{"id":239446,"date":"2021-02-08T08:16:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T14:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=239446"},"modified":"2021-02-07T23:09:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T05:09:09","slug":"embroidered-ultrasound-blind-father-see-preborn-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/embroidered-ultrasound-blind-father-see-preborn-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible embroidered ultrasound allows blind father to \u2018see\u2019 preborn son"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For most expectant parents, the first glimpses of their baby through ultrasound photos are joyful and exciting \u2014 a chance for early bonding with their preborn baby, and with each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Expectant father Nathan Edge of Manchester, England, didn\u2019t think he would get to experience ‘seeing’ his preborn baby. The 26-year-old has been visually impaired since the age of seven, and completely lost his eyesight at the age of 18 after two failed operations. After his baby\u2019s\u00a0 initial 12-week ultrasound, he tried to picture what his baby looked like based on others\u2019 descriptions. He told <\/span>TODAY Parents<\/span><\/a>, \u201cBeing blind rarely ever gets me down \u2014 I\u2019ve come to terms with it very well \u2014 but suddenly it hit me, \u2018I\u2019ll never be able to see this scan.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After he tweeted the first ultrasound photo, Deb Fisher reached out to Edge\u2019s girlfriend and baby\u2019s mother, Emma Fotheringham, with an idea. Fisher is a local puppy walker for guide dogs who had met Edge at a speaking event several years ago.\u00a0 \u201cShe said she was so happy for us both but sad that Nathan was unable to see our baby grow on our scan photos,\u201d Fotheringham told <\/span>Metro UK<\/span><\/a>. \u201cShe said she had never embroidered before but would love to try and embroider all of our scans for Nathan to enable us to experience the joy of our baby boy growing together.\u201d The tactile embroidery would let Nathan to see his son via touch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fisher consulted with midwives to explain to her “which parts of the baby they would be looking out for that I could make stand out.\u201d She chose different thicknesses of thread to create multiple layers, bringing a 2D ultrasound into a tactile, 3D experience. After 40 hours of work spread over three weeks \u2014 and \u201clots of stitching and unstitching\u201d \u2014 Deb gave the finished project to Fotheringham, who surprised Edge with the gift.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was quite emotional, it took me a few minutes to work it out,\u201d he told <\/span>People<\/span><\/a>. \u201cBut normal baby scans are quite difficult to work out when you can see them.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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How incredible is this ?<\/p>\n

Received this amazing surprise today… it\u2019s an embroided tactile version of our 12 week baby scan, so for the first time as a blind dad to be, I\u2019m able to build a picture of our baby scan through touch \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t describe how amazing this is ? pic.twitter.com\/3Qm01MlzhS<\/a><\/p>\n

— Nathan Edge (@NathanEdge94) December 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n