After my 20 week scan, there was a part of me that was a little gutted that we wouldn’t get to see any more photos of ‘bump’ before the big day! I had really enjoyed my previous scans, having had a private one at 10 weeks in addition to my routine 12 week scan, and my routine 20 week anomaly scan.
I had seen pictures from other peoples 4D scans, and had always been amazed by them, so when an offer appeared on Groupon with dates that worked for my pregnancy, it was too good an opportunity to miss!
The deal was for a 4D scan at Window to the Womb in Rugby www.windowtothewomb.co.uk/about-4d-scans The VIP Baby package – normally £250 was on offer for just £99 with the groupon voucher, so I decided to treat myself, who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to see the face of the baby they’ve been nurturing for months! 🙂
The VIP Baby Package consisted of the following:
•10 minute 4D scan recorded onto DVD to take away
•Optional sex determination
•One A4-sized print
•Six 6″ x 4″ colour prints
•Six key ring sized photos with three key rings
•CD-ROM of 3D colour images
•Customer holds photo copyrights
•Upgrades available for multiple births
•Free rescan if baby is in unscannable position
Window to the Womb specialises in both 3D and 4D ultrasound baby scans and uses state-of-the-art Voluson ultrasound scanners.
I really really enjoyed the experience, and found it such an exciting time. On arriving at the venue, we waited in the reception area with a number of other expectant parents. On the walls were lots of photo reviews from happy customers, showing their 4D scan picture against the photograph of their newborn baby once they had arrived. On some photos the similarity was uncanny!
Within a few minutes, we were called through to the treatment room, where there was a large sofa where my other half could make himself comfortable, as well as a big screen plasma TV where the images would be displayed. Two members of staff sat with us, one operating the Doppler and the other by the computer screen.
They made us feel immediately at ease, asking me about how my pregnancy had gone so far, and whether we knew the gender etc. One thing that I had been worried about was the optional sex determination – we had decided early on in my pregnancy that we didn’t want to find out the gender and therefore had not been informed at the 20 week scan. I was worried we might see ‘something’ by accident, and that the secret would be revealed! They were very sensitive to this, and asked us to look away whilst they located our baby on the screen, before advising when it was ‘safe’ to look. I really appreciated this. Obviously there was a slight risk we might have seen something by accident, and I must admit we did spend a bit of time watching the DVD afterwards convincing ourselves we’d spotted a willy, but clearly it was our imagination!
The scan included a variety of 2D and 3D imagery, flicking between what I would call ‘traditional’ scan images to the 3D colour images. The first view of my babies face bought tears to my eyes, we were lucky that my baby was in a great position, and so were able to get really clear photographs of her face. They took what seemed like hundreds of photographs, all of my baby with different facial expressions! Unfortunately my daughter did seem to like having her arm up by her face, and no matter how much I wiggled, she didn’t seem to want to move it! 🙂 Still the pictures were just amazing, and I was so in awe of the little person we had created!
Once the 10 minute scan was completed, they asked us to go and wait back in the waiting room whilst our DVD was processed.
Then came the most exciting part (and probably the hardest part!) of the scan process – picking which photos to get printed!!! We must have sat at that computer for around 20 minutes, making a note of the picture numbers we liked best – some looked like she was smiling, others she looked like me, one she looked like she was giving us the middle finger and one she looked so much like her dad it was quite scary!! After we reached our final decision, they then printed our chosen photographs on high quality photo paper.
Overall I really enjoyed having the 4D scan done, and as an experience for first time mums, I would totally recommend it. Would I have it again? Probably not, but it did make my first pregnancy just that little more magical! 🙂
Pros
- Amazing to see the features and face of your baby
- Comfortable room and attentive staff
- Large number of images taken – given to you on DVD so you can print additional copies as required.
- Ability to add background music of your choice (bring with you on CD) or Disney style music selected by them.
- Sensitivity around sex determination – respecting couples personal choice.
Cons
- Images may not be good if you have a lot of fluid in front of the baby, or if the baby is sitting in a strange position. Whilst they offer one free rescan, there is no guarantee of high quality images.
- As amazing as they are, there is something a little ‘alien like’ about the imagery! One of my friends was totally freaked out by the photograph when I had it on display in my lounge!!
- Our scan didn’t bear a very strong similarity to our daughter when she was born – although many do!
- Normally quite expensive, I would not have paid £250. However for the £99 Groupon deal, I felt this was reasonably good value for money.
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