What Can An Ultrasound Tell You?

In order to empower women to make the best possible choices about their healthcare Front Royal Pregnancy Center offers free and confidential ultrasound exams for those who come in for a pregnancy test.

A limited OB Ultrasound is a medical diagnostic procedure and quick and simple way to provide women with important information about their pregnancy.  This procedure answers such important questions as:

1. Where is the pregnancy located?  A healthy pregnancy is in the uterus, but up to 2% are located elsewhere.  When a pregnancy occurs outside of the uterus, as happens in ectopic pregnancies, the woman can experience serious complications and require medical care.  

2. How far along is the pregnancy? During the scan the sonographer will make dotted lines or marks on the screen.  These are measurements that are used to determine the gestational age of the pregnancy.  This information can give a more accurate picture of how long the woman has been pregnant, which in turn impacts healthcare choices moving forward.   

3.  Is the pregnancy viable?  From knowing the location of the pregnancy and how far along it is, the woman can be given information on whether her pregnancy is proceeding normally and has not ended in miscarriage.  Up to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and in some less common cases women experience a silent miscarriage in which they continue to experience pregnancy symptoms without any signs of a miscarriage.  If the miscarriage continues undetected it can pose serious complications to the woman.  The most common way to determine viability is to measure the Fetal Heart Rate.

The answers to each of these questions will impact the choices women and their healthcare providers make. Performing ultrasound exams during pregnancy is a very safe and painless procedure and uses no radiation exposure.  The type of ultrasound performed at Front Royal Pregnancy Center is different from so called “recreational” or “keepsake” ultrasounds; our ultrasounds are performed by nurses trained according to the guidelines put forward by the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and the results are read by a board certified MD.  

If you think you may be pregnant and would like to confirm the pregnancy through a urine test and ultrasound, please contact us at 540-635-6181 to schedule your free appointment.  We are committed to educating women through the process and treating them with respect and compassion.