Ultrasound images in 3-D allow blind parents to feel baby’s face

One of the most powerful experiences for parents-to-be is seeing the image of their baby via ultrasound. But for blind parents, that moment was impossible.

Now, however, sophisticated technology allows them to “see” their little ones before they are born by creating a 3-D image to be formed in the likeness of their baby’s face.

Receiving a 3-D bas-relief model of her baby’s face in the mail was “really emotional” for Taylor Ellis, 26, a blind woman in Cockeysville, Md. “I was a little bit nervous about opening the box,” Ellis said. “I had never seen a 3-D (image), and now, it’s your baby, and it’s, like, wow.”

The idea evolved from a procedure developed several years ago at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for fetuses with spina bifida. Jena Miller, an obstetrician and surgeon with the Johns Hopkins Center for Fetal Therapy, realized that a 3-D print would allow her to get a clear image of the spines of babies who needed surgery in utero for spina bifida.

The use of 3-D technology to create models of the fetus for blind parents was the brainchild of one of the ultrasound sonographers at the hospital, Miller said.

When the sonographer realized they were doing a scan for a blind mother, she asked Miller, referring to creating a 3-D model: “Do you think this is something we can do?” Miller responded, “See if you can capture a good picture.”

Since the 3-D ultrasound doesn’t scan the entire body of the fetus, the team decided the face was the obvious choice for an image.

Ellis and her husband, Jeremy Ellis, who is also visually impaired, have two other children, ages 5 and 3. When they were born, Taylor Ellis said she had some vision. But since then, her glaucoma has gotten worse, so the chance to know baby No. 3 this way was a new world.

“It feels super-real when you can feel it,” she says. It was almost like she was pregnant for the first time because she had so much more detail.

Miller said she was not aware of any hospital, other than Johns Hopkins, offering this service. The material cost is estimated to be about $1.40, and each print takes about 3½ hours.

When the sonographer realized they were doing a scan for a blind mother, she asked obstetrician Jena Miller, referring to creating a 3-D model: ‘Do you think this is something we can do?’ Miller responded, ‘See if you can capture a good picture.’

ANDREW MANGUM / WASHINGTON POST Taylor Ellis, 26, of Cockeysville, Md., is blind, but technology allowed her to get a 3-D bas-relief model from the ultrasound of baby Rosalie. “It feels super-real when you can feel it,” says Ellis, who still had some vision during two previous births.