Call 02920 732671 now to order your 3D/4D ultrasound gift certificate!
Valentine’s Day (14 February) is only a couple of weeks away, so if you’re planning to get your other half a present, now’s the time to start thinking about what you’re going to buy!
Of course, many people will settle for flowers and chocolates this February, but these gifts make for a rather clichéd Valentine’s Day surprise – as much as everyone enjoys a nice Milk Tray, it’s hardly the most personal present!
This Valentine's Day, get your partner something a little more thoughtful
If you and your partner are expecting a child, a
3D/4D ultrasound gift certificate from First Encounters could well be the perfect present for Valentine's Day 2016. A gift certificate entitles you and your partner to enjoy a 3D/4D baby scan experience at your nearest First Encounters clinic (
click here for a list of locations) - not only will you get to meet your unborn child in high-quality 4D motion, you'll also get a selection of
souvenirs to take home and keep forever.
We have limited slots available, so don't delay -
get in touch now to get your First Encounters gift certificate in time for Valentine's Day!
Testimonials from our previous customers
"Really amazing experience, lovely place and staff, thank you"
Sarah from Newport
"Brilliant! Will be coming back again"
Emily from Weston-super-Mare
"Very friendly and helpful staff, great experience"
Harriet from Bristol
Please
click here to browse the full range of ultrasound scan packages we offer.
There are many different ultrasound scan packages available to pregnant women nowadays, and this variety can sometimes cause confusion. Every scan is of course different, but above all else, it’s important to understand the distinction between elective ultrasound scans and medical ultrasound scans.
Why book an elective ultrasound scan?
Reasons for choosing to undergo an elective ultrasound scan vary from person to person. Here are some examples of what a keepsake scan can provide:
- High quality 3D/4D imaging. Medical scans generally result in 2D images only. Some elective ultrasound scans give the expectant parents a closer, more detailed look at their unborn child - some of our customers are even treated to the sigh of their baby-to-be smiling and waving!
- Early gender confirmation. While medical scans can provide gender confirmation (i.e. whether your baby will be a boy or a girl), many elective scan providers allow their customers to discover this information several weeks earlier. Our gender scans start at 16 weeks.
- Additional information. Attending an elective ultrasound session in addition to your NHS scans will allow you to track your baby’s growth over a longer timeframe. We may also spot problems/anomalies that develop after you’ve been to the hospital.
- Keepsakes and souvenirs. Most elective scan providers offer a wide variety of gifts and souvenirs, which can be taken home after the scan and shared with family and friends. Common examples include glossy photographs, DVD recordings, key rings, and fridge magnets; we at First Encounters also offer the ever-popular Heartbeat Bear!
An elective ultrasound scan should NEVER be used as a substitute for a medical scan. Instead, elective scans are intended to complement the scans provided by the NHS, giving you an enjoyable experience and allowing you to feel that much closer to your unborn child.
What is the difference between medical and elective scans?
Simply put, a medical ultrasound scan is one that’s ordered by a doctor/midwife, while an elective ultrasound scan is one that you choose to undergo yourself. Medical scans are generally available for free on the NHS, whereas elective (or ‘keepsake’) scans will be delivered by private companies who charge a fee for the services they provide.
Most women in the UK undergo two medical ultrasound scans as standard over the course of a pregnancy; these scans are intended to track the baby’s growth/development, calculate a due date, and identify any anomalies that may be present.
In addition to these two scans, a pregnant woman may choose to undergo one or more elective ultrasound scans over the course of her pregnancy.
Here's a question we often hear:
"Do I have to visit your clinic for my ultrasound scan? Can you come to me instead?"
It's not hard to imagine why a mum-to-be might prefer to undergo an ultrasound scan in the comfort of her own home. After all, pregnancy can make it quite difficult to get around (particularly for those who don't drive - we can probably all agree that sitting at home and waiting for the sonographer to knock is a far more enticing proposition than standing around at a bus stop!)
But while we understand why people ask this question, the answer - sadly - is
no, we don't recommend undergoing an ultrasound scan at home. There are a number of reasons why we at
First Encounters Ultrasound don't offer home ultrasound scans, including the following:
- Our clinics are hygienic, comfortable, and fit for purpose. There's no way of ensuring that each customer's home will meet these crucial requirements.
- Our equipment is not mobile. We at First Encounters are proud to use the very best ultrasound devices currently on the market (including HD Live). While our state-of-the-art equipment is ideal for producing top-quality images, it sadly isn't very portable, meaning that we would not be able to offer the same high standard if we operated outside of our own premises.
However, there's another, even more important reason why we don't offer home ultrasound scans: industry regulation. In England, our work is strictly regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and since their standards don't account for home visits, we would lose our CQC-approved status if we started offering this service.
Interestingly, Health Inspectorate Wales (HIW, the Welsh equivalent of the CQC) actually don't regulate diagnostic and screening services such as ours, which is why
some companies who do offer home ultrasound scans are registered in Wales, even though they operate exclusively on the English side of the border (very shady if you ask us!) That being said, it is our own policy that our
Cardiff clinic must meet the same industry standards as clinics located in England, and so we are unable to offer a 'mobile' service to our customers.
If you are thinking of booking an ultrasound scan, it's always better to choose a professional, regulated provider who can offer you the very highest level of service.
When reality star Kim Kardashian West was heavily pregnant, she spoke out about her experience undergoing an ECV (external cephalic version), due to the fact that her baby was breech. Only 3-4 percent of babies remain in the breech position towards the end of pregnancy, which means that having to undergo this procedure is a very rare indeed. In order to shed some light on the situation and help expectant mothers to better understand the issue, we thought we would share some information about breech babies and what this means for the pregnancy.
In simple terms, breech simply means that your baby is positioned bottom-down as opposed to head downwards, meaning the baby would be born feet- or bottom-first if a vaginal birth were to go ahead. While this is usually a temporary position in the third trimester, in cases like that of Kim Kardashian West, the baby may remain in the position, which means that your doctor or midwife will have to advise you on the best course of action.
If your baby remains in the breech position you will likely be advised to undergo a caesarean in order to deliver the baby, although some measures may help to turn your baby, making natural birth possible if it is successfully positioned. While there are several natural methods it is possible to attempt in order to encourage your baby to turn, or you may also be offered to undergo ECV, at 36 weeks if it is your first pregnancy, or at 37 weeks if like Kim Kardashian West you have had a baby before. This involves being given medication to relax you uterus, after which a doctor will attempt to manually turn the baby so that is facing the correct way. This is not recommended in some cases, however, particularly if you've experienced complications during your pregnancy such as vaginal bleeding.
While the baby will either turn naturally or be manually turned with success in the majority of cases, there is no need to be concerned if your baby remains in the breech position. Your doctor will be able to advise you on the best course of action to ensure safety for yourself and your child, which in most cases will mean delivering the baby by caesarian.
For regular updates about First Encounters, and more advice to help you with your pregnancy, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
If you've had a look at our
Images & Videos section, you may be wondering if the examples on that page really are representative of the quality and the clarity you'll see on the screen when you come in for a 4D scan of your own. Will we be able to depict your unborn baby with that same level of detail?
The short answer is yes, for the vast majority of scans we perform. However, 4D ultrasound scans are not an exact science, and with each and every pregnancy being so very different, the achievable results can vary for each client, thus making it very difficult to provide an airtight guarantee when it comes to the quality of the imagery we aim to capture during our 3D/4D scans. That said, we will always endeavour to obtain the very best result achievable, working with you to encourage your baby into the best possible position; however, whilst a change of position can, in most cases, be achieved with the aid of sugar stimulation, there are other factors that may affect image quality and resolution.
All ultrasound scans obtain images via the reflection of sound waves, which penetrate from the probe placed on your belly through to your baby and back again. The image then displayed is the result of this reflection. Whilst we at First Encounters Ultrasound use the latest, most advanced ultrasound technology (effectively enabling an element of image manipulation), image quality and resolution can unfortunately be impaired if the sound waves have more distance to travel, thus creating a weaker reflection and a lower-resolution image.
In some cases, a high BMI can lead to a less than perfect result; however, our own experience has also identified that, in cases of a high BMI, clearer images can be achieved when the scan is performed slightly later (between 29 and 30 weeks gestation). This is because the baby sometimes moves closer to the stomach wall, thus creating a shorter distance for the reflected sound waves to cover, resulting in a better image resolution.
The key points to remember when planning your 4D experience are as follows:
- Your baby will require room for movement.
- Your baby will need to be surrounded by plenty of fluid to assist the projection of imagery
In order to achieve the best possible results, we always recommend between 25 and 29 weeks as the optimum time for a 3D/4D scan. However, in the event that your baby is uncooperative on the day, a complimentary rescan will be offered on an alternative day (where appropriate, and subject to terms and conditions).
All of this being said, we'd like to say once again that unsatisfactory scans are very few and far between. The vast majority of women who come to us leave absolutely thrilled with the results of their 4D scan - if you'd like to book a scan of your own, please
click here to compare the packages we offer. Alternatively, if you have any other questions to ask, feel free to give us a call on
02920 732671.
As you're probably aware, we offer a variety of different baby gender scans here at First Encounters Ultrasound.
Countless parents have visited our clinics in the hope of discovering their unborn baby's gender - some do it so that they can decide on an appropriate name, while others ask to learn the gender in advance because they simply can't wait for the birth!
If you're thinking of getting a gender scan, you may well be wondering how accurate gender scans are, and how sure the sonographer will be when he or she reveals the gender of your unborn child.
How accurate are baby gender scans?
The answer is 'very accurate indeed', at least as far as we're concerned! Our sonographers are extremely well-trained and generally won't state the sex of the baby unless they're absolutely certain of your baby's gender.
To allow for an accurate gender confirmation, the baby's sex organs must be: a) reasonably fully-formed, and b) visible on the ultrasound scan. Our baby gender scans are available from 16 weeks onwards; we cannot confirm gender before this point for the simple reason that, generally speaking, genitalia are not visibly formed until around the 16-week mark!
Once you've reached 16 weeks gestation, our ability to predict your child's gender depends on their position inside the womb. Every so often, an expectant mother will come in for a gender scan only to find that her little one is resting in a position that makes it difficult for us to get an accurate idea of their sex. On these occasions, we ask the mother to take a brief stroll so as to get the foetus moving; we will then re-commence the gender scan, hopefully with more success.
What if we're unable to confirm your baby's gender?
It's a very rare occurrence, but if we can't tell what sex your baby is even after you've been for a walk, we will happily offer you a complimentary re-scan on a date that suits you. As previously mentioned, we will NEVER 'just guess' your baby's sex; if your gender scan proves inconclusive, you will be told as much by your sonographer. We have a reputation to uphold here at First Encounters Ultrasound, and so we will only ever tell you what we see on the scan - nothing more, nothing less.
Any other questions? Get in touch with a member of the First Encounters Ultrasound team today!
