What Do All The Abbreviations And Markings Mean On Your ...

Usually, your ultrasound is going to be the first time you get to see your baby. That first glimpse of your developing newborn is exciting, but also a little scary. Envisioning who your little one will be is fun but can be nerve-wracking too.

Will they look like their mother or their father? Will they be healthy? What will their personality be like? Will they be smart or funny? 

When seeing the cryptic markings on the top and side of the ultrasound it’s easy to assume they are some kind of code for answers to those and other questions.

Parents often obsess over what their abbreviations mean and if they are some sort of foreshadowing to who their baby will become. 

What Do the Markings Mean?

As much as we’d like the strange mix of numbers and letters on an ultrasound to be a window into what our baby will be like in the future, more realistically they are codes and abbreviations used internally by ultrasound technicians to identify how the ultrasound was taken and to measure the fetus’ growth.

I can’t really see it

Unfortunately, most traditional ultrasounds do not deliver a very clear picture. Three-dimensional ultrasounds provide the most detailed look at your baby, but routine two-dimensional ultrasounds are usually provided in the early months of pregnancy because they are cheaper and more available for doctors to use.

The images in these ultrasounds are hard to read and most parents struggle to even identify the baby’s various body parts.

Because of this, parents look to codes and markings on the ultrasound to provide more insight into their child’s wellbeing and development. 

The Codes and Markings are For Internal Use

While the codes and markings are meant to be read by technicians and doctors, they do provide some vital statistics.

1. Name of the Mother and Date of the Scan

On most ultrasounds, you will see the name of the mother and the date the scan was taken on the top left part of the image.

It might also have the name of the doctor and the technician who conducted the scan. 

2. Gestational Age and Estimated Due Date

As your baby grows these dates might be altered but usually the first date is your baby’s gestational age and the date following it is the baby’s estimated due date.

3. The Baby’s measurements