Observing Pregnancy Stages Through Ultrasound

The ultrasound technology has evolved from the sonar used by the navies of the world in the Second World War. When the war was over, researchers started testing the sonar to check its effectiveness in diagnosing medical problems. Initially it was employed in the identifying cancers and such other growths that required close medical attention. It was only in the 1950s the medical fraternity acknowledged the usefulness of the sonar in capturing ultrasound images of pregnancy stages.

A series of extremely high frequency of sound waves make Ultrasound. Since these sound waves belong to a frequency that is unable to be heard by the human ear, they cannot be sensed by the patient or her fetus. An instrument referred to as a transducer, which resembles a stethoscope, is positioned on the abdomen of the woman. As high frequency sounds traverse her skin, and rebound off anything they contact within the abdomen, an image that looks like a blurry black and white picture is generated.

These images are today the recognizable ultrasound photos of the pregnancy stages. During the 1960s, the application of ultrasound became progressively more widespread. By that time, scientists had ascertained that the Doppler Effect could turn out pictures that are more precise provided the sound waves of high frequency were in constant movement.

Most people are familiar with the Doppler Effect as the sound of a horn drawing near them and then going away. As there is a variance in the approaching and receding sound, this technique was adopted to give rise to more precise pictures. In addition, this technique permits ultrasound images of the pregnancy stages to identify the fetus.

Purely by accident, a discovery was made that the finest ultrasound images of the pregnancy stages were generated when the technique was applied on women whose bladders were full. The employment of ultrasound is today a regular procedure in the field of obstetrics with women generally thrilled to see the earliest pictures of their babies.

Ultrasound pictures of the pregnancy stages are far more popular during middle and last trimesters of pregnancy. The fetus has grown quite large by then to be discovered without difficulty. In the course of the next few weeks, based on the fetus’s location, it is quite likely for a woman find out not just the child’s gender, but also the number of children she is carrying.

Then again, the information isn’t foolproof, since the photos can be confusing in the initial weeks of second trimester. While the fetus develops, its organs, head, legs, arms, fingers, and toes become more identifiable, and making out the fetus or fetuses gender becomes quite simple. Practicing physicians use ultrasound pictures during pregnancy stages to perceive likely problems that the fetus may face.