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“Expectant parents can watch a video of their unborn baby scratching its nose, sucking its thumb and even hiccupping in the womb. It can also persuade parents to take more care of their children in their womb. One mother said seeing her daughter in the womb encouraged her to give up smoking. Developers also hope the machine will help to promote closer bonds between parents and their children.”

“‘Seeing it on this you can actually - you feel like you can see around the edges of the face - so, yeah, it definitely gave it more of a human feature,’ says expectant mother Lucy Jones.”

“They can see a little footprint , or their baby kicking - things the physician just didn't have time to show them. It provides them with an additional bonding experience.”

“It is like looking through a glass window in to the mom's tummy. The detail is remarkable, and tiny fingers, toes, eyelids - even earlobes - are visible. And it really is like going to a photographer's studio to get baby's first pictures for the family album.”

“For many parents, the 3D ultrasound gives them a sense of peace about the pregnancy and helps them to, particularly the father, to form an emotional attachment with their unborn baby.”

“The color portrait, baby's first, is a one in a lifetime opportunity to catch a moment previously unavailable to parents-to-be. Other pictures of the baby may change with time, this is a picture that will create the same excitement forever.”

“New 3-D ultrasound technology is giving expectant parents a dramatically new way to see their unborn child. ‘I could see my baby smiling. I could see my baby’s hands - images really- but it looked so real,’ says Arlanda James.”

“Pioneering scanning techniques have produced astonishing images from inside the womb which show babies apparently smiling and crying.”

“Expectant moms can now see their unborn babies more clearly than ever, and as many times as they'd like during pregnancy - if they want to pay.”

“Couples can walk away with a keepsake for their child's photo album and a video set to music. Many expectant mums come more than once during their pregnancy.”

“Passed around to friends and relatives, the ultrasound pictures are exciting to see but they lack detail and just don't seem to express the human qualities of the unborn baby. Real time, three-dimensional ultrasound videos are startlingly clear by comparison. Facial details such as shape of the eyes and the slant of the nose are instantly apparent.”