Ultrasounds and Pregnancy

Do you need an ultrasound if you’re pregnant?

Around Vibrant Life Center lately, we are all talking babies and pregnancy.  I can finally say without ruining any surprise, our wonderful Dr. Fleming is expecting.  As such, we’ve got a plethora of “what about this?” and “what about that?” questions during pregnancies that have come up.   The “Do I need an ultrasound?” question comes up for every mom.

Excellent question.  Before I go into the research that supports one decision or the other, it’s perhaps more important to acknowledge that if you’re having your baby in a hospital with typical obstetrician, the environment in which today’s medical system runs dictates what happens, not you.  You will be required to get one to work with virtually any OB in the area.  This sort of renders the question moot for most.  And, we're not practicing obstetrics here, so take what you read here and use it as with everything else. Weigh what everyone says and determine what is true yourself. Trusting the "experts" has been shown to be very dangerous lately. You are responsible for your health.

If you’re the “crunchy” type and having babies at home with a lay midwife or doula, you may not need this information. But, just for exercise, let’s take a look at what the outcomes are for pregnancies with and without ultrasounds along the way.   I’ll cut to the chase:  There are no differences in outcomes. Here’s one version of that; Midwifery Today Prenatal Ultrasound Does Not Improve Perinatal Outcomes The heart and science of birth Even if you go to sites that ARE traditionally very pro medical procedures, they can’t point to any definitive benefit for uncomplicated pregnancies other than lowering the anxiety of the new mother and preparing the birth team for what may be a difficult delivery.  What they DO identify and it's a big downside is about a 1 out of 11 chance the ultrasound will find something wrong that isn’t wrong at all.  Once that happens, you’re up for the next procedure, replete with its OWN false positives and anxieties.   False positive morphologic diagnoses at the anomaly scan: marginal or real problem, a population-based cohort study | BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | Full Text   This paper’s conclusion is doing these may cause further testing and MORE anxiety for the new mother.

This doesn’t render the technology bad.  It’s a great tool for diagnosing and solving problems.  Pregnancies for moms in their 40s DO have more complications. There are a handful of other reasons to employ this technology.  Routine, uncomplicated pregnancy isn’t one of them.

I recall back in 1990 when my wife was pregnant, knowing this, we didn’t do an ultrasound.  The OB and his nurse midwife then insisted we do at least some lab work just to “make sure” everything was fine.  I thought, well, it’s just a maternal blood sample, what possible mayhem could come of that?  Sure enough, they called my wife, I think 16 or so weeks pregnant, that due to the results of the blood test she needed to come in for an amniocentesis (where you stick a needle through the stomach and into the placenta to draw amniotic fluid for testing) because the alpha fetoprotein test was positive for likely spina bifida, a crippling spinal cord problem where it is outside the spine itself.  They just called my wife on the phone to deliver this news.  I came home to my wife crying and very upset and worried.   That next test they wanted to do because of the first test results, was amniocentesis, it had a 10% miscarriage rate at the time. This was just outrageous to me.  I thought by just doing non-invasive tests, they’d be satisfied.  But, the goal is further testing, further testing.  And, the real problem was the alpha fetoprotein test result itself.  It has a false positive rate of 50%!  Meaning, we could’ve skipped the test and flipped a coin and been just as accurate. They did not communicate this to the expectant mother.  This was done to coerce her into the next test, amniocentesis, which is very dangerous.   The end of this story is as you’ve likely heard before, the baby was fine.  There was no spina bifida. The lesson is, it’s not always the test that’s dangerous, it’s the results and what they do with them. The force that runs most of medicine is a mix of trying to help, defense of potential malpractice and the need to be profitable.  Medicalization of the normal birth process… is driven by that too.  There is no acknowledgement in medicine that you are made perfectly.  You were designed to be healthy.  And perfectly designed to get pregnant and create a new human and perpetuate humanity.  Medicine would have you believe that to get pregnant and have a healthy baby is against all the odds. You could hardly be trusted to do this on your own without medicine’s “help”.  

Medicine is a wonderful science if you are in a crisis or have an accident.  Its intrusion into every normal function “just in case”, results in more testing, procedures, injury and even deaths.  There’s nothing in medicine that can possibly make anyone healthier. It may stop some dying, but it doesn't make you healthier in any case. Medicine intervenes, interrupts, amplifies, attenuates… to do these things you must by definition think whatever’s happening is wrong.  That could very well be true if you’re bleeding to death, get exposed to some chemicals and have an allergic reaction that may block your airway.... an actual crisis. Thank God there is a thing called an Epi pen.   Very little of medicine is crisis intervention though. Our culture has been conditioned to believe we'd all die tomorrow were it not for medical interventions like Simvastatin.  Mostly, procedures are done and medications prescribed that interfere with normal processes. 

If you watched Rand Paul question the former HHS Secretary yesterday, "Why are babies of Hep B negative moms given a Hep B vaccine on day 1?", you saw firsthand this is true.  Dr. Monarez could not come up with any medical reason at all, but defended the practice as still necessary. There is no medical benefit or reason for it.  It’s not just this situation, but if you look at procedures commonly done in medical settings, many (some estimates are as high as 50%) have no health reason whatsoever.  But, I digress….

You are enough. You have what it takes. You are wonderfully made. Rather than thinking you’re broken and meant to be sick or incomplete.  And, that you can’t be healthy without the help of medicine…. Consider instead that you won the genetic lottery.  You are made perfectly.  ALL of your ancestors survived dinosaurs, apparently an asteroid causing an ice age, many plagues, saber tooth tigers, wooly mammoths and every other malady or peril that has beset humanity since the beginning of time.  Your genes have been selected for this time.  Your progeny will be selected as well.  Have some faith in the Power that made the body and heals the body.  Whatever you decide with respect to a sonogram will be right for you. Trust your mom instinct.

Blessings,

Dr. Barrett