Baby Pictures Before Birth

Baby Batman isn't scheduled to be born until February 24, but his mom already knows what he looks like.

Allison Batman of Spring City recently was at a new business, Mommy's First Glance 3D/4D Ultrasound in Lower Pottsgrove Township, where she saw images of her unborn baby.

Batman said such technology -- that includes detailed still shots and moving images -- wasn't offered when she was pregnant with her daughter Kaytlin, now 12 years old.

"With Kaytlin, I had (two-dimensional) ultrasound," she said. "You could see the head and spine but that was about as good as you could get." 

Batman saw the first images of the boy she's carrying at 29 weeks gestation.

"It was just neat to put a face to him," Batman said. 

Batman was surprised by the difference between her two ultrasound sessions.

"His face is getting fuller," she said while watching the more recent images of her unborn son.

Diana Stephens, CEO of the local Mommy’s First Glance franchise, said she prefers to capture three and four-dimensional ultrasound images of an unborn baby before it reaches 34 weeks gestation. Beyond that age, the fetus is quite large for its environment and typically in a tough position for a picture.

"They're losing space in there," Stephens said. 

Stephens said many parents feel more bonded to their baby upon seeing images of it before it's born.

"You can see them yawn and stretch," she said and added that sometimes a baby won't cooperate for the images. "I can't promise a perfect face shot."

Stephens was inspired to enter the ultrasound business after she went to a similar facility in Reading when she was pregnant with her son Mason, now a little over a year old.

"I was interested in being an ultrasound technician ... but not in a hospital," she said. "This in an elective ultrasound. You're a photographer taking pictures of the baby before the baby actually gets here." 

Unlike most medical ultrasounds, Mommy's First Glance isn't covered by insurance, said Stephens, who speaks English and Spanish.

"And I don't require (the mother) to have a full bladder like doctors do," she said.

Picture packages range from about $85 to $135.

To capture the images, the mother is positioned in a bed facing a 48-inch flat screen that shows images of the fetus.

The imaging room at Mommy's First, 3277 W. Ridge Pike, comfortably seats five people and offers "sonostream" or real time footage that allows the mother to share the ultrasound experience with family or friends who cannot be at the session.

South Coventry Township residents Danielle Kinney and her husband Harry have two daughters and a son. 

Recently, they were at Mommy's First Glance where they saw images of the newest addition to their family, a little girl.

"I feel so much more connected to her," said Danielle Kinney at about 22 weeks into her pregnancy.

She was eager to show her children the latest images of their sibling.

"I think it's their way to connect as well," she said of her kids. "They can see their baby. It's a big deal to them."

Two-dimensional ultrasounds appear more like an X-ray or a "bag of bones," Harry Kinney said. 

"We didn't have the three-D with our other children," Harry Kinney said of Kaylee, Alleigh and Gabriel who range in age from 11 to 6 years old. "So this is amazing."

Danielle and Harry Kinney said the baby's name is a combination of letters from their children's names. But the exact spelling is a secret until the little girl is born, which is expected to be on May 18.

"I am still so shocked by this technology," said Danielle Kinney while watching her baby move around inside her. "It just creates this amazing bond ... This is my little girl. I can't believe it."