Doppler Question at OB's office

Reilly626 · February 2012

At around 15weeks if your doctor can't find the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler, do they send you for an ultrasound the next day? I'm curious...

gollywollypog · February 2012

At my 12wk appt it was taking the PA a bit to find the heart beat. She did find it after a minute or so but as she was looking she assured me that if she couldn't find it (I am small and barely showing even now at 15 wks and have had 2 csections and scar tissue) she would pull in the portable u/s machine and see the baby/heartbeat. I was very relieved when she found it and it was reassuring to know the u/s is there as a back up.

LaurenRachel · February 2012

At my 12 week appt she couldn't find the hb on doppler, so she immediately sent me down to the ultrasound room. I know my OB wouldn't want me to leave her office until they heard something...if nothing else for peace of mind.

CourtneySue · February 2012

I think so. My doc has a hard time on the doppler at this stage with it being twins, so she just does a quick ultrasound with her old machine in her office to find the heartbeats, but doesn't charge us.

babyike · February 2012

With DS, I went in at 16 weeks for an appt and the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat. So, the PA came in and tried for another 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, she finally found him and said he was quite the speedy gonzales LOL! She mentioned though that had she not found it, she would have brought in the u/s machine for sure.

So yes, I think it's protocol to determine FHR at every appt whether it's by doppler or u/s Yes

Andreabks · February 2012

my dr has the u/s machines inhouse for the basic quick check. if they can't find the HB they just go out and grab the machine from another room (they share a couple of them between the dr's)

alitria · February 2012

It took forever for my midwife to find ours but she wasn't worried because she could hear the echo of the baby moving around. Even when she found it, it was only for a couple of seconds and the baby was on the move again. We were cracking up the whole time because she'd get close and then hear the movement. I wasn't worried because at my 12w ultrasound they had also commented that the baby was moving a LOT and she had trouble getting a couple of scans because of the movement. If she hadn't heard anything at all, it probably would have been a different story, but as it was it was obvious the baby was just too active to catch easily.

Aug Bride · February 2012

My ob was not able to find the heartbeat at 9 or 13 weeks. She thought something might be in the way of baby that she was not able to hear it. The tech happened to be in the office that day so she sent us across the hall to get an u/s. The tech was able to find the heartbeat both times almost instantly. I was glad for the reassurance. It also might depend on your ob if they will send you for an u/s. If you are worried, I would ask for an appointment for an u/s.

JerseyBride11 · February 2012

LaurenRachel:
At my 12 week appt she couldn't find the hb on doppler, so she immediately sent me down to the ultrasound room. I know my OB wouldn't want me to leave her office until they heard something...if nothing else for peace of mind.

Same here!

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