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Comment by crdb | Hacker News Reader

> Many comments ask if non-medical persons would use ultrasound should it become affordable. I think not.

I immediately thought of a non-medical use case.

A pregnancy and birth in Singapore costs $5-20k, so an extra $2k is not that much to be able to see your baby move and grow whenever you like as opposed to having to wait for your monthly appointment (and perhaps post photos on Instagram). It's a bit much for me but I might have bought one for $100.

Some redditors working in US ER departments complained of mothers turning up with "complications" mid-pregnancy because of the mandatory ultrasound that follows, allowing them to see their child, at which point their symptoms mysteriously vanish and they head home smiling.

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Luxury ultrasound is a growing business in the US. Wanna know the gender at 14 weeks? No problem, $40 in the mall. Want a DVD with a recording of the baby's heartbeat and a 20 minute video of it squiring around in 3D? $100. Want to stick that baby heartbeat into a teddy bear? Dude, you are kind of weird....$30. Sign up for our monthly "checking in on baby" package ultrasound discount.

I'm not kidding, it's very real: http://forever-yours.us/3d-4d-ultrasounds-2/

Thats actually really affordable considering how often people have children. The teddy bear thing is a really cool idea.

Where there's money to be had, there's someone willing to exploit it.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ultrasound-clinic-blames-identi...

And when you get caught, shout "IT WAS A VIRUS!!!! CLONING IMAGES!!"

I dont think I have ever encountered a virus that cloned images. The only way I can even imagine it true is if a malfunctioning root kit was somehow installed and affected file writes....but in 30 years..haven't seen it. Likely they were just lazy so they kept handing out the same image figuring no one would know.

@davycro just said "it’s a tough skill to learn without a solid background in anatomy". If you have your home ultrasound and cannot accurately locate / track your baby, you may identify the wrong thing, and worry "it's not moving!"

Our first child came very late, and in those last weeks we downloaded a "baby heart monitor" on our iphone - it simply used the microphone with some isolation / amplification. We pressed the microphone end of the phone into the abdomen wall, and when it works we heard an amplified heartbeat out the speakers - very reassuring. But when it didn't work - when we couldn't find the heartbeat - we worried. Is it a false negative? Or should we rush to the hospital?

Or even worse you put the microphone on the epigastric vessels and hear moms heartbeat instead of the babies.

Why is this even worse? I assume you're suggesting it would potentially give a false sense that everything is ok when it isn't. But since such apps aren't intended as diagnostic tools, is it really a problem?

My wife had risky pregnancies. There is cheap professional but portable ultrasound you can rent. We had one for like 6 months each time (3x). It is a lifesaver when you know baby is OK and you don't have to rush to emergency for every little thing. Otherwise we would go crazy. Since we monitored at home blood pressure and sugar level, we were really good and not as much in the dark as we would be.

You could hear baby heart and also blood rushing to placenta. And those have distinct sounds and places you could check.

Can you link to any additional resources and/or the specific model you can recommend from personal use? Either way - thanks for sharing the info!

I managed to find it. I was waiting for my wife to come home, but I found it, this site you just can't miss :)

http://www.heartbeatsathome.com/

This is what we used and it is more than enough and you can carry it with yourself. Their customer service is also really nice, but you will not need it. Buy extra gel for doppler and you will fine.

> with "complications" mid-pregnancy because...

That's terrible :-( I know many GPs in Australia would love to do the ultrasound for them + bill for it, but it would be pretty affordable. This case is literally the reason mentioned at GP conferences for why you could buy an ultrasound - to make pregnant women happy because they see the pictures.

I recall some unease over Tom Cruise using an ultrasound machine at home when his then wife Katie Holmes was pregnant [1]. Do the concerns over the home use of such machines still hold in this case?

[1] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10309963/ns/health-womens_health/t...

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