Perplexing question of the day
How is an almost five-months-pregnant woman supposed to drink 32 ounces of water an hour before she goes in for an ultrasound and then not visit the restroom until after the sonogram is over??Who makes up those kinds of stipulations anyway? Have they ever tried it themselves? I have to wonder!
:)
posted by Crystal Paine at 12:58 PM
44 Comments:
the best advice i got was drink 8, the right before you leave, drink 8, in the car on the way drink 8
and in the waiting room while you wait, finish the other 8 if you can.....the ultrasound lady told me this...good luck
celina in canada
I like "J" in the previous post,I've not been kissed nor dated(courted)so I don't know what it's like to be pregnant. Some say it's uncomfortable others say it's absolutely glorious. I look forward to it one day,and hope mine is as pleasant as yours! My heart goes out to you. How are you supposed to hold THAT much in? Drinking THAT much would go right through you I would imagine. The only reason I can think of is for them to take a proper amount for a urine test? Maybe? Poor thing
Hi,
Yup, it's a mystery! If you have a really great tech she will do the pictures she needs you to have a full bladder for first, and then let you go the restroom, especially if you make your discomfort know.
It is very hard, speaking from experience, just try your best.
Even harder is being 8 months pregnant and having to do the same test drinking 24 oz of water...
Kristy
With my first, I couldn't drink water so I turned it into tea. However, the tea did not fill up my bladder. I was lucky because George was such a behemoth that I didn't need a full bladder.
With the second one the U/S tech looked at the parts of the baby that were hard to see without a full bladder and then she let me pee and then she finished the U/S. I didn't have to hold my pee for the whole time just the first few minutes.
Wow. Are you 5 mos pregnant already? This a fast pregnancy. I guess you are due around the same time as my sister.
What is most perplexing is that your bladder is not supposed to be "too full" for your ultrasound. In fact, my technician had me go use the restroom, because she was having trouble getting accurate pictures due to my practically overflowing bladder.
I've read that it makes the uterus more visible if you have a full bladder, which pushes it up. I haven't experienced it myself, though. I hope that everything goes well!
Johanna
I never drink as much as they say... I just make sure I 'could go' and let that be that. With five babies so far (and number 6's ultrasound in a few weeks) I've never had them not be able to see all that they needed to see.
I don't want to have the thrill of the ultrasound dampened (no pun intended... Ha! Ha!) by the discomfort of a hugely full bladder!!
Being 8 1/2 mos. pregnant, I don't think it is possible! I hope you make the walk from your waiting room seat to the test!
It will be so exciting to get an ultrasound though.
:)
Johanna: Thanks for the explanation for those who are unfamiliar with this procedure. I should have mentioned that since it probably sounds weird to someone whose not familiar with all-things-preggo. :)
I was curious, since this is my first U/S, did all of you always have to drink water/have a full bladder? For some reason I only thought you needed a full bladder in the first part of your pregnancy since it was harder to see the baby then. I'm not huge or anything, so I can see why they'd have me do it, but Kristy mentioned being 8 months preggers and still having to chug down the water. Is that normal??
Well, Crystal, I have learned (through a myriad of ultrasounds LOL), just to ignore the instructions. I wait until about 15 minutes before my appointment and down a couple of glasses of water and have never had any problem. My bladder seems to fill plenty fine without quite so much water, and definitely without such a long wait. I think it is a matter of learning your own body and going with what works best for you.
One time, when about 5 months pregnant with Alyssa, the ultrasound tech was running behind. I waited and waited, even developing cramping from it, and finally said....sorry can't wait any longer. Its amazing how the techs (most of them ladies, many who have had ultrasounds themselves) seem to forget how hard that is!
Oh, and about your question, at this point in the pregnancy, you usually start with the empty bladder and once they see how the baby lies, you are able to empty your bladder before continuing on with the u/s. If you have a tipped uterus or something similar it is sometimes hard for them to get a good picture unless they go through the fluid filled bladder.
Anxiously waiting to hear how the ultrasound goes!
Melanie
J.S.: By the way, being pregnant is a wonderful thing (though it's always been accompanied with plenty of uncomfortability for me), but one common side effect is that your bladder is very much affected. With all the moving around of all sorts of organs and the expanding of your tummy, it puts a lot of pressure on your bladder, which in turn makes you constantly feel the need to go - whether you really do or not. So, add on a whole lot of water at once and you can imagine the results. :)
US medicine is very "one size fits most". drinking lots of water is probably just standard procedure that they don't bother to adjust to your situation since it can't hurt you. Only the new mom gets flustered trying to figure it out. I've had ultrasounds that were done impromptu when I was only several weeks along and no one told me to drink anything and they turned out fine. Just drink plenty and go normally, and just be sure to keep drinking up until your US if you had to empty you baldder. And they'll probably tell you that you're too full like Gwen and make you go again anyway. :^)
Crystal: Oh I'm sure! My mother was only able to have my sibling and I, and My mother still has a very week bladder due to the pressure of being pregnant with my sibling.She was constantly needing to use the restroom.
Ohhhh makes me sqirm to think about it! I am only 4 months and just had to drink water before my U/S and I was dying!
Gooood luck!
Christie
I agree with anonymous Crystal. I've had lots of ultrasounds as well, and all you need to do is drink several glasses of water before you go and you should be fine. But be warned! Please drink that water b/c I had an emergency ultrasound a year ago and my bladder was not full, and they inserted a tube into my bladder and put water in it for me! Then proceeded to do a 45 min. internal ultrasound. Not fun at all. :-( So drink as much water as possible. I'm not intending at all to scare you, and they gave me the choice not to have it, but I went through with it.
Thanks,
Kristal
Kristal
I have never been advised to drink water for an ultrasound, both during pregnancy and during an ultrasound to check for a medical problem. My midwife actually told me that the water does not make much of a difference and can be fat too hard on the kidneys of anybody, let alone a pregnant woman.
Some of my friends were told the same thing as myself with different care providers, while others were told to drink the water. It seems there is not really any set routine across the board.
When I did that they said I actually had too much fluid in my bladder and had to go let a little out. That's even worse torture, LOL!
Can't wait to see the baby. And Kathrynne has gotten so big since I found your blog about 8 months ago. I love all that curly hair. I think she looks exactly 50% like you and 50% like your hubby. I wonder what the next baby is going to look like. That's the fun part, trying to guess.
I've had u/s both ways. I've been told after about 16 weeks they can see fine without drinking the water. When I've been told to drink the water, the tech seemed annoyed that I had to get up and go because it was so uncomfortable. :)
Jennifer
Doesn't it stink when you're pregnant, you get up at 2am in the morning with this sincere urge to go. You run into the bathroom and a few drips come out. LOL! Being pregnant is hillarious, sometimes.
oh my gosh, I can't even imagine!
I have always ignored that instruction. Oh wait. Once I didn't. The sonographer made me go to the bathroom because my bladder was too full. So after that, I DEFINITELY ignored that instruction.
An ultrasound works with the fluids in your body, thus the more fluids you have the better the scan.
"As the sound waves bounce off of internal organs, fluids and tissues, the sensitive microphone in the transducer records tiny changes in the sound's pitch and direction. These signature waves are instantly measured and displayed by a computer, which in turn creates a real-time picture on the monitor. These live images are usually recorded on videotape and one or more frames of the moving pictures are typically captured as still images."
Having had a few ultrasounds for various reasons, they use the bladder as a kind of "window", but the amount of water you actually drink is just a recommendation so they know you'll have a full bladder. I've had them done only a half hour after going to the bathroom, and they can still see just fine. Actually, I've been told my bladder was TOO full twice and had to go to the bathroom so they could finish! :smile: But, oh yes, it is just lovely having a balloon of a bladder and having them be pushing and prodding with either kind of ultrasound. Loads of fun. :wink:
Hope all went well! :)
Hi Crystal,
This note doesn't need to be posted. I just wanted to let you know that I have blog (brand new) related to Biblical womanhood, among other things. It is www.liberfidesveritas.blogspot.com.
I will be linking to your blog in the blogroll...do you do reciprocal linking? I am an 18-year old daughter and student (at home) and an evangelical Christian. The blog talks about Thomas Jefferson Education, Biblical womanhood, recipes, current events, good books....
Thanks again for your blog! It has influenced and encouraged me (especially as a "solo" Christian, the only believer in my family) to a great extent.
God bless!
Kathleen
With this past pregnancy, for the first ultrasound I drank lots of water and when I got to the health center, they told me they don't make pregnant women drink water anymore for ultasounds! They said it's too hard on pregnant women to hold it. So for the second ultrasound ( I was around 5 months) I didn't drink anything and the pictures were perfect.
I drank my 32 oz of water down the last drop. And, I had to finish drinking mine 1 hour prior to my visit! I honestly could hardly walk into the hospital I hurt soooo bad, I was on the verge of tears. I'm a major instruction/rule follower, so obviously I was going to do just as I was told!
I told the U/S tech that I really needed to go and she measured my uterus (which is why they have you drink all that water) and then she let me go use the restroom. She did comment that my bladder was definatly full :-) I was only 15 weeks pregnant at the time of my ultrasound.
My husband figures that they say 32 oz because they figure most people won't actually follow the instructions (silly me!). So, those of us that do follow the instructions (down to the very last drop) learn our lessons quick. I think next time I'll stop drinking the water at the time I feel like I'm going to start puking it back up!
An ultrasound is one of the most amazing things ever! It was so amazing to see my little guy before I could even feel him in there! I hope you enjoy the experience!
My advice is probably to drink plenty of water, but don't stress over it being the exact 32oz, that's what I'll do next time.
Emily
This brings back the horrible memory of when I had to drink then sit for a hour PAST my appointment because the office was backed up! BTW I drank flavored seltzer the midwife said anything as long as it was clear.
Let me share a secret with you -- I was told to drink 40 oz and had to be done drinking all of my liquid 1 hour before my appt (no one said anything about drinking ALL of it within ONE hour)... a friend gave me the advice to just drink 20 oz and be done an hour before the appt, because the whole point is just to make sure your bladder is full. I'm not sure why they think 32 or 40 is such a great number, but I'm serious, the doctor didn't know the difference when doing my ultrasound/sonogram, and it was a liiiiitle easier on my bladder than 32 or 40 oz would have been.
We have never been told around here to drink water for an ultrasound. The only thing anyone I know has been told is to drink a Dr. Pepper 30 minutes to an hour before the ultrasound so the baby will be active. LOL!
The funny thing is, in all 5 of my pregnancies, I've had probably 100 ultrasounds (seriously---2 kids with special needs).
I never once was told to drink ANY water much less that amount!?!?
Weird!
I just drank some, emptied my bladder halfway as needed. A lot of women get told that their bladder is too full anyways and sent to the bathroom. And as far along as you are you don't need a hugely full bladder to see the baby. Mine was almost empty at 12 weeks and they could see the baby fine!
Oh, and with a full bladder (especially since this is your second) it never hurts to have an extra change of clothes in the car and wear a pad, just in case.
Hi Crystal! Good luck on the ultrasound. I am a doctor and a mommy, and you actually do not have to have a full bladder for an ultrasound anymore. Maybe in the past before the technology improved so much it was necessary, but now the imaging is so good it is not necessary. And rest assured, ultrasounds are totally safe. I know that a lot of Christians are hesitant to have them done, but they are no more harmful to the baby than holding a banana next to your belly. My husband is also a doctor (and we are both Christians), and when we were at work at the hospital when I was pregnant, we would go to the radiology department and play around with the ultrasound machine to see what the baby was up to in utero. Pretty neat!
Valerie
Well, I can't relate to the pregnant part, but I can relate to the drinking water and holding it for awhile part.
I think Celina had good advice. And I would just say do the best you can.
But the reason why they do this is so the uterus shows up well on the ultrasound to get clear pictures of the baby. So you really are helping the ultrasonographer (and yourself) by doing it.
Sometimes they will let you empty your bladder part-way once a few images have been captured. Maybe you could ask. :)
I am sure it would be much worse being pregnant since the pressure from the uterus is weighing on the bladder already.
But try having someone inject fluid into your bladder (and then want to take pictures) that has not been used at all for over six years! Now that is painful! And in this case the bladder can only hold about a couple cc's (that's cubic centimeters) or militers of urine. Then you just dribble all over the flood as you hop to the restroom. :)
When pregnant with my twins I had 11 ultrasounds. Most unplanned due to the fact that they could not hear a heartbeat, cause my little boys liked to hide behind each other. I was "full enough" evidently. IMy body was so thristy all the time though. By the time I delivered at only 32 weeks, I was drinking at least 2 gallons of water a day and sometimes more.
Nevertheless, I lived in the bathroom.
Blessings on you with this pregnancy! And, drinking the water too! Celina had a good idea about drinking the water in smaller incriments too!
A story to make the ladies who have had the water and sonogram experience smile.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/51937/water_before_an_ultrasound.html
I never do it and things turn out just fine! I leave my home (about
45 minutes from the doctor) with a full 20oz bottle of water and drink it slowly finishing it right before I get to his office. I had my ultrasound last week and the baby looked great, no problems seeing him, etc.
I stopped after my first 5 children when I would arrive to the office to have to wait for 20-30 minutes before they would see me for my ultrasound. There were a couple of times that I went up and told them that if they didn't hurry, I was not going to last much longer! Ahhhh, the blessings of pregnancy! : )
Tracy
Well, I've never been pregnant but I have had a few ultrasounds for kidney and gallbladder issues. I didn't have to drink water for the gallbladder US, but I did for the kidney US. I didn't drink the entire recommended amount because I'm a big water drinker anyway. I still had to "go" mighty bad when the US was finished! Wooowee I've never been so happy to see a toilet!
Good luck on your ultrasound Crystal!
Crytal,
I really honestly and truly don't think you have to drink that much! ESPECIALLY since you are already so far along. They told me the same thing with my first and I was MISERABLE!! When I got to the back I told the tech that I didn't think I was going to make it through the ultrasound an I was definatly NOT going to be able to enjoy it and she looked at me and said, "yeah go ahead, I don't know who told you you had to drink water before you came" I was NOT happy to hear that but I have never been so glad to go to the bathroom! It is my understanding that they sometimes say that so that the baby gets pushed up enough for them to see it but I doubt that will be a problem since you're so far along already.
Hope this was helpful.
~Jen
Crystal,
I forgot to mention that they were able to see everything they needed to and I was only 11 weeks along with nothing in my bladder.
~Jen
That is is interesting they told you to drink so much! I had to have an ultrasound prepregnancy last year and they told me to drink about 16oz an hour beforehand. Then the tech checked some things and I was allowed to go before continuing the test. I have my big ultrasound next week at 21 weeks and this time, they just told be not to go for a hour beforehand.
Elissa
I got really lucky having a great tech and big kids so I never needed to drink that much! I had my first ultrasound at 10 weeks because I was big for dates and they thought it was twins (nope just one big kid!) You can do it, just don't think about how much you have to go to the bathroom!
My question is "Why does a 5 month pregnant woman HAVE to drink any water before having an ultrasound?" Did you notice that they don't even pay any attention to the bladder area? When I had mine done the Dr actualy had me go to the bathroom before he was done because I was so uncomfortable and he couldn't get the baby to move. And the high risk dr I saw didn't require a full badder at all at less than 3 mo. Something to wonder about.
Post a Comment
<< Home