4D ULTRASOUND FACT SHEET

4D ULTRASOUND FACT SHEET

 For good clear imaging we need a pool of amniotic fluid around babies face. To get the very best 4D images it’s important that your baby is in a face upward position However the images of your baby’s face will be affected by anything that blocks or reduces the sound waves or causes a shadow, the umbilical cord, baby’s hands and feet. Babies position also plays a large part in the clarity of the images. If baby is cuddled in to the wall of the womb or placenta your imaging will be hazy. We can try to encourage movement by asking you to roll onto your side, sometimes taking a walk around is also needed. Our policy is to try our best for you on the day, unfortunately this means we may over run on our scan times. Please be patient every client is very important to us.

Our Studio is dedicated to 3D 4D scans and as such we do not do any diagnostic scans. However all our sonographers are fully trained in clinical & diagnostic ultrasound and if they feel their could be a problem with baby we will explain as fully as we are able and speak to your midwife with your permission.

All 4D scans start in conventional 2D before switching to 4D. The 2D image show us baby’s position to obtain the best images in 4D. Sexing is always done in 2D.

Switching back and forth between 2D and 4D will happen many times during your scan as the sonographer tries to obtain the best 4D images for you.

Babies can get up to some amazing things in the womb. You may have seen these if you have had a 4D scan in the past. Unfortunately a baby’s performance is never guaranteed and so smiling, yawning, sticking the tongue out. Cannot always be seen in 4D. Sometimes babies just like sleeping.

If your baby is facing towards your back or positioned deep in your pelvis we may only see the back of your baby’s head in 4D. Breach babies are also difficult to scan, as they tend to have both legs up in front of their face. Fizzy drinks chocolate or sweets are sometimes used to stimulate your baby so that they move into a better position, so please bring these along to your 4D scan appointment

The importance of good Amniotic Fluid

            3D 4D ULTRASOUND BABY BONDING SCANS 

 We recommend that you drink 2-3 extra glasses of water/fluid every day for the week before your ultrasound scan. This will help keep you well HYDRATED.

3/4D ultrasound scans need a good amount of amniotic fluid around baby to get good imaging.

  Babies position

Baby’s position is very important in obtaining good 3/4D imaging. We need to be able to see a good clear profile in 2D ultrasound to get full face imaging in 3/4D.

If baby has any thing in front of their face it will show up in 3/4D ultrasound imaging.

Most babies have a hand up to their face, also wherever there’s fluid we see umbilical cord, which floats around baby through out your pregnancy.

Breach babies are much harder to scan as their legs naturally come up and over their heads. 

 Your BMI could also play an important role in the clarity of your scan.

 

How 3D 4D Ultrasound scans work.

Most ultrasounds are routinely performed using conventional (2D) scanning. This is where the ultrasound beam scans through a thin slice of the woman’s body or the baby, and shows the image on a screen in 2 dimensions only. This type of ultrasound provides most of the clinically relevant information to the doctor.

In recent years, 3D still images and 4D moving imaging ultrasounds have become increasingly popular and readily available. With 3D ultrasound, a series of thin 2D slices is digitally reconstructed to give more life-like images. With 4D ultrasound, the added dimension is time, so that the 3D images appear to be moving in real time. The 3D/4D image usually appears a golden colour on the ultrasound screen, as this colour is easy for patients to look at and highlights features on the baby.

3D/4D ultrasound uses the same ultrasound beams as the conventional 2D ultrasound, with extra processing performed by the ultrasound machine computer. 3D/4D ultrasound is just as safe as conventional 2D scanning, with no evidence that it harms you or your baby.

There is some diagnostic role for 3D/4D ultrasound in obstetrics, although this is currently limited to a few particular conditions,

For example, parents may better understand an abnormality like cleft lip when they see their baby in a 3D image, for the image appears more life-like.

Usually such conditions are first assessed in detail with the conventional 2D ultrasound.

4D baby scan, Peek inside the womb.

A baby can’t drown in the womb because until they are born they don't breathe air. The umbilical cord is attached to the baby by the placenta, which is attached to the wall of the womb. We can see the placenta & cord on your ultrasound baby scan. The cord passes nutrients and oxygen in and removes waste back to the mother's system for elimination. She does the breathing and eating for the baby. We can see baby drinking the fluid around them, then weeing it out. You can see the umbilical cord with your ultrasound baby scan, the cord floats in the fluid that surrounds baby, it can be clearly seen on 4D scans as a thick black rope, and often appears wraped around baby, its nothing to be worried about, cord rolls around baby and slips off when baby moves all through your pregnancy. Lots of babies enjoy the feel of the cord or placenta on their faces, it’s their first comfort blanket.

In 4D ultrasound scans we need a pool of fluid in front of babies face to get good clear imaging, so we ask mum to drink extra fluid for a week or more before her scan to ensure she is totally hydrated and to encourage better volume of fluid around baby.

The baby is physically protected both by the flesh of the mother and a fluid sac which can deflect any soft impacts and a lot of hard impacts away from the baby. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8754811/Parents-could-be-barred-from-knowing-the-sex-of-their-unborn-baby-by-European-ruling.html

European ruling which would stop parents knowing sex of unborn child provokes anger

www.dailymail.co.uk

Doctors should be told to 'withhold information about the sex of the foetus', according to a draft resolution passed by a Council of Europe equal opportunities committee.