The ultimate guide to making your own ultrasounds!
At last! The Babywatcher has arrived. It is so special to look at the baby in your belly. Don't know yet how to make an ultrasound? Anyone can do it, we promise! With our tips, we will help you to make the best ultrasound scans.
1. Relax and enjoy!
Make sure you are relaxed. Take it easy, and especially take your time when you start babywatching. Sit or lie back and relax, as this is the best way to see your baby from all sides. A nice advantage: as soon as you relax, your baby will probably become more active. Then, of course, it is even more fun to admire the little one.Tip! Drink a glass of water to ensure that your bladder is full. The uterus moves closer to the belly, making it easier to see your baby.
2. Scangel? A probe? Help! How does it work?
Let's start with the scangel. This gel ensures a perfect connection between your skin and the Babywatcher scanning head (also called a probe). Simply put: the scangel provides the image. The amount of gel you use depends on how far along you are. A large, round belly needs more scangel than a beginning one. Do you feel that the probe no longer slides easily? Then apply some extra gel. Better too much than too little. 😉 Then there is the probe. Slide it over your belly and move slowly! To get lovely, good images, you should put some pressure on your stomach. Look for your baby. He or she may be lying horizontally or vertically, so it is sometimes more convenient to rotate the probe.3. Where to start?
Where the baby is located depends on how many weeks you are pregnant. Where exactly you place the probe on your belly to watch the baby is also related to this. The shorter your pregnancy, the lower you start. Your uterus and baby are still tiny at the beginning of your pregnancy, and the baby is still very low. Around 12 weeks, you will start far below the navel, around the pubic bone. From week 16, you can place the probe higher but still below the navel. This is the starting point of your search until about week 24. The bigger the baby, the further up you go. From now on, you start searching around the navel. From week 28 (your baby has grown considerably by now), place the probe between the navel and ribs. It is great fun to search for your little one; enjoy!4. Hello, baby!
The search has begun, but you have no idea what you are looking at? Don't worry! Sometimes it takes a while to recognise the baby. It's essential to be patient and, above all, to keep practising taking ultrasound scans. Exactly what you see depends on your baby's position. We'll give you some significant landmarks:- White: These are the baby's bones. The spine, vertebrae, and phalanges are easy to recognise.
- Black: Cavities containing fluid, such as the ventricles, eyes, and stomach, are black. The amniotic fluid is also black.
- A blinking spot: this is your baby's beating heart.
- Circles: convex (often moving) circles are often the hands or feet. A larger round contiguous piece is the skull. If the baby is lying towards the belly, you can recognise the round eye sockets in it.
