Prenatal tests and doctors who don't tell the truth!

[VSilva]

I am almost ten weeks pregnant with our first- both my husband and I are vegans and after some initial concern with nutrition since I couldn't keep much down I think we are doing okay- however- I had some light spotting early on in the pregnancy and my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was all right. We had just found out I was pregnant and hadn't had much time to research on our own so we took her at her word when she said it was "perfectly safe". Two weeks later on a follow up visit, she wanted to do another to check everything out. We went ahead with it- the result was-"well, I don't want you to worry, but..." our baby was about a week smaller than anticipated- she wanted us to come back for another in two weeks to check the size at that point.
Well, by now we started looking into it on our own.
What we found out- 1, it is very common for doctors to miscalculate your due date initially- the size differential was likely due to that.
2. Ultrasounds can hurt your baby- they are proven to kill fetal cells and can hinder brain development.
This made me very angry to hear since my doctor had assured me they were "perfectly safe".
Detailed information on this can be found at:
http://www.unhinderedliving.com/pultra.html

If anyone else has similar advice to pass along- I'd really appreciate it!

[Erin Pavlina]

HI VSilva,

I've read the information about how ultrasounds can be harmful to babies. I think the use of ultrasound should only be considered when there is a real need to see what's going on.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, Emily, our insurance only covered one ultrasound at the 20 weeks mark and that was to check the size of organs and a bunch of other things. These docs didn't do ultrasounds except under strict conditions.

But I know there are doctors who use the ultrasound machine a lot because it reassures parents to see their baby's heartbeat and because they probably think it's safe. I wouldn't say these doctors are lying when they say it's perfectly safe. I think they just disagree with the research out there.

As for due dates and sizes... how long were your menstrual cycles, do you know? If they were irregular or longer than 30 days then the estimated due date wheel they use will probalby be wrong and your baby will measure at a different week than they expect.

[sophie]

Hi!
I'm 33 weeks preg with my third child and I have never had a scan. I was quite freaked out by some of the stuff I read, although if a scan was indicated, like if something was suspected to be wrong, I would have one I guess. The official info booklet on scans in NZ has a list of pros (very small) and cons (verrrry long) and the World Health Org. is against routine and regular scans. One possible thing is that it can affect the developing baby's reproductive organs- somehting they won't know for sure till the babies of the generation where scans got popular start trying for babies themselves. Also, the doppler thingee that some docotors and midwives use to hear the heartbeat is the same tecnology as a scan.