Since the late 1950s, doctors and hospitals have used visual ultrasound to detect and measure unborn babies for health risks and to monitor growth. More recently, ultrasound technology has become available to everyone, in the form of a fetal doppler ultrasound. You can check up on your baby from the comfort of your own home, listening to your baby’s heartbeat, and letting others listen as well. Many people enjoy using a fetal doppler ultrasound for reassurance of the baby’s safety, and to appreciate the new, unborn life.
If you’re wondering how a fetal doppler works, then you might think it has something to do with the Doppler Effect – which it does. The ultrasound sends out high-frequency sound pulses through your stomach using a probe, and the pulses have different frequencies, depending on how far they travel. Motion causes a change in the frequency of the pulses, and the ultrasound detects this change, known as the Doppler Effect. The ultrasound sends and receives millions of pulses and echoes each second, and interprets the different intensities. The Doppler Effect allows you to hear this frequency change, which comes from your baby’s heartbeat.
If you want to get a doppler ultrasound for your baby, you have the choice of either buying or renting the device. With some companies, your rental payments will apply toward buying the ultrasound, if you consider it a good investment. Depending on the quality of the ultrasound, you may pay between $20 and $50 per month in rent. Usually, you pay one month’s rent at a time, so you’re not stuck with the device if you find you don’t want it for that long. Buying an ultrasound might cost around $400-$500 or more.
In addition to listening to your baby’s heartbeat, on some doppler ultrasounds, you can also record, save, and e-mail the heartbeat to your friends and family — now that’s something most people won’t expect to find in their inbox. If you’re musically inclined and record music on a computer, you might even figure out a way to use the sound as a syncopated drumbeat behind your melody. Just think – your child could be on the billboard before she’s even born.
For most people, however, listening to their baby’s heartbeat gives more than enough satisfaction in itself. You can also rest assured because the FDA has approved in-home ultrasounds, and doctors use the same technology in hospitals, too. When you receive your ultrasound, you may want to bring it to your doctor when you go for a check-up, and he or she can give you some tips on how to place it most effectively on your stomach so you can locate the heartbeat more easily.
The baby will have a faster heartbeat (120-180 beats per minute) than your own, so you can usually distinguish between the two. The heartbeat can also change frequently at different times of day — this is normal. Sometimes you can’t hear the heartbeat if the baby has gotten into a different position, or if the baby is very active. Other times, you can pick up the heartbeat in two different places. You will know if you’re carrying twins, however, because the heartbeats will have two different pulses.
By Lisa Zyga