Soldier gets high-tech preview of baby on the way

Posted in Mom Stuff
by besttech

FOLSOM, Calif. — Army Spc. Nicholas Weaver has a baby on the way at home while he’s serving in Iraq — but father and son came face to face this month through new ultrasound technology and the Internet.

The 20-year-old soldier got a sneak peek of his son in the womb in a sonogram streamed live from a Folsom imaging center Feb. 16. The sharp, 3-D image clearly revealed little Aiden Weaver’s wide eyes, pug nose and tiny fingers. A slight smile crossed his face beneath a full head of hair.

“He looks squished — but adorable,” Weaver said in a computer instant message to his wife, Megan. “He looks a little bit like both of us.”

The expectant mother arrived before dawn at InVision Ultrasound from Grass Valley, Calif., with her husband’s family. Pregnant for 32 weeks, she was excited to beam the images to her husband, who is not expected to be home in time for the birth in April. Her father-in-law, a Marine, grinned broadly at the images, while her mother-in-law, an Army veteran, smiled through tears.

“Nick really wants to be here during the pregnancy, and not being able to makes him feel a little helpless,” Megan Weaver said. “Doing this makes it feel like he’s here.”

InVision Ultrasound is believed to be the first imaging center in the Sacramento area to offer live streaming of sonograms over the Internet, owner Cindy Yacur said. Besides his father, Aiden Weaver’s video debut was seen by his maternal grandmother and other relatives near Jacksonville, Fla.

The 3-D sonogram reveals more detail than traditional ultrasounds, including clear images of the baby yawning, sucking on thumbs and blinking, Yacur said. For privacy reasons, she said, the video is sent to a secure Web site that can be accessed only with a password and is not archived.

Watching the sonogram live at the same time — often while texting or talking on cell phones or trading instant messages on computers — is a modern, high-tech way to reinforce traditional family values by helping distant parents and relatives bond with the unborn child, Yacur said.

“We’re hoping to be able to connect families across the country, across the world,” she said.

Nicholas Weaver saw his son from thousands of miles away near Baghdad, where he provides air traffic support for helicopters in Iraq. His 23-year-old wife, who is in the Army Reserve, lives with her family in Florida and is visiting her in-laws in Grass Valley.

The couple met while both were on active duty in Germany and were married in September.

Nicholas Weaver began a three-year enlistment last April. He is expected to return home in June, although his commanding officers are working to get him a leave in April to be present for his son’s birth, his father said.

“He’s always wanted to be a dad,” said his father, Jeff Weaver. “He’s very excited.”

—By Robert D. Davila, McClatchy Newspapers