My Surprise Pregnancy: Why I Don't Recommend Early Ultrasound Scans

{'description': {'hasinlineimage': True}, 'p': ["As I'm writing this, I'm still trying to process the fact that I was expecting twins, but I gave birth to one. This is my story, and I'm sharing it in the hopes that it might help or support women who, like me, were searching for similar experiences during their pregnancy.", '', "I had a completely natural pregnancy, with no fertility meds, ovulation stimulation, or medical interventions. The only thing that might've influenced the simultaneous development of two eggs was that we were on a hot vacation at the time. Maybe my body, exhausted from the cold winter in central Russia, decided it was time to get down to business.", '', 'I wrote more about my pregnancy here and here.', "I found out I was pregnant by accident during an ultrasound. After the flight, my cycle got all out of whack, and I had a delay. Since I'd just gotten a new phone, all my apps, including my period tracker, were gone. I only vaguely remembered when my next cycle was supposed to start. So, two weeks after arriving, I booked an ultrasound appointment.", '', 'First ultrasound at 4-5 weeks.', 'Before the ultrasound, they asked me to take a pregnancy test. It showed two bright pink lines, but I was convinced it was just a hormonal imbalance from the time change and the flight (I had no pregnancy symptoms at all).', 'I went to a regular gynecological ultrasound to figure out what was going on with my cycle. And the doctor dropped a bombshell...', "- in the uterus, there's a fertilized egg !BEWARE! located on the front wall of the uterus...", '...about the size of...', "(unfortunately, I didn't make a copy of that ultrasound; I gave it to the hospital when I registered for prenatal care). So, on the very first ultrasound, the doctor saw only one fertilized egg on the front wall of the uterus. That's how I found out we were having a baby.", '', "Even back then, my close friend (a doctor with 11 years of experience and a mom of four) told me that absolute safety of ultrasounds at early stages is not proven, just like the negative consequences. But those consequences are all over women's forums. Hundreds of women share their stories about how their pregnancies either stalled or ended after an early ultrasound. Coincidence or cause? Science hasn't figured it out yet.", '', "I was taking HCG tests every four days after that ultrasound, and the levels were rising way too fast for a single pregnancy. Again, thanks to my friend's advice, I decided to have a second ultrasound at 8-9 weeks.", 'The result was...', '', '

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt turns out I was pregnant with twins, but by the time of the 5-6 week ultrasound, the second embryo had stopped developing and only one embryo was left, located on the back wall of the uterus.

Now that I\'ve gained some perspective, I\'m starting to wonder if that first ultrasound might have had some negative impact on the development of one of the embryos. Maybe I\'m just being paranoid, and my body just didn\'t have enough progesterone for a multiple pregnancy...

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When I asked gynecologists and ultrasound specialists if an early ultrasound could have affected the development of one of the embryos, they all said it was possible, but they couldn\'t be sure. One doctor told me that the risks of ultrasounds at early stages are still unknown, and another said that it could have been a coincidence. I was left with more questions than answers.

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As it turns out, my family has a history of single pregnancies, and my gynecologist suggested that the hot climate and lack of stress might have triggered the simultaneous development of two eggs.

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I went on to have five more ultrasounds, and each time, I was reassured that everything was fine. But I couldn\'t shake off the feeling that something was off.

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I\'m not against ultrasounds; in fact, I think they\'re an essential diagnostic tool. But I do think that they should be used with caution, especially at early stages.

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My sixth and final ultrasound was done when I arrived at the hospital with contractions. They estimated the baby\'s weight to be 3000-3100 grams, but I ended up giving birth to my little one weighing 3810 grams. Oops, looks like I was wrong!

I\'m repeating myself, but it\'s essential to have ultrasounds during pregnancy, and it\'s the only way to get an accurate diagnosis. However, I wouldn\'t recommend having ultrasounds without a medical reason, especially at an early stage.

Thanks for reading! I hope everything goes smoothly during your ultrasound!

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