Ultrasounds are about the easiest test that you can have done in a hospital, and they don't hurt at all. Also, a good part about an ultrasound is that it can tell the doctors a lot about whatever problem you may have with your intestines or in other abdominal areas. So, first of all when you go to have an ultrasound, you (of course) check in at the desk, then you go to the waiting area where they may have a TV or magazines to catch your interest. Then, after a half hour or so of waiting, the nurse calls you, and yes, your parent or guardian is allowed to go with you in the room. The room that you go into will be dark but not pitch-black. There will be a bed and a computer with a lot of gadgets on the "keyboard" part of it. So, you will lie down on the bed and lift up your shirt (you don't have to take it off). The special kind of nurse called an ultrasonographer takes this thing that looks like a white square block with a cord connected to the computer, and puts some goopy stuff on the end of it. Normally the ultrasonographers heat the goop up so that it isn't cold when they put it on your skin. After that, they apply the white block with the goop on it to your skin and turn the computer so that you can also see what the inside of you looks like. This process has absolutely no needles involved, just to remind you. Sometimes they might have to press kind of hard on your stomach in case they can't quite see what they need to, but after that, the ultrasonographer will leave through a different door to tell the doctor, a radiologist, that your pictures are done. Then the doctor will come in and talk with you and set up what needs to be done from there. After that you get to wipe off your belly even though it will still feel wet, and it's time to go home!

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