I definitely have more respect for preggo women now...

[fireheart]

I had the same with the tech that did one years ago while I was miscarrying. The maneuvering sucked! Most painful thing I have ever experienced. The last trans-vaginal ultrasound I had was making sure that my abdominal pain wasn't an ectopic pregnancy or ovarian cancer, and that tech was absolutely lovely. The policy at that provider is self-insertion and removal under a sheet, which saves everyone a lot of time and hassle.

I might have to try that if I ever need one again. I probably will, since apparently my uterus was so far back that they couldn't get a clear shot with the abdominal ultrasound.

[fireheart]

So I had a followup with my GP (not the one who scheduled the ultrasound).

Everything else came out normal (including my bladder apparently ) apart from my ovaries.

Turns out I'd developed a number of cysts on my ovaries, albeit small ones. The tech report suggested PCOS, but I don't fit all of the criteria (apart from very recently, my bleeding has been fairly regular, and nothing has come up relating to male hormone levels). So at the moment, it's now wait and see.

[Sapphire Silk]

My doc said that the full bladder is to act as a magnifying glass for the uterus/ovaries. Also, the bladder is in front of the uterus normally.

When a woman is getting along in her pregnancy, the uterus moves towards the front, the bladder is underneath, so no need to fill the bladder. Not to mention that there's plenty of fluid in there already. Early on, this hasn't happened yet, so it would make sense that some pregnant women would need to drink and others would not.

Thus ends my shot in the dark.

Actually, you're pretty close. The bladder is not transparent, so it does not act as a magnifying glass so much as a placemarker. A full bladder makes it easier to tell the difference between the bladder and the uterus. When empty, the two organs are about the same size as one another, so it can be hard to tell them apart.

I had the fill your bladder ultrasound once (I was being tested for PCOS, don't have it), and it was awful. I had a hard time tolerating the wand sitting on top of my sore bladder.

Years later, I had to have another ultrasound to look at my uterus because I was hemorrhaging very badly (I nearly died from it), and they wanted to know where the bladder was. I was going into shock at the time, so they put a Foley catheter in my bladder, and used it to fill the bladder.

It took four techs to hold me down to put the Foley in (I might have been out of my head, but not that out of my head). I urinated around the catheter.

My uterus was stretched to about the size of being 3 months pregnant, it was that full of blood.

I had an emergency D&C to stop the bleeding, and was on birth control to regulate my hormones for about 3 months.

[Sparky]

I had two full-bladder ultrasounds (a month apart) once. Both were torture. The tech was new, and was having trouble finding my left ovary, which was playing hide and seek. She kept having to send out for help, so I was left lying on the table waiting. I didn't mind this so much, but while we were just waiting - not imageing anything - she kept resting the weight of her hand on my FULL bladder! I'd ask her to stop. She'd apologize and lift her hand ... for five seconds. Then she'd be doing it again. I was wearing my clothes, pants barely pulled down, and I was seriously worried I was about to pee all over them. I had to go back to work afterwards, so this would have been a real problem.

A few months later my doctor asked for another ultrasound. In his office. No full bladder. I could have kissed him.

[boringscreenname]

The only ultrasounds I have had done is during my 3 pregnancies. I never had to have a full bladder or drink a certain amount of water beforehand.

I did always drink some juice and caffeine shortly before the ultrasounds though, in hopes that it would wake the baby up and get them moving around, so we could get a peek at the gender though.

[cindybubbles]

I had to do the drink 1L of water before ultrasound for a kidney/bladder ultrasound. It was indeed torture.

I'm sure I broke the sound barrier running to the bathroom when it was over.

And not even 10 minutes after relieving myself and leaving the hospital, I had to pee again.

The one I had, two years ago, was moderate torture, since my problem was that I have to push to pee. Now that I also have frequency problems, I'm not looking forward to my ultrasound next week.

[Maria]

she kept resting the weight of her hand on my FULL bladder!

I had a tech who kept forgetting and doing this, one time. I later learned that this company's policy is to instruct patients to drink about 125% of the amount of water that's needed. That compensates for the fact that apparently everybody in the Phoenix area is chronically dehydrated, and just doesn't know it. Evidently I was the first patient they'd ever seen who prefers to stay well-hydrated, and one of the few to even follow instructions at all, so, when I drank exactly how much the paper said, it only took about three presses before, um well... Lake Maria. I don't know how others go through that successfully, it's quite amazing to me.