With my first pregnancy, my obgyn office in Utah did ultrasounds at every pregnancy appointment. They were only 5 to 10 minutes long to take baby measurements, check heart rate and overall baby and placenta health. It was awesome! I got to see my baby every appt and make sure everything was always healthy. I even knew the my baby's sex at 12 weeks! The target ultrasound was scheduled separately at 20 weeks with an ultrasound tech for 1 hour. I moved halfway through my 2nd pregnancy and went to a clinic that does the standard belly measurement and doppler heart sound. It just was not the same! I live in Gilbert, AZ. Does anyone know of a obgyn office that does that close by?
ADDED NOTE: They didn't bill the insurance for these ultrasounds or charge more on your overall cost. They did it because they decided it was worth it to have healthier pregnancies and prevent mistakes or complications.
I would question the skills of an OB who cannot palpate to determine size and position of a baby. ACOG recommends ONE ultrasound for low risk pregnancies. Not one a week! And there have been sound studies done that say ultrasounds DO alter cells.
My ob had a small less technical US machince in most of the checkup rooms and he would do a quick look at the baby at most appointments. He even printed out pics for me, it was really awesome. I don't think he billed for this. I agree with you, I liked being able to see that the baby was fine. I live in Glendale so it's a long drive from you but maybe you can call around to other ob's around you.
This presupposes that frequent ultrasounds offer benefits and have no risks. One interesting study was done on women with suspected IUGR (intra-uterine growth retardation/restriction -- small babies), and they randomly assigned women to regular ultrasounds (like you're wanting) or not, and the women who got regular u/s ended up with smaller babies than the women who got no extra/special u/s. Thus it appears that u/s can affect babies, and sometimes cause the problems they're supposed to prevent.
Doppler is a form of u/s, and when I was pregnant with my first, my midwife used Doppler to hear his heartbeat, and he always moved away from it, until he got too big to "run and hide", and then he would just try to kick it away. You can't convince me that it was a fluke every single time (even in labor!). So, despite the fact that we can't hear u/s, that doesn't mean it doesn't affect us. In fact, one doctor discovered that u/s makes fluid move, and a recording of it sounded like a subway train.
No, I'll pass on the u/s unless it is necessary; I don't want my babies exposed to that.
My daughter DID receive the same as you did before your move, but only because it was a high risk pregnancy. Otherwise, her insurance wouldn't have covered them, it's not standard.
With all three of my pregnancies i got only one u/s around 16-20 weeks....that was it.
I have never heard of this except for when there is a specific medical reason to monitor that closely. You were lucky! I had mine done at 21 weeks and 34 weeks. I have heard of getting a third one at the first visit, but it is more for confirmation.
The office I went to has been on 'best doctor' lists a number of times, and they use their in-house machine only if there's an issue like not being able to hear the heartbeat on the doppler, which happened for me at 6 and 10 weeks.
WOW-- that's a lot of ultrasounds. Way more than me or my SIL had and we had high risk pregnancies...
I go to Dr. Plimpton on 7th st and Thomas in Phoenix. I have had two children by him and am going to him for my third. He does an ultrasound every appt. and only bills your insurance company the amount you are allowed to have.
I get one every appointment and since i see a reg and high risk I get one about every 2 weeks. When i lived in Az I saw dr Mikel in Mesa, I'm not sure if he's still there but he did one pretty often. So maybe you can look him up he was awesome when I saw him.
Yes the ultrasound technician and machine were there in the office. I did not get an ultrasound with every visit. I don't think my Ins would have paid for all of them at at $400-$500 a piece. It was nice to know though that if you needed to see the doctor and an ultrasound was needed you could have it done right there.
No, most insurances won't even cover it as it isn't a medical neccessity. Several friends of mine only got one, which is typical. My ob did several though, mostly towards the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy b/c I was having complications, otherwise he wouldn't have. Then the one around 11 weeks and one around 20 weeks. I was shocked that my new ob did one at 8 weeks.
I had one every time with my first pregancy due to high risk and multiples. With my next and this one, same office, no. I have had one for timing since I had no clue how far I could be, growth, another for growth and measurement and will have one tomorrow to see what position he is in--possible breech. Otherwise they only do them more often if a high risk.
