Worthy of Consideration…
October 20, 2007 by journeytocrunchville
What pregnant mother doesn’t enjoy getting to see her baby for the first time via ultrasound and to share those pictures with family and friends? Or hearing their babies heartbeat for the first time? These practices are so routine within prenatal care that one hardly gives them a second thought. I know I certainly didn’t lose sleep over it during my pregnancy with Camden.
However, I read an article tonight that is quite compelling in its arguments. While I haven’t gone to any of the original sources or studies yet, the argument that these very routine procedures in industrialized nations could be one of the links between the rise in autism and birth defects has given me much to think about (and yet one more topic to study).
I would be interested in locating a study of the occurence of autism and the other birth defects mentioned in a control group of pregnant mothers that did not undergo ultrasounds or doppler use.
Here is the ARTICLE. It is from Winter 2006.
P.S. That is Cami in utero.
We didn’t have ultrasounds with our first two. We homebirthed them all, but did have one with the third for fun really, and with the fourth my appendix ruptured. No way around it! LOL! We will probably opt not to have one in the future. ((((HUGS))))) sandi
I have heard that some moms are actually disturbed by the ultrasound image, thinking that it is something sacred they aren’t meant to see. Personally I didn’t have a problem with it but I understand why someone else might feel this way.