When someone asks me, “What are you having?” I almost want to give them my drink order. How many times do people ask pregnant women this question? It is clearly assumed in our culture that everyone has had at least one ultrasound, although the benefits and the risks of ultrasounds are not are not fully known.
Although I can’t measure things like damage to hearing or increased health care costs, I can share with you what I have seen happening as a result of the early ultrasound. Many ultrasounds are done at the end of the first trimester. Later, that information is used against mothers, to pressure them into induction according to the ultrasound-determined due-date. Yes, they harness the excitement of early pregnancy and turn it into evidence for starting that cascade of interventions!
When people asking me what I’m having, I cheerfully tell them,
“A Baby!”