I’ve just seen my son for the first time. He looks like his brother, appeared desperate to suck his thumb and I think he’s got my chin.

The sepia image on the big screen moved slowly, corresponding to the knocks and bumps I felt.

I was watching my unborn son who is not due to arrive in the world for at least another three months.

But why do it? Why sneak a peek at what’s happening on the inside? It’s like opening a present early and then wrapping it back up until later.

Have we become so impatient that nine months is just too long to wait for the big surprise? Are we in so much of a hurry that we need to know whether to pick blue or pink?

Or is there more than just simple curiosity behind the booming trend of women booking in for 4D scans to watch the antics of their still growing baby on a plasma screen on a wall?

In Shropshire, pregnant women are scanned twice on the NHS. Once, at 12 weeks, to help doctors give a precise date of when the baby’s due.

The second scan at 20 weeks is a detailed look at the baby and its major organs, checking as far as medical science can, that there are no big surprises in store. A separate gender scan can now be booked at both Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals for a cost of £50.

But now women have another choice – private scans using the latest in 4D technology to create an image and even a DVD of their unborn child growing in the womb.

For me the decision to go ahead was actually quite hard – ultrasounds have never been the best experiences for my husband and I.

Scans with my first child, Joe, actually failed to pick up on a major congenital heart defect. There was also a problem with his growth, so I was scanned regularly to check on his size. He was born at 35 weeks, weighing 3lb 11oz.

Despite feeding problems which meant he failed to thrive (a clear predictor of heart problems we later discovered), the huge hole in Joe’s heart wasn’t spotted by doctors until a scan, called an echocardiogram, at seven months old showed he was already in heart failure.

The diagnosis was a huge shock, we never expected our tiny son to need open heart surgery to survive. Thankfully, he’s now doing well.

So you can see our concern when it came to ultrasound scans for our second. We waited until the important medical scans were done before deciding on making an appointment with Ruth Finch, owner of Babyvision at Upton Magna.

Ruth, a qualified sonographer who previously worked in the health service, was aware of our previous experiences and immediately put us at ease.

She stressed the non-medical nature of the scan and said the emphasis was on relaxing and enjoying the experience.

Visit: www.babyvision.co.uk

That reassurance was fantastic and it allowed us to watch amazed as the slightly surreal image formed on the screen.

A face came into view, an arm partly shielding the eyes, as the umbilical cord floated past a knee. Then a close-up of hands and feet, close enough even to count, with toes wiggling.

The baby’s chin began to move as he made swallowing movements and then a hand shot out, trying to grab a foot. We thought we could see an eye opening and closing as his thumb searched for his mouth.

And finally, only after asking if we were sure, Ruth confirmed what we believe we’d seen at our 20 week scan, and showed us crystal clear proof that this was boy number two.

But what made this scan extra special was being able to share it with family. Not only can you take people into the room with you to share the experience, you can have a DVD of the scan to show everyone who couldn’t make it and photos to pass around.

It seemed only right that the people who had lived every moment of Joe’s problems with us should share in our joy in seeing our next child.

For some women, these scans will be an early bonding experience, a chance to put a face to a feeling and a first photo in the album.

But for women like me, terrified of what might be revealed by the next ultrasound, a 4D scan offers something more. It gives peace of mind and really brings to life the life you are carrying inside.

Visit www.babyvision.co.uk