[by Theresa Juva, lohud.com]
Written by
Theresa Juva
The image of eyes, a nose and a mouth take shape on a large, flat-screen TV in a dimly lit room.
Susanna Salmeron, 22, and Victor Rebatta, 23, hold hands and watch in amazement as their unborn baby boy opens his mouth and squirms.
Salmeron, who lives in the Bronx, is not due to give birth until September, but thanks to 3D/4D ultrasound, she and Rebatta already have a fascinating view of their baby in action.
“I can’t wait for him to be here already,” said Rebatta, an Elmsford resident, after a session at Beautiful Beginnings, an elective 3D/4D ultrasound studio in Scarsdale. “It’s a peek to see what he’s going to look like.”
3D/4D ultrasound allows doctors to check for fetal anatomical abnormalities with three-dimensional pictures and live, moving images of the baby in the womb. But the growing prenatal portrait industry is also promoting the technology as a way for parents to bond with their unborn babies.
Facilities offer plush couches, soothing music and giant TV screens for families to watch babies yawn, smile and kick.
After the 20- to 30-minute sessions, families get photo packages and video clips. The whole experience costs about $100 to $225.
Melody Jurlina of Stony Point is a registered sonographer who opened Beautiful Beginnings Motherhood Center with her mother in 2009.
When women have ultrasounds in a doctor’s office, they often feel rushed, she said.
“It’s a more comfortable, soothing environment,” Jurlina said of herbusiness. “A lot of patients always say, ‘Wow, we don’t get the opportunity to see so much detail (in a clinical setting). We just get a quick glimpse in black and white.’ “
Still, it’s an elective procedure that does not take the place of a diagnostic exam, she said. A woman must show she is under a physician’s care before a session, and the doctor is notified if the technician spots something abnormal, she said.
New City native Lee Loftus, 31, said she understood the ultrasound she received at Beautiful Beginnings was not for diagnostic purposes. She went when she was 22 weeks pregnant with her daughter Julianna, who was born March 22 in Suffern.
See the original post here: http://www.lohud.com/article/20110706/NEWS01/107060332/Lower-Hudson-Valley-parents-capture-baby-s-1st-portrait-3D-4D-ultrasound?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews