What is an ultrasound?

It can be performed anytime during pregnancy depending on the reason for testing. This procedure can take 10-30 minutes before the entire picture of the fetus and the maternal structures come on the screen. Ultrasound can be abdominal or transvaginal and either way it involves the use of a transducer and gel. The transducer is a probing device used to transmit high frequency sound waves that travel through the amniotic fluid and bounces off the curves and variations in bodies of both the mother and baby. The sound waves than translate into patterns of light and dark areas which appear as images of your baby on the screen and on film. This picture or image is called the sonogram.