Dirty Laundry: Looking at Your Unborn Baby in 4-D

Many parents remember those first grainy, Skeletor-like images of their unborn child. From the moment we get those slick printouts, we show them off despite our offspring’s freaky-looking state, convinced it’s the cutest fetus ever.

With each successive ultrasound, I held my breath, hoping all major organs, fingers and toes were there. We had one scare when the ultrasound tech couldn’t locate a vital organ in our second child. Our doctor had us wait a month before scheduling another look.

That was a long month, but all our baby’s insides eventually appeared.

In the four years since then, ultrasounds have changed. Now it is possible to see realistic, filled-out images resembling cloudy Gerber babies.

In fact, the whole notion of peeking inside the womb has gone commercial. In several cities it is a theatrical production playing at the local mall. Expectant moms, some with entourages in tow, step inside a booth run by the same woman who may have been piercing tweens’ ears last week. She glides the ultrasound wand over the jelly-coated belly, and parents-to-be can buy a $200-plus photo and video package of their little bun in the oven.

There are a few big players in the market of ultrasound portrait studios, which have hundreds of franchise stores nationwide. They’ve touched off a firestorm in the medical community, which has led some states to propose bans on the photo boutiques.

“I think the whole childbirth experience is something to be celebrated and shared,” said Wendy Grich, one of the owners of Expectations, in St. Louis County, Mo. Grich has 22 years of experience as a diagnostic medical sonographer. Other commercial ultrasound studios simply require a week of training before opening up shop. That has doctors such as Raul Artal, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Louis University Hospital, very concerned.

Although ultrasound technology, which works using reflected sound waves to create a picture, has been used safely for years, the process does expose the fetus to heat.

“The misuse of equipment can result in fetal damage,” Artal said. Asked if he would sign a waiver allowing one of his patients to get the photo made (something the commercial operations require), he replied: “Absolutely not.”

Doctors usually order the traditional ultrasound test at least once, at about 20 weeks gestation, which is done in a medical setting and helps determine the size of the baby and allows a check for birth defects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American College of Radiology and the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine, all have advised against using ultrasound machines for nonmedical purposes.

Technically, some places require a waiver from a doctor to get the procedure. But there’s usually a loophole. Just bring a picture of a second-trimester ultrasound to “prove” you’re receiving medical care.

That’s what Kristen Kreher, 24, did. She and her husband, Terry, recently signed up for the ultrasound package at Expectations. They haven’t been able to decide on a name and thought seeing their baby girl’s face would help.

The ultrasound room is large, with a comfy sofa, a high-resolution projector and a wall-sized, retractable screen. There is an initial check of the fetal heart rate. Corporate headquarters provides procedures about what to do if the “photographer” discovers a possible tragedy _ how to alert the mom’s doctor without tipping off the parents until the doctor can do a medical evaluation. They also say they send questionable images to a supervising doctor on-call elsewhere.

After the heart rate check, the lights dim, and the show begins. A huge image of a what looks like a baby tangled in a spider web pops up. The cloudy patch over her face is the placenta, we’re told.

She waves her hand and seems to smile.

“Does she look like a Haley?” Kristen asks her husband.

“No, I really don’t think so,” Terry says, as he strains to make out the facial features.

In trying to turn a medical moment into a Hallmark one, the whole thing can seem a bit intrusive. But we live in a need-to-know-NOW culture. And where there is a need, there are plenty of people ready to cash in. Kristen and Terry said they enjoyed the experience, but never got a clear look at their daughter’s face. They’ve decided to name her once they meet her in person.

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(Aisha Sultan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Contact her at asultan@post-dispatch.com.)

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(c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Visit the Post-Dispatch on the World Wide Web at www.stltoday.com. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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