EXPECTING your very own little bundle of joy?

Whitsunday Ultrasound can help put your worries to rest with their nuchal translucency scan service.

An ultrasound combined with a blood test, the scan assesses a pregnant woman's risk of having a baby with a major chromosomal abnormality.

The scan is performed between 11 weeks, zero days and 13 weeks, six days, while the blood test can be performed after 10 weeks - preferably three days before your ultrasound appointment.

The nuchal translucency is the fluid layer between folds of the skin on the back of the baby's neck which, when thickened at this time in a woman's pregnancy, can be associated with chromosomal anomalies, in particular Down Syndrome.

Every pregnant woman has an age-related or background risk of having a baby with Down Syndrome.

The ultrasound and blood test adjust this risk, with pregnancies deemed to be either high or low risk.

This gives your doctor the best information for making a decision on whether or not invasive testing is needed.

The ultrasound at this stage of the pregnancy is also a good time to confirm the baby's age, check for multiple pregnancies and assess for major anatomical abnormalities.

Whitsunday Ultrasound perform all types of pregnancy ultrasounds from dating scans to nuchal translucency, morphology and third trimester ultrasounds to check for growth. The clinic also looks after IVF patients for their pre and post-IVF planning and treatment.

Contact Whitsunday Ultrasound's Cannonvale Clinic on 4948 1000 or Bowen Clinic on 4785 1100 to make an appointment or find out more.