How to Hold Your Baby Before Birth
A new application of ultrasound technology has now made it possible for parents to hold their babies before birth. Not their underdeveloped, flesh, blood and two-chambered heart babies, but exact replicas of them. In plaster.
Brazilian inventor, Jorge Lopes, figured out a way to use 3-D printing technology to create models from 3-D ultrasound images. The purpose, initially, was for archeological digs. But dinosaur bones? How can you make a fortune from dinosaur bones? You don’t.
But you can make a fortune preying on pregnant women’s fears, hopes and dreams.
Dr. Stuart Campbell at Kings College London, a pioneer in ultrasound diagnosis, is totally jazzed by the fake-real babies. He says they’re a great educational tool and that they’ll help moms who are having trouble bonding with their babies.
Huh?
I’ll grant that they’re educational, since they can be made from any fetus, any size, any point in the pregnancy. But wouldn’t a standard set of plastic models serve the same purpose for a lot less money?
And trouble bonding? Before the baby is even born? It’s not OK to not feel bonded to a 13-week-old fetus? Or even a 24-weeker? Aren’t we at a point in our understanding of pregnancy, birth, parenthood, baby-loving that we know there’s nothing wrong with not bonding with a baby in-utero. There’s barely anything wrong with not bonding in the first couple of weeks post birth.
Plus, before we go selling more crap to help us bond, can we define bonding? It’s a bit of a blanket term.
Anyway, is the possibility of seeing your unborn baby’s face cool? Yes. Is it necessary? Hell no. Will it be expensive. Sure. It will be.
Yes, something like this would be great for pregnant women who are blind — unable to see their babies during ultrasounds. But ultrasound pictures aren’t even necessary. They’re just fun. Which is what a series of plaster dolls of your unborn baby are too. Don’t sell this as the greatest thing since amniocentesis and Spanx maternity. Don’t add this as another freaking expense of pregnancy.
Above all, don’t set up pregnant women for yet another way to fail in pregnancy and impending motherhood. Surely it’s OK to look deeply into a perfectly formed pair of stark white eyes with no irises and feel nothing.
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Tags: 3-D ultrasound, childbirth, Madeline Holler, plaster babies, pregnancy, ultrasound
2 Comments
[...] Hold Your Baby Before Birth [...]
My First Unachievable Beauty Standard | Strollerderby commented on Jun 26 09 at 4:22 pmMiriam commented on Aug 18 09 at 5:58 pmyou think there is nothing wrong with NOT bonding with your baby in the first two weeks?
