What is prenatal ultrasound?
Prenatal ultrasound (also called a sonogram) is a test that creates pictures of your baby’s body and internal organs using ultrasound waves. These pictures give information about the health and development of your baby and pregnancy. Why is prenatal ultrasound done? Prenatal ultrasound is done for a number of reasons, including to: • make sure your baby is alive and growing • find out if there is more than one baby • date the pregnancy accurately and see if your baby is too small or too large for your dates • assess the risk of Down syndrome and other chromosome conditions • evaluate your baby’s heart rate, movement, and the amount of amniotic fluid (called a biophysical profile) • check for serious birth defects Should every pregnant woman have an ultrasound? All pregnant women should be offered an ultrasound in their 18th to 20th week of pregnancy as a part of routine prenatal care. This ultrasound will check the baby’s brain, face, spine, heart, stomach, kidneys, arms and legs for t
