A winner will be chosen at random when our Facebook page reaches 2,000 likes!
We offer a wide variety of
baby scan gifts here at First Encounters Ultrasound, but easily the most popular souvenir of all is our adorable Heartbeat Bear (your baby's heartbeat recorded onto a cuddly teddy bear).
Cute, isn't he?
The photo above is taken from
Family Days Tried & Tested, a family blog specialising in fun days out and activities for parents to enjoy with their children. The FDT&T family recently visited the First Encounters Clinic, where - thanks to our
4D ultrasound technology - they were introduced to the newest member of their clan:
We're pleased to say that Mrs Family Days wrote an entire blog post about her First Encounters experience -
click here to read her thoughts and see the photographs she took on the day.
But let's get back to that bear, because you could win one of your very own for absolutely nothing!
Win a Heartbeat Bear Experience Worth £45!
If you're pregnant and you'd like to have your unborn child's heartbeat recorded onto a cute cuddly toy, here's what to do:
- Like First Encounters on Facebook (our page is here).
- Share the page with your friends and get them to like it too!
- Once our page reaches 2,000 likes, we'll select one of those 2,000 people to win a Heartbeat Bear Experience!
What is a Heartbeat Bear Experience?
If you win the Hearbeat Bear Experience, you'll be invited to your
nearest First Encounters clinic for a heartbeat scan. A probe will be placed on your belly and the sound of your baby's heartbeat will be recorded onto one of our teddy bears.
This bear will be yours to take home - the teddy makes a wonderful souvenir of your pregnancy, and we're certain that you'll hang onto it for years after the birth of your baby!
The prizewinner will also have the option to upgrade to a full
ultrasound scan - this will be charged as normal, but will include a Heartbeat Bear free of charge.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to Facebook and enter our competition - you've got to be in it to win it!
Please note that the Heartbeat Bear Experience is available only if you are currently pregnant; our protocol prevents us from recording the heartbeat of a child who has already been born.
The service we provide here at First Encounters Ultrasound doesn't end when we complete your baby scan. We also offer a variety of
souvenirs for you to take home, enjoy, and share with your friends and family - here are some of our most popular baby scan gifts:
DVD Recording
This is exactly what it says on the tin: the footage from your ultrasound scan, recorded onto a DVD that you can watch over and over again. DVD recordings are available for both 2D and 4D scans.
Why get this souvenir?
Not only will a DVD recording enable you to share your scan footage with friends and relatives who couldn't make it on the day, it will also allow you to show the footage to your child when they're a little older!
Heartbeat Bear
This adorable teddy bear is no ordinary cuddly toy - your baby's heartbeat (as captured during your scan) is recorded onto an audio device inside the teddy, and this very special sound will play when you give the bear a hug!
Why get this souvenir?
Heartbeat Bear makes a great gift for young children; you can give the toy to your unborn baby's sibling-in-waiting, or you could wait until baby is born and give the teddy to them!
Key Rings & Fridge Magnets
The images that we capture during your baby scan can be printed onto key fobs and fridge magnets for you to take home and keep forever!
Why get these souvenirs?
They make fantastic gifts for family and friends, especially if they weren't able to be your guests on the day of the scan itself.
Gender Reveal Cards
If your First Encounters Ultrasound package includes
gender confirmation, you can opt to purchase these fun gender reveal cards after the scan. Scratch away the silver panel to reveal the baby's sex!
Why get this souvenir?
It's a fun alternative to simply telling your friends and relatives whether you're having a boy or a girl. Instead, why not send each of them a gender reveal card and let them guess before they find out the answer?
All of these gifts can be purchased on the day of your scan, although some may be included in the price of your scan depending on which package you select.
Compare our scan options here, or visit our
Baby Scan Gifts page to see our full range of souvenirs.
We get asked a lot of
questions here at First Encounters Ultrasound, but perhaps the most common query of all concerns the safety of the scans that we provide. Many expectant parents feel slightly apprehensive about the idea of undergoing an ultrasound scan for fear that it will have a detrimental effect on the mother and/or her unborn baby.
The good news is that, in 30 years of study and research, ultrasound has not been found to cause any harm whatsoever to mother or baby. As the name suggests, ultrasound technology relies on sound waves, which are perfectly safe at the intensity used for the purposes of pregnancy scanning.
Ultrasound scans are now the norm throughout the UK; even if you don't visit the First Encounters clinic for a private scan, you will likely undergo two NHS ultrasound scans over the course of your pregnancy to check on your baby's development.
But what about 4D scans?
Most of the parents who enquire about the safety of our scans are referring specifically to our 4D scan packages; that is, the scans that capture 3D footage like this:
A lot of people assume that 4D scans must use a higher intensity than standard 2D scans, if not a different type of technology altogether. Many of the parents-to-be that we encounter have already received one ultrasound scan by the time we speak to them, and even some of these people are concerned about the side effects of our 4D scanning equipment.
If you are harbouring any such concerns yourself, allow us to put your mind at ease: 4D ultrasound scans have been shown to be completely safe for both mother and baby. Our 4D probe operates at the same intensity as our 2D scanning equipment, emitting sound waves into the body and creating an image based on the echoes it hears. The technology actually has a lot in common with radar!
Ultrasound scans do not expose you or your baby to radiation and they are generally painless. The only side effects you may experience is a small amount of discomfort as we run the probe over your skin or insert it into your body.
None of the ultrasound scans we offer have been shown to have any harmful effect on human beings, so when you and your unborn child pay us a visit, you can rest assured that our service is not putting either of you in any danger whatsoever.
Want to find out the gender of your unborn child? No problem! When it comes to gender scans, our sonographers are vastly experienced and highly skilled - we can accurately predict sex from 16 weeks gestation
However, there's a decision that you'll need to make before you visit the First Encounters clinic: which of our baby gender scan packages best suits your needs? Here's a quick guide to our gender confirmation scans:
2D wellbeing scan with gender confirmation // 16-32 weeks
Includes:
- Diagnostic ultrasound scan
- Wellbeing observation report
- Gender reveal scratch card
- photocloud™ digital download of all 2D scan imagery
Book now >
2D growth, reassurance and wellbeing scan with gender confirmation // 16-32 weeks
Includes:
- Diagnostic ultrasound scan
- growthAssure Report
- Gender reveal scratch card
- photocloud™ digital download of all 2D scan imagery
Book now >
Still not sure which of our gender scan packages will suit you best? Give us a call on 02920 732671 or contact us online to discuss your options with a member of the First Encounters team!
Read More: Should I Find Out the Sex of My Baby?
Our 3D/4D pregnancy scans are a popular choice among expectant parents because our 3D imaging technology gives them an extremely detailed idea of what their baby will look like when he or she arrives. This creates a bonding effect, helping mummy and daddy to feel that much closer to the little one that they'll soon be looking after.
We already offer a variety of
souvenirs to enhance this bonding experience - our customers can take home photographic prints and DVD footage of their scans, as well as photo key rings and fridge magnets if they so choose. However, we will soon be offer another 3D scan souvenir that's streets ahead of everything else: 3D facial models!
We are working in partnership with Wolfprint 3D to offer our customers detailed 3D models of their unborn baby's faces. We feel that this is very much the 'next generation' of ultrasound souvenir - not only do these facial models deliver a more detailed impression than ever before, they also make great keepsakes that parents can show their children once they're a bit older.
These amazing models are created by 3D printing the multi-layered image that's captured by our Voluson ultrasound machine. If you request a 3D facial model, we will send the volume file from your scan to Wolfprint 3D, who will then convert that file into a 3D printable format, print it out, and ship the resulting model to you from their headquarters in Europe.
Our 3D baby models will cost
£149 for a small model and
£159 for a large model. They will be available to any customer undergoing a 3D/4D ultrasound scan -
click here to compare our scan packages, or give us a call on
02920 732671 to discuss the available options with a member of the First Encounters Ultrasound team.
If you're pregnant and you've recently booked a reassurance scan, you may well be wondering what to expect on the day. Conversely, perhaps you're still trying to decide what kind of ultrasound package is right for you, in which case you may wish to learn more about the reassurance scan and what this option has to offer. Either way, the First Encounters team are here to help!
One important thing to bear in mind is that a reassurance scan is not a substitute for the standard 20 week anomaly scan that's offered by the NHS. Instead, your reassurance scan will complement the results of the NHS appointment, giving you more information and further reassurance that your baby is developing normally without aiming to reach the same level of diagnostic detail.
The main aim of a reassurance scan is to check on the progression of your pregnancy and identify the general health, growth, and wellbeing of your unborn baby. It can be carried out at any point during your pregnancy starting from 14 weeks gestation.
Your reassurance scan will reveal the following information:
- Growth measurements (including head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur length). This information allows us to plot your baby's growth onto our average growth chart, which will tell us if your baby is developing faster or slower than average. Our ultrasound machine can also use these measurements to calculate foetal weight.
- Fluid levels will be observed - these are crucial to the wellbeing of your baby and to the safe progression of your pregnancy, so if we notice that your levels are markedly above or below the set protocol, we will use the four-quadrant technique to collect additional data that will help your NHS doctor to carry out a diagnostic evaluation.
- An audible heartbeat trace will be carried out during your reassurance scan, allowing you to hear your baby's heartbeat and helping our sonographer to ensure that the foetus is healthy.
- We will also look to identify the baby's position and the placental site to make sure everything is in the right place.
Want to book a reassurance scan?
reAssure™ is our
standard 2D reassurance scan here at First Encounters Ultrasound. However, a reassurance scan is included in all of our ultrasound packages (with the exception of pureGender™ and
taster4D™), so the information listed above will almost always be collected as part of your First Encounters experience.
