X-rays while pregnant

tgortney · April 2016

Hey ladies,

I'm 34w6d today and I had to get an X-ray of my foot. I twisted it last night going down the last step of stairs

Ortho Doctor said I broke 3 bones across the top of my foot. Now I have to wear a boot. No telling when it will heal but I have to stay off of it for a while. I'm hoping I don't have to give birth it in!

I felt so guilty going into the X-ray room. The tech placed 2 leaded vests across my belly and chest area, and she just took pics of the foot.

I'm having serious mommy guilt and paranoia moments. I have to go back in 2 weeks and get X-rayed again to make sure the bones haven't gone out of alignment or else I will need to have surgery.

On the bright side, I did go to the OB this morning and LO is doing fine. My blood pressure and stuff are fine too. So thank goodness for that!

Just needed some reassurance from ladies that have had to get X-rays while pregnant. I'm feeling like crap about doing it

even though I've done a lot of Dr. Googling to see what sources have to say...

sshortwlsc · April 2016

Don't feel bad! As a part of my job I frequently perform tests in the X-Ray room. I wear the lead vests and skirts to protect myself. I have a little badge on my neck and one for my tummy that measures how much/ if any radiation I am exposed to. To date I have had minimal- no exposure. You probably get more radiation exposure from the sun then you would from an X-Ray! It really is safe and the lead does exactly what it is suppose to do, protect you and baby!

tgortney · April 2016

@sshortwlscThank you so much for your reply! It really helped me to feel better!

slfezz · April 2016

X-rays can't make it through lead so your baby is perfectly safe. I'm a nuclear engineer so you can trust me on this. Mom also was an x-ray tech while pregnant with all three of us and we all came out just fine.

tgortney · April 2016

@slfezz thank you so much for your reply

charlotte92425 · April 2016

I dislocated my shoulder at 18 weeks and had 3 xrays done, i just tried to look at the fact i had to be healthy for a healthy baby. Course i think for me having to be sedated worried me more so they could put it back in place. But little one has been active and perfect visits every time. Its natural to be worried but the doctors do whats best for you and they baby. In my case i had to wait 3 hrs to get the OB doctors ok to sedate me ....the xrays were automatically safe enough.

tgortney · April 2016

@charlotte92425 thank you for telling your story! I'm sorry you had to go through that! Here's to healthy babies to May!!

okcountrygirl · April 2016

I'm a radiology tech. Girl don't worry about it! The amount of radiation used for a foot X-ray is insanely small. I work in the OR and am within 6 feet of an x-ray beam all day. I wear a lead apron all day of course and monitor my radiation levels and even mine are very low and I play with radiation for a living!

tgortney · April 2016

@okcountrygirl thanks for the encouraging words!!

The risks are definitely scary when there are so many things pregnant women are told to stay away from if possible.

nbgmom · April 2016

Back 30 years ago when my mom was pregnant with me, her dr suspected I was breech around 36 weeks. Routine ultrasounds were still a fairly newish thing, and he was an old school dr, so he sent her for an X-ray for confirmation. I was indeed breech, but other than being too stubborn to turn, no effects from the X-ray, and it was actually OF me

avidkeo · April 2016

Another radiographer echoing xrays of your feet this far along with two layers of lead, nothing to worry about at all. Sounds like they were necessary!

I almost xrayed my own foot the other day because i dropped a heavy wooden chopping board on my foot, corner down from 5 feet, directly on my foot. Its still sore 3 weeks later but not broken.

ashleyrobertson0113 · April 2016

I had to get a double root canal last week and my OB said its fine as long as they use multiple shields. He said that a couple xrays isn't enough to do any damage. It would have to be a consistently repeated high exposure to actually hurt the baby.

tgortney · April 2016

@nbgmom wow that's crazy!! How far we've come lol

@avidkeo thank you for your response!! Hope your foot feels better soon!!

@ashleyrobertson0113 wow I'm sorry about the root canal

sounds awful along with being pregnant. Thank you for your reply!

LadySamLady · April 2016

@tgortney I'm sorry about your foot, that sounds awful!

I actually had to get a chest X-ray today because they were worried that I broke a rib. I didn't break a rib luckily but it was worth the risk to get the X-ray because if something was broken I could have punctured a lung. They really needed to see what was going on to properly advise/monitor me. They doubled up the lead for me and they said the radiation is much less dangerous in the third tri than it is early on when the cells are still dividing.

In my case they found that one of my ribs developed differently and is misaligned with the rest of my rib cage, causing me a lot of pain as the LO grows.

tgortney · April 2016

@LadySamLady ouch I'm sorry to hear about that! Glad there were no broken ribs and hope they're able to help you ease discomfort!

I guess I'll just keep requesting for double lead until LO is here.

Thanks everyone!

okcountrygirl · April 2016

@LadySamLady yes exactly! Sometimes the pros outway the cons. The amount of radiation that your body receives during a chest x-ray is equivalent to 2 weeks of natural radiation that your body receives just from being alive on the earth. I wouldn't recommend someone getting a CT scan unless it was absolutely needed and if an MRI would get adequate results, but x-rays outside of the first trimester really are a lot safer than people think. Radiation can seem very scary if you don't know a lot about it.

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