Paying for a Sneak Peak of My Baby
Posted by Laurie
I saw the headline “More pregnancy ultrasounds than recommended being given” and I read through the article searching for what would be so wrong with having four or five ultrasounds during a pregnancy (because um, I had at least four). Does it cause harm to the fetus? Does it expose the mother to unnecessary rays? No, and no. Phew.
Apparently the only thing wrong is that insurance companies are paying for more than the recommended two ultrasounds for low-risk pregnancies. A study of 1.4 million singleton pregnancies from 1996 to 2007 in Ontario showed that 37 per cent receive three or more and 20 per cent receive four or more ultrasounds.
Wish I lived in Canada. I remember when my doctor told me that my U.S. based insurance company would only cover two ultrasounds. That’s it, barring a medical need for an additional ultrasound. I was disappointed, but I understood. If more ultrasounds weren’t necessary in a low-risk pregnancy and all fetal signs were good, then insurance shouldn’t cover the cost of extra sneak peeks at my baby.
So I paid for the extra ultrasounds myself. I suspect I’m not the only one who did this, am I? Second time around, I don’t think I’ll shell out that extra money, but for a first pregnancy, seeing the growing baby inside of me sparked the kind of excitement that kept my energy up for an entire week. And those ultrasound pictures… how I stared at them for hours.
Dr. John You, a scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), who led the study was quoted as saying he wasn’t sure why ultrasounds are on the rise. I believe I know the answer: Because who wouldn’t want to see their baby?
How many ultrasounds have you (or did you) have? Did insurance cover them? If you paid out-of-pocket, would you do it again?
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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Baby Prep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
I’ve gotten one ultrasound per baby, and would have loved to see more peeks. That said I believe there IS some concern about over-doing it, particularly when you’ve got women going to get 3D and 4D ultrasounds at the mall (where the techs aren’t well-trained and the machinery is iffy). As far as I know, no link to any problems has been proven, but there’s a lot of speculation.
With my first pregnancy, they found a singleton and a blighted ovum and a …. something…. that turned out to be a blood-filled ovarian cyst. While we figured that out, the radiologist carelessly told me, “and here are your fibroids.” Well, that triggered monthly u/s for a few months to monitor the fibroid. Seven years and two miscarriages later, I had a fibroid on top of my uterus (wherein I learned my new favorite medical term, fundus or top). I had monthly ultra-sounds right up until two weeks before my scheduled c/s because they couldn’t otherwise determine whether the fetus was growing at the proper rate. I love seeing the baby every month, and was able to identify much of his anatomy myself by the end.
During the viable pregnancies, it was very reassuring to have these images. During the miscarriages, it was painful seeing/knowing the fetus was not developing normally and waiting for the pregnancy to fail.
I don’t know it any other way than lots of u/s (even non pregnant I get them periodically), but I don’t think I would feel comfortable getting an u/s from a retail establishment. They are not regulated at all.
Nice to meet you, do you have your book: “Instant Persuasion: How to Change Your Words to Change Your Life” in spanish?. I read about your book in a phrase from msn in spanish… I wait your answer. Thanks!
Hello Eduardo!
My book, “Instant Persuasion: How to Change Your Words to Change Your Life” is not yet available in Spanish (though it is available in Portuguese and in an Indonesian dialect!).
Given your ability to write me a message in English, perhaps you would be able to understand the English version. The book is a basic do’s and don’t s of communication shared through stories about how (and how not) to win people over and get the respect you deserve.
Thanks for reading the article on msn!
I am in my 2nd pregnancy and never had an ultrasound. I have homebirths, and it’s not something routine in my prenatal care, although it’d be available. The reason I don’t have ultrasounds is not based on money. I never even checked if insurance would pay for an ultrasound. (It probably would have. By the way, I would have gone to some kind of clinic for an ultrasound not to my midwife.)
I have read many things about the theoretical risk of ultrasound. Harm has been shown in animal studies (rats) like low birth weight and miscarriage. Studies done to individual cells show abnormalities in how they divide and develop. Few human studies have been done, but they don’t show any major harm to babies. It doesn’t seem like much attention is focused on the question anymore. The safety of ultrasound was never really proven by comparing long-term child development; I think researchers just got tired of it. However, personally, I don’t really have a strong opinion for or against ultrasound. I actually feel fine with having the Doppler check for fetal heart rate – this is a form of ultrasound too.
The main part of why I don’t have ultrasound scans is hard to explain, and it’s related to why I don’t feel anxious to know the gender of my babies before the birth. I don’t feel like information from ultrasound would help me bond any better. I feel more excited to see how my children’s personalities develop, and ultrasound doesn’t really help me any. There’s so much variation in people of the same gender that I don’t feel that knowing the gender would help me get to know the personality better.