Anyone had a fetal echocardiogram?

laurashaffner@gmail.com

If so please share your experiences. I'm getting one on Wed. T&Ps appreciated - hoping and praying all goes well.

Sonadora

I had one. It was no big deal. Just done with the u/s machine at the MFM office. Done by a doctor rather than a tech.

Good luck!

smtaylor1

Yes, we had one with our first son.  It's a really long ultrasound where they will look just at the heart.  Saying prayers!  Hope all is well!

jeffrae

I just had one last week!  It is really detailed on the heart - takes about 40 minutes.  Ours was done by a skilled tech and then followed up by a radiologist.  Besides taking growth measurements, they look at blood flow, direction, of the arteries and chambers of the heart.  My DD had an echocardiogram at 3 days old....they could see the blood flowing between the two chambers of the heart (3 VSDs), with this baby, the line was strong and no blood flowed from one chamber to the other.  After they look, hear, the heart and blood flow, then they will do a quick look at the rest of baby.

It absolutely amazes me that we can see what we can when baby's heart is the size of a walnut!  

Good luck!  I know it is scary!

ecteacher23

We had one done the beginning of the month due to the tech not being able to see the heart in detail at our last u/s.  It was done by a doctor and as pp said it takes about 40 minutes.  It was very interesting to see all the chambers of the heart, blood flow, etc.  The hardest part for me was when the dr. wasn't talking and just scanning.  I started to think something was wrong, but he said it was just that he had to get all the pics needed, and our LO is not the most cooperative.  She kept flipping during the scan making it difficult for him to get everything he needed. In the end it was another chance to see our LO and everything turned out great!  Good luck with your scan and enjoy seeing your LO again!