Harvard Medical School Professors of Radiology Peter Doubilet and Carol Benson are a married couple with five grown children between them. They teach and see patients at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where Peter is Senior Vice Chair of Radiology and Carol is Director of Ultrasound and Co-Director of High Risk Obstetrical Ultrasound. While Peter and Carol are passionate about their research and teaching, they consider it their greatest privilege to be able to work with pregnant women and expectant couples, checking on their babies’ health and helping them get to know their babies before they are born.

Guest Bloggers Peter Doubilet and Carol Benson--

We are two radiologists, married to each other, whose careers have been devoted to obstetrical ultrasound for more than twenty years. This remarkable technology has revolutionized the way that doctors and midwives care for pregnant women, and has also given today’s parents an opportunity never before available in human history: the chance to see their baby and even begin to get to know him or her before the big arrival day. In our ultrasound practices, we are struck by parents’ hunger for even the smallest detail about their baby, which prompted us to give expectant parents a glimpse into the mysteries of the womb by writing Your Developing Baby.

Ultrasound technology relies heavily on computer power. Since the early to mid 1980’s, we have witnessed dramatic improvements in ultrasound that have paralleled the rapid increase in computer memory and speed over that time period. These improvements have included: (i) increased detail and clarity of conventional two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound images, which permit us to see the organs inside the developing baby; (ii) the development and refinement of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound, which provides pictures of the outside of the baby that are often striking and that have provided doctors with new ways to check on the baby’s development; (iii) the introduction of color Doppler ultrasound, which shows blood flowing inside the body, such as the blood flow in the baby’s umbilical cord.

These technological advances have translated directly into more and better ways that health care providers can use ultrasound in obstetrical practice. There are many reasons that doctors or midwives get ultrasounds on their pregnant patients. The reasons fall into two categories: scans done on women who are experiencing no problems, to check that the baby is developing normally; and scans done to assess a problem the mother is having. Regardless of the reason it is done, if an ultrasound detects an abnormality it can often direct the doctor or other caregiver to initiate appropriate treatment that improves the health, or even saves the life, of the baby or mother. Here’s an example:

Caitlin (fictionalized name) had a blood test during her pregnancy that showed that she had Rh antibodies in her blood which could potentially attack the red blood cells of her baby in utero, leading to life-threatening anemia. Her doctor began doing biweekly ultrasounds at 20 weeks of pregnancy to monitor the baby. At 26 weeks, Doppler ultrasound found that the blood flow pattern in the baby’s brain showed signs of anemia. Because of this finding, the doctor, guided by ultrasound, maneuvered a long, thin needle into the mother’s abdomen, through the wall of her uterus, and into the baby’s umbilical cord. He removed a sample of the baby’s blood, and a test of this blood confirmed that the baby was anemic. The doctor then did a blood transfusion, injecting red blood cells through the needle directly into the baby’s bloodstream. After two more transfusions during the pregnancy, Caitlin gave birth to her new son at 33 weeks. He had another blood transfusion right after birth, and, after spending three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, went home as a healthy baby. Caitlin’s doctor explained to her that if her pregnancy had occurred in the pre-ultrasound era, when the baby’s anemia could not have been diagnosed and treated, her baby might either have died in utero or been born with serious problems.

While ultrasound helps to improve the care of pregnant women when there is a problem, the large majority of ultrasounds, fortunately, are completely normal. When the ultrasound is normal, the parents-to-be are comforted by the scan and find it to be a thrilling event. They are excited to see the baby’s heartbeat – the pulse of a new life inside the mother’s body – and are fascinated by seeing images of the baby they may not meet for several more months.

About: Your Developing Baby, Conception to Birth is the first non-medical book to use such an extensive collection of state-of-the-art 2D and 3D ultrasound images paired with original labeled drawings that identify exactly what the reader is seeing. Reader-friendly explanations allow these remarkable images and diagrams to be understood with unprecedented clarity.

Every expectant parent wants to know: “How is our baby growing? What does our baby look like now?” In this book, the authors chart the extraordinary growth of the fetus throughout pregnancy, and 3D ultrasound images reveal stunning views of the outer contours of the face and limbs. Conventional 2D images (most useful to doctors) show the development of the internal organs, including the heart, brain and kidneys.

The book explains the dramatic developments that occur in the first trimester, as well as changes in form and function during the second and third trimesters. Readers will learn how the brain becomes organized for thought, and will see the lungs as they prepare for the first breath of air and the digestive system as it readies for the first swallow of milk. The authors describe the fascinating phenomena of multiple pregnancies and demystify some of the common diagnostic procedures anxious mothers often undergo, including amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). A chapter called “Knowledge is Power” offers compelling stories about expectant parents for whom ultrasound images have provided reassurance, others for whom this diagnostic procedure ensured their babies’ safe arrivals.

Related: Being Pregnant Does Not Mean You Need To Be Depressed

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Update on May 4, 2008 by At Basil & Spice

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