What is the best timing for an ultrasound?
You might be able to get an ultrasound today! But a question we need to ask first is “what do I want to learn from an ultrasound?” Ultrasounds, like all medical procedures and tests are done for a reason. Below we will talk about the best timing to do an ultrasound and four things you can learn at your ultrasound:
- Is there a baby in the uterus? (location of the pregnancy)
- Does the baby have a heartbeat?
- How big is the baby? (to predict a due date and determine baby’s age)
- How many babies are there? (usually just one, but we sometimes see twins)
In order to answer the greatest number of those four questions all at the same visit, we try to schedule your ultrasound for at least six weeks from your last period, four weeks since you think you conceived, or 2 weeks since your missed period (which ever date you happen to know!)
If we do the ultrasound too soon, the baby may be too small to measure, or too small for you to see it. If you are less than 4 weeks from conception, we can measure the gestational sac to give you an idea of how far along you are. This only answers two of our four questions. An early ultrasound also gives YOU very little information.
People come to CPC for varying reasons.
Most people want an ultrasound to reassure themselves that baby is okay. If we do it too soon, we will verify that you are indeed pregnant, but you won’t have the reassurance you wanted. When you talk to one of our nurses, she will ask you some questions to help her guess at how far along you are. We will then schedule an ultrasound for a date that will give us as many answers as possible.
If you are undecided about your plans for this pregnancy, we want to give you as much information as possible to help you make a plan. We realize that you may be in hurry to figure out what you are going to do, so be sure to tell the nurse if you are undecided. She will try to balance your need to know as soon as possible with just enough just enough time to verify a viable pregnancy. We don’t want you to go through the anguish of tough decisions if you aren’t pregnant or your pregnancy isn’t viable (no heartbeat.)
Are you wanting to verify your pregnancy by having an ultrasound, we can help you! If you are pregnant and not sure how far along you are, we can help you! Looking to find out the sex of your baby? We can’t help you here at the CPC, but your medical provider will order a screening ultrasound to answer the gender question.
When you call our center to book an ultrasound, you will first get scheduled for a pregnancy test appointment. We will ask you some questions to help choose the best date for your ultrasound.
Feel free to check out our ultrasound page for other questions you may have!