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U/S and heartbeat
So I was talking to a friend earlier today who is pregnant (6 weeks ahead of me). She said her DR did a u/s and she saw the heartbeat at 7.5 weeks. When I called my DR to set up my frist appointment a few weeks ago they said I would not be getting an u/s at my appointment next week (I'll be 7 weeks next week). I have also read online that after you hear the heartbeat your chance of having a miscarriage drop from 20% to 3% (or something like that), which is why I thought many wait until after hearing/seeing the heartbeat to tell friends/family. Also I've been reading online and it seems like many hear/see the heartbeat early, like at 7-11 weeks. After talking to my friend I called the DR back today to confirm that I'm not getting an u/s.
The receptionist said I would not be getting an u/s until about 21 weeks! 21! Due to insurance companies not wanting to pay before that unless I have spotting, unsure of my date of last period etc. Also I mentioned to the receptionist that it would be nice to do the u/s to try and see the heartbeat so that I could tell friends/family since my chance of miscarriage would drop and she said that it's absolutely not true that your chance of m/c drops after hearing/seeing the heartbeat. I'm confused I guess. I guess I'll just wait to talk to the midwife, but seriously I don't want to wait until 21 weeks for an u/s. Is that normal?? I'm thinking of just playing dumb and pretending I don't know when my last period was, so they can do an u/s and insurance can pay for it. 
Re: U/S and heartbeat
Totally normal. I had one u/s at 20 weeks and one at 40 weeks 1 day (only because I was over due and then they figured out that he was huge and decided i should be sliced open).
I think my first appointment was around 12 weeks and we could hear the heartbeat then.
Hmm so I'm assuming they'll try and listen to the heartbeat another way then? Besides just an U/S? I obviously need to read up on this stuff more.
Oh! Well I wish the receptionist would have mentioned that! I was obviously concerned about hearing the heartbeat when I called. sheesh! That makes me feel better.
I actually called around to find a practice that did early ultrasounds (my office does them at 8 weeks if insurance pays) because I could not share the news with family until we had more certainty. I've been lucky enough to have had 4 u/s so far (8, 10, 12 & 18 weeks)... 10 weeks was because they couldn't hear the heartbeat with the doppler at my first appt and weren't going to leave me hanging.
For some people, it's really hard to hear the heartbeat and you might not be able to at 7 weeks. Everyone is different. The first time I heard the heartbeat was at my 14 week appt and that took a lot of time to find.
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I only got an u/s to date the pregnancy (due to them going by a 28 day cycle and me going by my real life cycle... I was more accurate for the record). Turns out there was a 2 week difference and I got to freak out for nothing. I got to hear the hb at 8 weeks at the u/s, and again at my 12 week appt. on the doppler. I already can't wait to hear it again.
I was told the statistics are something like this: Risk of m/c before seeing/hearing a hb = 25%. Risk of m/c after seeing/hearing a hb before 11ish weeks = 10%. Risk of m/c after seeing/hearing a hb after 11ish weeks = 2%. So, there are a lot of people out there who see the hb at 7 or 8 weeks and still have a m/c.
I saw the hb at 6 and 7-1/2 weeks because I was seeing an RE for infertility. I was also seeing a counselor who specialized in IF and told me not to get excited until I was after 11 weeks AND saw/heard a hb.
It's almost impossible to hear a heartbeat with a doppler before 10 weeks. Even after that, it's tricky for a few more weeks. Most OBs don't do an ultrasound just to see the heartbeat unless you're at 12 or more weeks and they can't find it with the doppler; even then they may wait until your 16 week appointment and try again.
When I was pregnant I got my first OB appointment at 10-1/2 weeks (the office recommended between 10 and 12 weeks and I couldn't wait!), my OB was able to find the heartbeat with the doppler while shoving his fingers up into my nether regions to push my uterus forward, and even then it took 10 minutes to find it.
If you elect to have the first trimester NT screening, you'll get an ultrasound for that at around 12 weeks. Your insurance may or may not pay for it.
After that, you'll get an anatomy screening at around 20 weeks. That's it unless you have a medical need for another one.
I had a quickie ultrasound with a portable machine right before my induction to make sure that DD wasn't breech, but by that time I didn't even care to look at the pictures since I was so close to seeing her in person!
I had a "dating" u/s at 9 weeks, to determine a due date. My insurance only covers 80% for ultrasounds, so I was stuck with a bill for that. (it moved my due date from May 3rd to April 30th... big deal!) and the baby literally looks like a gummy bear.
I have a niece with a severe genetic disorder, so we elected to do some testing - this included u/s, bloodwork and more bills from insurance. The screening results were a less reassuring than we had hoped, so I had an amnio (with another u/s, and a HUGE bill - as in we'll be making payments to two different offices for the next several months, big) then the specialist's office still felt the need to do the standard 20-ish week u/s (you guessed it, another bill).
Then, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and my belly measured slightly ahead of schedule two weeks in a row, so they did a growth ultrasound which determined that he's slightly bigger than average (I have yet to be billed for that).
Finally, I am now being monitored more closely for my GD, including WEEKLY amniotic fluid checks via u/s, they literally just look at the pockets of fluid, no fun stuff. Next week, they'll do ANOTHER growth u/s - I'm really hoping to go into labor before Thursday, to skip it and the bill.
So, fewer ultrasounds are definitely better - and my pregnancy hasn't really been "complicated" AT ALL.
It's WAY cooler to hear the heartbeat on the doppler than it is to "hear" the u/s machine mimic it anyway.
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I had my appointment, they determined I needed a dating u/s since I had no idea when my last period was (hey... I was working at a summer camp and responsible for 20 5 year olds, 5 days a week... I didn't have time for that! lol) and that was when they found out I was 9 weeks along... and having twins...
at one of my consecutive appointments, they couldn't find the heartbeat on the doppler and I just had to hang in until the next appointment...
I had an u/s at 14 weeks for genetic disorders(where they could only do half of it because they couldn't get Jack to flip the right way), then the 20 week anatomy scan, a follow up for an anomaly in Keaghan's brain, then u/s every 2 weeks for the last 3ish months? because of the twin thing and Keaghan's brain (but they totally missed his heart thing...) and then towards the end more frequently because of the pre-e and extra NSTs...
but from what I have heard of from "normal" pregnancies... its just the doppler until the 20 week u/s and thats it unless you are overdue or they have to check something...
This is what we were told, too. I don't think we saw Felix's hb until 9 weeks. I was lucky (sort of) and had ultrasounds almost every appointment, but that's also because they had to keep an eye on my fibroids.
Everything PP's said.
We heard one HB at our 10 week appt (it was hard to find as it still is a little early). I was then offerred the NT Scan. Honestly I only did it for selfish reasons. I couldn't wait for the standard 20 week anatomy scan to see the baby (at that point we still only thought 1 since the OB could only pick up one HB). I am so glad I did or else I wouldn't have found out until I was 20 weeks that there were 2 babies.