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We ask that you to fill your bladder by drinking a pint of water before the scan.
This makes it easier to see the uterus and ovaries as the full bladder pushes away the overlying bowel area.
Whatever the reason, an early dating scan can give you peace of mind that all is well with your pregnancy and also ensure that you don’t miss out on the early first trimester screening tests that are available.
A scan can also help you bond with your baby and help you to relax and start enjoying being pregnant.
The software has certain measurement scales based on data from large populations, and your baby’s measurements are put into this scale.
In other words, by comparing your baby’s measurements to the data from this large collection of measurements, the ultrasound can then tell how far along your baby is.
Normally, ultrasounds before until week 4 of pregnancy shows nothing in the uterus and serve no purpose.
On some occasions it is still difficult to see and so we may ask if a more detailed internal ultrasound scan can be done trans-vaginally.
This is a simple procedure and does not cause any pain or harm to the pregnancy.
When an ultrasound is performed, measurements of the head, abdomen, thigh, and amount of amniotic fluid are done.
These measurements are computed automatically in the ultrasound machine’s software.