specializes in
prenatal portraits
Peek-A-Boo-Baby
specializes in
prenatal portraits
BY KARL VILACOBA
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY FARRAH MAFFAI staff Russell Lombardo uses his portrait-taking equipment on Renee Castell while her husband, Ted, and Dr. David Morgan watch. At right, this computerized color image was one of several taken of the womb of Renee Castell at Morgan’s office in Brick.
BRICK — Ted and Renee Castell started comparing their baby’s facial features to family members before the child was even born.
Over eight months into her pregnancy last week, Renee lay back on a couch and watched her baby toss and turn in real-time footage on a monitor above. Less than three years ago, around the birth of their first child, the Castells couldn’t have seen images as vivid.
"It’s amazing compared to other sonograms we’ve had," Ted Castell said. "It looks so much clearer. This is in color, and you’re able to see the details so much better. It’s like a Polaroid."
Peek-A-Boo-Baby (www.peekaboobaby-3d-ultrasounds.com), Brick, is one of two clinics in the state that uses the most current technology available especially to take prenatal portraits, according to Dr. David Morgan.
Parents who visit the clinic pay $175 for a DVD and four sheets of colored prints of babies sucking their thumbs, kicking or whatever else they happen to be up to in the womb at that moment.
According to Russell Lombardo, of Jackson, a registered diagnostic medical sonographer, the clarity of pictures at Peek-A-Boo-Baby was made possible by the dynamic evolution of computer capabilities and graphics in recent years. The Medison Accuvix XQ ultrasound machine used at the clinic has more memory and displays its images with smaller pixels than its predecessors, and calculates motion using high-frequency sound waves at about a one-half second delay.
The 3-D technology was invented about five years ago, Lombardo said, but is only now beginning to filter its way through the marketplace. Peek-A-Boo-Baby first got hold of its new sonogram equipment in January, and remains the only place it’s used for prenatal portraits in Monmouth or Ocean counties, he said.
Dr. Morgan took over his father’s gynecology practice 16 years ago and continued to run it out of the Duquesne Boulevard home he grew up in. He now shares the office with his partner, Dr. Alfred Parchment, and Lombardo, who also performs medical-purpose ultrasounds for Morgan’s practice. Morgan said he usually schedules between five and 10 appointments for portraits per week, many of which come from people who aren’t his patients.
The Castells, who heard about Peek-A-Boo-Baby through word-of-mouth, had about as smooth of a portrait-taking experience as possible. On request of the parents, Lombardo avoided revealing images that would blow the surprise of the baby’s sex. Lombardo glided his probe over Renee’s gelled belly, and pinned down a clear view within moments.
"Out of 10 patients who come through this door, maybe 50 percent will get these kinds of pictures as fast. Sometimes you get lucky and get it right away. Others have to come back three or four times," Lombardo said.
The process of capturing quality pictures involves factors that can and can’t be controlled. When the position of the baby, levels of amniotic fluids or other factors prevent the sonographers from getting a clear view, Peek-A-Boo-Baby will not charge for the sessions. But to help the process, the clinic recommends the mother eat well before her session.
"It gets the baby’s blood sugar up, as well as mom’s, and it gets the baby more active," Lombardo said.
The service is typically available for mothers seven to eight months into their pregnancy, according to Morgan. Peek-A-Boo-Baby’s prenatal portrait service is not covered by insurance companies.
"They feel it’s for entertainment, so they won’t pay for it. But I believe in the future they probably will," Morgan said.