Last weekend we were able to let our parents in the US know about Heidi’s pregnancy in a unique way. We scheduled a Skype session with each of them and headed up to the hospital when the time approached. There I was able to hook up the ultrasound machine’s video feed to my computer. What they thought was going to be a typical Skype session completely changed when they saw the live ultrasound video on their screens!
There were shouts and tears of joy on both sides of the ocean. I don’t think that us having another baby nearly 9 years after our first was something they were expecting. Nor was Trey! We broke the news to him that very morning over a special waffle breakfast. He is already planning what books he will read to his baby sister and talking about helping me take photos and videos of her (he’s pulled out a DVD full of home videos of his first few months and he’s been watching it a lot).
That’s the exciting news about our family, but this is also exciting for BMC! Why? The ability to stream a clear, live ultrasound/echocardiogram video feed to someone in the US is a big breakthrough. Now when Heidi or other physicians here are presented with difficult cases to diagnose they can use this telemedicine technology to consult doctors in the US.
Special thanks to:
- Dr. Lynn Coppola for monitoring our baby’s health and keeping our secret for two months
- Dr. Vince Waite for suggesting I look into some telemedicine options at BMC
- Steven King & Dr. Peter Van Dingenen for letting me do the first tests of the Skype setup