM

scdsutton said:

There's no evidence that states that elective ultrasounds are bad for baby or ultrasounds in general. Making a statement like that only scares moms who have had them done. I've done the 3D for both my first and this pregnancy. Its cute to see how big their cheeks are or how little their noses look. Do what you feel comfortable with.

Agreed...the only reason the APA doesnt like them is because some people dont get prenatal care and get these U/S.

stark01938209

mhayes120 said:

I got a freebie 3D shot at my 20 week anatomy ultrasound (my tech was awesome). I love it! But if I hadn't gotten it, I wouldn't go and get one. Ultrasounds should never be done after 24 weeks unless it's medically necessary. And in fact, ultrasounds in general shouldn't be done unless necessary, so I would never get an elective one. It's not good for the baby.

Please site sources if stating things as fact rather than opinion. Opinion pieces aren't sources either. Empirical research preferred.

kat0217

I want to start by saying, this comes from a gentle place of concern and wanting to share information. No judgment or shaming here whatsoever. I hope you read it in that way.

The FDA now warns against medically unnecessary ultrasound and doppler use. This is the same FDA that still allows yoga mat material and insanely dangerous chemicals in our food, so if they go out of their way to warn about it, there's a good reason.

As of right now, it's true that there isn't "evidence" that its harmful to babies. That's because it's unethical to do research studies on pregnant women (not to mention, most wouldn't willingly sign up to have things done that could hurt their babies). However, there IS evidence that the use of ultrasound and doppler heats up tissue and causes it to change (doppler actually carries a higher risk because the waves are continuous, whereas with ultrasound, they're intermittent). The long term effects of that are unknown (again, because it's not something that can be studied directly). Do you want to be in the first group of women to find out what the long term effects of heating your baby's tissue end up being? I don't.

Doctors should be trusted, to an extent. However, there are drugs that caused babies to be born with missing limbs that doctors once declared safe. Remember that when taking a doctor's advice. They aren't gods and they can't know everything. If you have a good doctor, they should be the first to admit that.

There are people who hypothesize what effects they believe this exposure has on babies. I won't go into them in detail, but I do encourage you to do the research on your own. And for those who say, "I had multiple ultrasounds and my baby came out fine," the suspected effects of ultrasound are not immediately obvious (like the previously mentioned missing limbs). They are more likely to be behavioral and developmental issues that show up years later.

Also, when people share this type of information, it isn't to "scare new moms" as some said. It's to share information. Unfortunately, sometimes the information that needs to be shared is scary. There's no way around that, but it doesn't mean anyone is trying to intentionally scare or shame a mom. We are all doing the best we can, and if we don't share information like this when we learn it, how will the word get out? It would be far worse to let a woman keep doing something that could harm her baby simply because she doesn't know. Now, once the information is shared, it's up to the individual to decide what to do with it. I'm not telling anyone what to do. I'm only sharing the information I have. When you know better, you do better.

https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095508.htm

nolababybaby

My doctor also said that these 3D ultrasounds aren't known to be safe because there hasn't been enough research. In my scan, they snapped a few quick 3D pictures to make sure everything was ok, but even the US tech said they didn't leave the 3D waves on for very long just in case they are dangerous.

sevillanagal

I had a follow up u/s at 28/29 weeks. Everything looks good, but the placenta was in the way and they couldn't get a good 3D. Guess we'll see the real baby soon enough anyway!

twinsagain2

Just wanted to pass along my idea! For those wanting a bear with the heartbeat, BuildABear sells the recordable heart ($15 here in AUS) and you can take it to your dr appt and easily record the heartbeat...or record it on your phone and transfer to the heart later...and then decide to keep it as is, or put it in a stuffed animal. I'm excited to record it for our twins and then let them choose their animal! The heartbeat is their favourite part of the dr/ultrasound appts! Such special memories!

xxyourstrulyxo

I get a quick little 3D sneak peek at each one of my ultrasound visits because I am high risk. And let me tell you, these ultrasounds are the LEAST of my concern. I think babies are a lot more resilient than we think. I had to endure surgery -yes, surgery where I was put to sleep and everything!- while I was 13 weeks pregnant and also had an MRI done on that day (they had to see what the cause of my pain was, turns out it was my appendix). I've even was given a CT scan last week at 27 weeks for some awful back pain I was having. They wanted to rule out kidney stones, infection and the likes. The doctors reassured me that it would take a lot of radiation to do anything, and ultrasounds don't even give off radiation. I think if you want to have a 3D ultrasound you should go for it. Don't feel guilty. There are a lot worse things... just saying...

kat0217

@xxyourstrulyxo‌ the issue with ultrasounds isn't radiation, and no one said it was. That's a completely separate topic. Did you read my post? It explains it.

tots325

While I think it's a cool idea, I refused and limited my ultrasounds. Even the WHO says that it's not good even to have one but I did it for my 20 week anatomy scan. That's just for the 2D. 3D 4D is even worse. But that's me. Just do a little research and you'd be amazed at what you can find. Besides, I'd rather guess with hubby who's nose she has and lips after the delivery, why take the fun outta that. Good luck.

beaseg

I'm probably an awful human, but I had a medically necessary one in my last pregnancy and I was so disappointed because I didn't realize how distorted it would be and I spent the remainder of my pregnancy fearing her nose would be as large as it was on the screen. Seriously, it was more than half her face. But she was born with the cutest nose and to this day it's my favorite of her features, it's so perfect. So - the images can be a little distorted. Anyways, after writing that I seriously do feel so guilty I felt those things, but if I'm being honest- I did.

This time we won't do one. It's always a nice bonding time but I had a lot in the beginning of the preganncy because of bleeding/other problems, and don't want to overdo it.

I'll toss this out there: My friend debated back and forth the same issue. She'd had 3 u/s, 2 of which confirmed the sex as girl. She ended up on a whim deciding to go at 28.5 weeks and found out that it was actually a boy. She had her baby shower that weekend so it was too late to change everything. She had to do a million returns, as well as wrestle with the fact that she was no longer having a daughter, but now a son. It was a bit of a loss for her in many ways as she had struggled to conceive for years. She was thrilled about having a boy, but kinda felt like she had experienced a loss of a daughter. For me- if on delivery day they announced my son is actually a girl- I'd be thrilled! I'd be truly happy with either sex and I wouldn't feel any loss. But if you think you might, consider the u/s. 

xxyourstrulyxo

kat0217 said:

@xxyourstrulyxo‌ the issue with ultrasounds isn't radiation, and no one said it was. That's a completely separate topic. Did you read my post? It explains it.

Yes my dear and perhaps in my mind I was just giving some peace of mind to anyone that was feeling some guilt over the possible effects an ultrasound may have. For example some of my real life friends still don't fully understand what ultrasound is and worry about it. I was merely stating my experience and opinion on it.

kat0217

xxyourstrulyxo said:

kat0217 said:

@xxyourstrulyxo‌ the issue with ultrasounds isn't radiation, and no one said it was. That's a completely separate topic. Did you read my post? It explains it.

Yes my dear and perhaps in my mind I was just giving some peace of mind to anyone that was feeling some guilt over the possible effects an ultrasound may have. For example some of my real life friends still don't fully understand what ultrasound is and worry about it. I was merely stating my experience and opinion on it.

Okay....just weird since I don't think anyone was concerned about radiation exposure, since that's not the issue with ultrasounds. It's kinda like saying soda doesn't contain arsenic. That statement is true, but completely irrelevant since no one thought it did to begin with.