Nathan Edge is 26 yeas old and a father-to-be. But he cannot see. He’s blind.
Typical of most pregnancies, his partner Emma received a 12-week ultrasound scan of the baby in utero. These pictures can be quite clear, showing the profile of the little baby and sometimes and errant hand or foot. It’s an exciting milestone for parents to be able to finally get a picture of their child, often their very first photo of the miraculous creation growing in the womb.
Do you remember first seeing the ultrasound photo of your baby? I kept those pictures on me for my entire pregnancies, gazing at them and wondering what my children would look like. And I showed anyone who would look at them of course.
But since Nathan, who is from the United Kingdom, is blind, he had to rely on descriptions of the ultrasound from his friends and family.
He told Today, “When we got home, we shared the scans with our family and everybody was getting excited about seeing the baby for the first time. Being blind rarely ever gets me down — I’ve come to terms with it very well — but suddenly it hit me, ‘I’ll never be able to see this scan.”
Emma decided to take the ultrasound photo to her friend, Deb Fisher, who hand-stitched an embroidered exact replica of the scan. Emma gifted the piece to Nathan last month – and he was overjoyed. He shared it to his Twitter account and got an overwhelming response:
How incredible is this 😍
Received this amazing surprise today… it’s an embroided tactile version of our 12 week baby scan, so for the first time as a blind dad to be, I’m able to build a picture of our baby scan through touch ❤️
Can’t describe how amazing this is 😍 pic.twitter.com/3Qm01MlzhS
— Nathan Edge (@NathanEdge94) December 10, 2020
“[N]ow I’m able to build a proper picture of my baby. It’s just amazing. I could have gone my whole life never knowing what that scan looked like,” said Edge to Today.com.
What an incredible gift for this dad-to-be. And so very creative and thoughtful on the part of his partner, Emma. It’s also a beautiful reminder to never take for granted the gifts we have been given!
