Week 12 Ultrasound – Fetal Nuchal Translucency Test Via Ultrasound

by Robb Sutton
12 Week Ultrasound Picture

Throughout the beginning pregnancy, it feels like you are constantly looking to that next hurdle to cross. One of the big ones is the fetal nuchal translucency test which is the prime reason for the 12 week ultrasound. The basic premise of the test is to measure the fluid at the back of the babies neck to screen for Downs syndrome. Last Friday, we went in to get that and some preliminary blood work done to test for a host of genetically transmitted things as well.

For some reason, I thought we were actually getting one of those 3D ultrasounds done, but…as it turns out…it was just your regular, run of the mill ultrasound. At first, I was a little bit disappointed, but then I remembered a conversation my wife and I had about the 3D ultrasounds. From the pictures we have seen, they look kind of weird! It is almost like we really are not supposed to see our babies that clear at this point in life. Once it is born…we will get to see it for the rest of it’s life in 3D anyway…so I focused on what we were there for and we got things rolling.

Seeing Your Baby As A Moving Human

When they first put your baby on the screen at 12 weeks (we were around 13 at the time), there was an incredible shock affect. This entire time, I knew there is a baby growing inside my wife, but it really doesn’t hit home until you see arms, legs, head, fingers and other real body parts for the first time. It really looks like a small human now! Our little one sat all nice and still while the tech took all of the measurements and everything looked great. After she was done, it was almost as if our baby knew “Hey! My job is done!” and it started twisting and moving all over the place! It really was crazy to watch and we found ourselves in a very quiet and peaceful ultrasound room as we got to watch our baby interact with its environment for the first time.

12 Week Ultrasound Picture

The tech then went on to take pictures of the legs, arms and brain. I made the typical new dad comment…”Look! A big brain just like dad’s!”. I am pretty sure I am not the first one to throw that comment out there and it completely backfired at checkout when I said something stupid and the nurse said…”Big brain like dad’s right?!” My wife loved it. It’s all good though…it’s my job to embarrass her anyway. The truth is…as a husband of a very intelligent, beautiful and driven wife, I hope our baby gets a lot of the characteristics that make her the incredible person she is.

After the ultrasound, we talked to the doctor and he confirmed that everything is perfectly on track. We discussed some more tests that are available and we decided to go ahead and get them done. Anything that is just a blood test and is non-invasive to the baby…we are going to complete even though it won’t change anything on our end unless it is completely life threatening.

In 6 weeks, we go back for more testing and the pinnacle moment in every pregnancy…finding out the sex.

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3 comments

Joel Williams April 21, 2011 - 7:50 pm

It was only a few months ago that we had that done, I still remember the feeling of hearing (and seeing) the heartbeat. I naively thought we’d find out the gender then, but we had to wait of course. I was a lot more nervous at the next one, as they took a lot more measurements for a long time and even though it didn’t matter either way what sex the baby would be, it was still nerve wracking for some reason! Hope all is going well with you all!

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Robb Sutton April 26, 2011 - 11:01 am

Thanks Joel! There are doctors that will guess at that point…but it is really just a guess. I have one friend of mine that the doctor told them it was a girl and it ended up being a boy at 18-20 weeks. He had a 50/50 chance right?!

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Joel Williams April 26, 2011 - 4:27 pm

Haha, yeah. I think they can always be wrong if they say it’s a girl, but if they think it’s going to be a boy it’s usually pretty obvious!

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