If it is your first time to go for a pregnancy ultrasound, it is OK to feel nervous. If not for anything else, because it will be the first time you get to see your little bundle of joy and you will want everything to go perfectly well. Will it really be a baby or an ugly looking mass? Well, in the first 10 weeks after conception, the medical terms used to refer to your unborn is an embryo while after 10 weeks of age in the womb, it is referred to as a fetus — but generally yes it is a baby.
Whether you are taking the scan to determine your expected date of delivery, to confirm your pregnancy, or to give you some peace of mind — relax, an ultrasound scan can be stressful yes but keep in mind that it is something that every expectant mother goes through to ensure her tiny bundle of joy grows strong and healthy.
With a confirmed pregnancy test, you might want to take your first ultrasound scan at around 8 weeks into pregnancy to ascertain that the young one is indeed in there. At around the 8th week, it is the best time particularly if you don’t your last monthly period, you have not yet experienced any spotting or just want o be sure that you have a normal pregnancy and not an ectopic one as is the case with many pregnant women.
We all are unique and have unique experiences therefore if you find yourself not sure of where to start, don’t be afraid, there is enough help out there. After all, the surest way to be 100% sure you have a real baby developing well is to see real heartbeats and see its image on the screen.
An ultrasound scan in the first trimester is used mainly to determine the due date of the pregnancy. The results will be very accurate and can have a difference of around 2-5 days. When you get the first ultrasound for the first trimester, one thing that you will see is the heartbeat of the baby, but it will come very fast when seen for the very first time by inexperienced eyes, so you shouldn’t be alarmed, it’s perfectly normal. Accurate gestational age is measured from the top of the head to the last tip of the spine.
An ultrasound scan done around the 12th week after conception can measure the fluid found at the back of the baby’s head which is used to determine the chances of the baby developing chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome.
Basically, any major abnormality can be discovered when a scan is taken around the 12th week time frame. An ultrasound around the 7th or 8th week the embryo resembles a tiny bean while on the screen while at around 12 weeks it will resemble a very tiny toddler.
You will not be able to determine the gender of your child until your second ultrasound scan in the second trimester. With that said, you should never be afraid to ask whatever questions you might have regarding your growing baby.
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