Tricks for a Good Ultrasound

mommymeg143 · May 2014

We are going for an ultrasound this Friday! Yay!! I know there are several things you can do for a "better" ultrasound but i'm not quite sure what they are. At my NT Scan, the nurse asked if I had a full bladder. I told her yes, but I would probably need to go empty it before the scan. She insisted that I keep a full bladder because it gives a better ultrasound. I've also heard to drink a small amount of caffeine before the ultrasound because baby is more active.

What tricks have you found to be successful? What do you typically do prior to an ultrasound?

ed16564 · May 2014

I've heard orange juice before again to make the baby active.

ed16564 · May 2014

On a related note for my anatomy scan I have to have a full bladder... I've heard that it's like an hour ultrasound- Is that true? Not sure how I won't pee myself.

abbyful · May 2014

You don't want the baby to be too active, else it's hard for the u/s tech to get the measurements they need.

TXPyroMom · May 2014

Not sure if this counts as a tip, but my ultra sound tech had me cough to see if I could get the baby to change position. I had to do the full bladder thing for my first NT scan and I thought I would pee myself, LOL.

mommymeg143 · May 2014

@ed16564...I'm not sure if it's an hour but I know it's very detailed. That would be so hard to hold for that long. If I know I can't go pee, I end up having to SOOO bad.

@abbyful...That's what I thought too. During our NT Scan, she kept saying, "I need to get you some Mountain Dew, Momma" because baby is being lazy.

jess123456 · May 2014

I keep a full bladder just in case they prefer it that way. My tech said it does help. I did drink a little bit of orange juice before one of my ultrasounds and he was wiggling around a lot but it was impossible to see the face profile. For my NT I didn't have any sugar before and luckily he was in the perfect position for an NT measurement (sideways across the screen). If they are too wiggly it can be hard to get that measurement.

mamathompson7 · May 2014

Drink a lot of water starting now! The more hydrated that you are the better!

absolutelymaybe · May 2014

I totally "juice" my babies before ultrasounds (I drink a small bottle of a juice that has a higher sugar content). They're always active...but then I don't really know if that's what is making them active since we didn't get into our ultrasound until two hours after I drank the juice and they were still active.

ETA: As PP said, too, drink lots of water!

mrsransom · May 2014

ed16564 said:

On a related note for my anatomy scan I have to have a full bladder... I've heard that it's like an hour ultrasound- Is that true? Not sure how I won't pee myself.

It's definitely not an hour. 10-15 minutes. It's just like the NT scan...they take a bunch of measurements, only they are looking at different things, including the brain & different organs & stuff

I always just hear to have a full bladder. I drink a couple of cups of water before I head out the door & it usually does the trick. If they are having trouble seeing certain angles or something, they will have you empty your bladder to see if they get a different view or the baby moves.

PandaCon · May 2014

For my a/s I was told to come with a full bladder. After 10-15 minutes of the scan she had me empty it.

She was able to get some good images of my bladder and stuff.

I was also asked to come with a fill bladder for a scan at 11 weeks in case she could do it over the belly. I had to empty it and then they did a transvaginal.

DoubleUp8 · May 2014

ed16564 said:

On a related note for my anatomy scan I have to have a full bladder... I've heard that it's like an hour ultrasound- Is that true? Not sure how I won't pee myself.

Same here. They originally told me to drink 32oz of water 1 hour before the scan and not go to the bathroom. I thought: How am I not going to either a. explode! or b. pee myself! When I called to schedule they changed it to 16oz of water. I'm still not thrilled, but it is worth it to get the best picture of baby.

I may put a pad in my undies just in case of leaks! :-S

abbyful · May 2014

I had to have a full bladder for NT scan, but not for AS.

The most physically uncomfortable u/s I've had was 6 weeks with DS. I went to the ER for bleeding, they put in a catheter and filled my bladder, then of course they were pressing on it. That sucked!

moroccojade · May 2014

"Full bladder" is often misunderstood. It doesn't mean so full that you are ready to burst or pee your pants. It just means that you have something in your bladder. For my last 2 US (which they asked me to be "full" for) I went to the loo an hour before the US... drank a cup or so of water while waiting. And it was perfect. The techs were happy and so was I. By the end of the US, sure, I could have peed, but I was totally comfortable -- which was really nice. I overdid it with the water at my 20 week US last pregnancy and I had a hard time even enjoying it, as all that pee was making me uncomfortable! lol.

As for juice or caffeine. It is really hard for the techs to get the measurements they need when the baby is going nuts in there. And of course, the measurements are the most important part of the scan. By the time the baby gets prodded with those wands, they wake up and start moving just fine.

jlove253 · May 2014

What @moroccojade‌ said. Except I overfilled for a sch scan at 14 weeks with dd and almost peed my pants. The receptionist told me to go pee "just a little". I thought I'd emptied at least half my bladder and the tech was still fine. And it's better if the baby is more still than busy so don't overdo it on the sugar/caffeine.

And I just want to add my AS was about 45 minutes. And it was glorious seeing dd for that long. Can't wait for this one. If it's only 15 minutes I'm going to be pissed.

Natedawg71 · May 2014

For my scans, the office asks if I need to empty my bladder prior to. For my 1st, I had an elective gender ultrasound and they advised to drink a lot of water in the days prior to the visit. I think maybe helps with amniotic fluid?

runningmama14 · May 2014

My office has you drink 32 oz of fluid 1 hour before the NT scan and 16 oz before the anatomy scan. I drank my whole 32 oz as directed and when she started the scan, my bladder was way too full for her to do anything. The baby was laying with it's back against my belly button, totally squished and not moving. She finally gave up and let me go pee. When I came back in, the baby was moving around like crazy like it was so happy to not be cramped anymore. That was without caffeine or sugar.

mommymeg143 · May 2014

Thank you ladies!! I love orange juice so I may just try a few sips before the appointment and will be drinking a lot of water today. This is just an elective scan for us but we are hoping to find out the gender. I'm hoping baby cooperates. Baby was super relaxed at our NT Scan, to the point of yawning like, "Geez...people this is my nap time. Hit me up later tonight". I'm definitely not a morning person so I think baby might take after me. Haha

runningmama14 · May 2014

MeganMullikin said:

Thank you ladies!! I love orange juice so I may just try a few sips before the appointment and will be drinking a lot of water today. This is just an elective scan for us but we are hoping to find out the gender. I'm hoping baby cooperates. Baby was super relaxed at our NT Scan, to the point of yawning like, "Geez...people this is my nap time. Hit me up later tonight". I'm definitely not a morning person so I think baby might take after me. Haha

I'm not a morning person either, so we decided that the baby must take after DH for being so crazy at 7:30 in the morning!

so72409 · May 2014

My anatomy scan took FOR.EV.ER. (granted, twins, but still). Seriously, it was close to 2 hours. In fact, I actually did pee my pants during the scan....but there were other factors that played into it: it was super hot in the room, mid-July, and I got sick. Told the dr I was going to pass out. They sat me up, I started to puke, and then pissed my pants. It wasn't my top 5 favorite moments in my pregnancy.

aa98 · May 2014

@MeganMullikin that's exactly what DH said during my NT scan when the tech was prodding to get the baby to move. True, I like me some sleep, but these days I'm definitely more of a morning person than a night owl

These are good tips to have as all that prodding was NOT fun with a full bladder...

Brian&Missy4ever · May 2014

I have not had any ultrasound scan yet. What should I expect? I know I will be far enough along to find out the gender.

ktibbits1 · May 2014

@so72409‌ that sounds terrible!! So sorry that happened to you

ExcitedKJ · May 2014

I've always been asked by the tech if I could use the restroom right before they take me in for my ultrasounds so far. Granted, that may be different for my A/S in 2 weeks. One tech told me that the state of your bladder doesn't affect ultrasounds with the new machines, except make me more uncomfortable. ::shrugs:: I don't really know though.

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