Donna Perry smiles as she sees a 3-D sonogram of her 23-week-old twins on a TV monitor on the opposite wall. She is hugged by her son, Michael. Perry had the procedure done at First Look Sonogram in Ward Warehouse.
Ultrasounds
go commercialA Ward Warehouse business
sells videos and 3-D sonograms
to expectant parents
Expectant parents Claire and Sam Wald examined details of their son's face, toes, fingers and gender, and decided the 29-week-old fetus has his dad's mouth.
About ultrasound
>> Two-dimensional ultrasound has been in use by doctors since the late 1950s for diagnostic fetal examinations.
>> Ultrasound uses sound waves to look inside the body with technology similar to radar.
>> A probe or transducer placed on the stomach sends sound waves into the body, listens for a return echo and generates a sonogram, or image of organs, tissues or blood flow.
>> The procedure is considered safe for the mother and the fetus because no X-rays are used.
>> The ultrasound system determines the volume of a subject (such as a baby) to create three-dimensional images.
>> Ultrasound adds the element of time to the three-dimensional process to create images of an unborn child in live action.
Source: GE Medical Systems
"He's got a smile. ... He's sucking his thumb," the father said. "He looks really cute."
"Look at that, capturing the baby's first movements," Claire Wald said, watching the baby in action on a video as the sonographer passed a scanning instrument over her stomach. "He's really moving around in there."
"He's a yoga master," her husband added as the baby turned his head, moved his foot down and put his hand in front of his face. "His eyes are actually open in this one."
The couple's son, already named Jack, is due Sept. 8. They had a close look at him with a three-dimensional ultrasound scan and 4-D video at First Look Sonogram in Ward Warehouse.
The Walds, both 36, who live in Hollywood Hills, Calif., had planned to get a 3-D sonogram in Los Angeles but decided to do it here while visiting her parents, Richard and Jackie Kobayashi, so they could all see it, Claire said.
"It's just an incredible bonding experience because it's our first child," she said. "The detail is amazing."
"It made the experience more real to her," said Sam Wald, no stranger to babies. A pediatric anesthesiologist at the University of California-Los Angeles, he was involved in separating the conjoined Guatemalan twins at UCLA in August 2002.
Linda Kamaka O'Kalani Orosco and Annette Clowes, each with more than 20 years of experience as registered nurses in obstetrics, own and operate the unique Honolulu sonogram business.
They initiated it at the New Baby Expo May 15-16, taking their General Electric sonogram machine to the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall to do sonograms.
The two nurses, who previously worked at Tripler Army Medical Center, said many pregnant women would ask why 3-D and 4-D sonograms were not available here when they were being offered across the mainland.
Military wives whose husbands are deployed especially want images to send to the fathers so they can be involved with the baby during pregnancy, Orosco said.
Seeing the unborn child as a "real live baby" also encourages some pregnant women to take better care of themselves, she said.
Physicians use conventional two-dimensional ultrasound for prenatal fetal screening. The 3-D sonogram uses the same sound waves, but special software enables more detailed pictures. The fourth dimension is real-time motion for the video.
Companies are springing up across the country using the ultrasound technology to produce "keepsake images," a practice discouraged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.
Although studies have not shown any adverse effects from diagnostic ultrasound, they warn that long-term biological effects on the fetus are not fully known.
Orosco said she supports the FDA's actions in closing down some businesses operating with substandard equipment, lack of medical expertise and trained personnel.
She said First Look Sonogram goes beyond FDA guidelines with an FDA-approved sonogram machine and equipment, a registered ultrasound technologist and a medical/technical advisor, as well as the owner-nurses. Clowes also was a midwife in England.
The nurses sent letters to obstetricians and facility directors statewide last month to introduce themselves and explain what they are doing.
They require a note from a pregnant woman's doctor before doing a sonogram, both to get approval and ensure the woman is receiving health care, Orosco said. If any abnormality is detected during the scan, a report will be sent to the doctor.
Claire Wald said her doctor at Cedars Sinai Medical Center had no problem with the 3-D sonogram. Added her husband: "I don't know of any damage from sound waves. Ultrasound is done all the time."
The sonographer conducts a brief exam confirming the heartbeat, number of fetuses, gender and position of the baby, but it does not take the place of a complete diagnostic examination performed by a licensed physician, Orosco said.
Tears of joy are a common response when parents-to-be see their baby's face and movements up close for the first time, the nurses said.
"I love my job," Orosco said. "It gives me goose bumps."
She said 3-D sonograms are best taken when the fetus is between 26 and 36 weeks old, although one was recently done for twins at 22 weeks to get both faces in the picture.
Michael Perry III, 8, had a preview of his brother and sister due in September to his parents, Donna, 33, and Michael Perry Jr., 32.
"We are very blessed," Donna said, explaining the babies are the result of in-vitro fertilization.
"I wanted a baby and I got two," said Michael III, watching his siblings move around in his mother's stomach.
His father, head of Castle Medical Center's pathology department, was working, but the experience was preserved on video.
"Aren't they adorable?" Donna said. "The boy looks exactly like Michael (III) when he was a baby."
The girl, to be named Jenna Marie, appeared to be snuggling against her brother, Taylor Ward.
"I love that picture," Donna said. "They're trying to touch. There is one where he was trying to kiss her.
"I think this is an opportunity no one should pass up," she said. "Regular ultrasound is hard to see. We think it's just a priceless thing to have that we just love."
She has frequent 2-D ultrasounds since she is expecting twins and feels there is no threat to the babies, she said.
The 3-D sonogram takes about 15 minutes. A "gender package" includes two color photos and a limited diagnostic exam for $125. With a 15-minute video included, the cost is $199.
