So at lunchtime last Wednesday my husband and I set off for Babyvision near Shrewsbury. When Frankie’s cleft lip was first diagnosed we looked into getting a 4D scan of him and paying privately for it, and had a place in Cirencester recommended to us, but then the Cleft Lip And Palate Association charity (CLAPA) told me that they fund certain centres in the UK to to provide 4D scans to parents who have had a cleft diagnosis free of charge and Babyvision was the closest one to us, there wasn’t much difference in the travelling time from here to Shrewsbury as from here to Cirencester.
We drove to Babyvision in some of the worst weather we had encountered for a long time. The rain was lashing down and visibility on the motorway was practically zero. This did nothing for my mood because I was scared to death if I’m totally honest about what they might find next during the scan, especially after the events of the last few weeks. I was really quiet during the journey but eventually we got there, even though it was in the middle of nowhere and my husband took a couple of wrong turns despite the sat nav.
Babyvision is situated in Upton Magna Business Park just outside Shrewsbury in a lovely converted barn, and the staff were absolutely lovely. They put my mind at rest and at ease very quickly, and I was amazed when I saw the scanning machine, it looked like something out of the Starship Enterprise and definitely not like any I’d seen in the Worcestershire Royal or Birmingham Women’s Hospital, I was impressed!
From the moment the lady who did the scan started I was completely mesmerised. I could not get over the clarity of the images on the screen, there he was, my little boy Frankie, and he was absolutely gorgeous. She got me to turn onto my side so she could get a better view of him and during the scan he opened his eyes, smiled, sucked his thumb, poked his little tongue out, held his foot with his hand and stretched. She could see the cleft lip on the left side of his face clearly and confirmed it was definitely unilateral and not a huge cleft, and couldn’t see anything else wrong with him at all. She had a good look at his foot but said she didn’t think it was off more than about ten degrees or so, and only very minor if anything, which was another relief!
I just don’t have the words to describe how it felt to see Frankie in 4D and to know that everything is okay, apart from the cleft which can be fixed. The lady doing the scan also said he is developing well with chubby cheeks, hands and feet bless him! We can’t thank Babyvision enough for the scan, or CLAPA for putting us in touch with them, they were amazing.
Below are all the 4D scan photos of Frankie, and in the next post I’ll put the video footage that was taken of him that we’ve uploaded to YouTube:
