Early images bring joy to families

"Lets take a peek. Looks like a boy to me," Kent Newell announced to the family sitting in his office.

It used to be the doctor who was given the privilege of declaring a new baby's gender, but using ultrasound technology, Newell can predict the child's sex months before birth.

Medical ultrasounds are nothing new. For years they have allowed physicians to check for abnormalities and predict delivery dates. Identifying gender is just a bonus, a bonus fewer and fewer ultrasound technicians are willing to share.

Newell has worked for almost 13 years as an ultrasound technician with experience at both the Nellis Air Force Base hospital and working for the Veteran's Administration. He now spends his off hours doing non-medical ultrasounds at his business Early Images.

"In 1993, I started toying with the idea. Out at the base we would tell people (the gender) but off the base, they were leaning toward not telling people," he said. "I thought maybe people will pay for that. So my wife and I got the ball rolling and we opened in June of 1993 and have been going ever since."

Inside the Early Images office at 2595 Chandler Ave., expectant mother Michele Barnhart sat in the exam chair while her husband Wade and children Viktorya, 7, Kierstyn, 4, and Kevyn, 2, sat on a nearby sofa watching the ultrasound images on a television set.

"Everything you see on the screen is recorded on the tape along with background lullaby music. And we advertise eight pictures but most of the time they get from between 10 and 12 depending on how good of position the baby is in," Newell said.

Newell was quick to give the family his standard opening warnings.

"There are no proven or documented harmful effects of ultrasound on unborn babies, due to the fact that it is sound waves. Absolutely no ionizing radiation is involved with this machine whatsoever. But as a major precaution against any unlikely future findings they may have, we do limit this to a maximum of 12 minutes of exposure and it's not a medical ultrasound so no medical diagnosis will be given under any circumstances."

Newell refuses to be the one to discover any abnormalities in an unborn baby.

"I've got a pretty good poker face, but still we require everyone to have their medical ultrasound first. We don't do anything medical. Your doctor has supposedly taken care of that. We're just here to give them some memories, and of course find the gender out and save the family time," he said. "Mom is a little more relaxed in here because during a medical ultrasound, you have from 32 to 38 ounces of water in your bladder. We don't do that here. That's only necessary for medical purposes. In fact we tell them, do not have a full bladder because we want them to enjoy the full 12 minutes."

Newell said his biggest selling point is family participation in a non-medical, living room like setting.

"Most come because you can't take the whole family into the medical ultrasound. It's kind of a bonding time for the family with the baby," Newell said. "We tell people just bring anybody you want. The most I've ever had in the room was about 20. Five is probably ideal, but I'm not going to tell anybody no, because it's a fun thing."

For family's like the Barnhart's an extra ultrasound is part of the child's history.

"We're a very photograph happy family," Wade said. "We like to have a video record starting from pre-delivery all the way through."

The photos go into the baby's already pre-birth scrapbook. Michele's medical ultrasound didn't reveal her son's gender, so she was thrilled to get the information from Newell.

"I'm a planner. I have to preplan everything. I don't like to have to buy green or yellow. I like to buy pink or blue," Michele explained.

"We get referrals from doctors all the time. They know me, they know I've been doing this a long time and they don't really want to tell the gender any more," he said. "Even though if they're wrong and you try to sue them, you wont' win -- they've got to deal with it and they don't want to. So they send them to me."

And if Early Images is wrong, customers are promised triple their money back.

"So far, I've never missed. I've just been doing it for so long. I haven't even had to bring anyone back for a second look in over five years," Newell said. "I can usually tell in the first shot. Usually it's easy to me. It's kind of like second nature. But I have no problem paying someone triple their money back. If I'm wrong, I'll pay up."

"He'll come out in May," Kierstyn said looking at her baby brother's image. "Everybody's going to see him."

"Mommy's going to be the first one to hold him and I'm going to be the second," Viktorya added.

At the end of 12 minutes, a timer rang and Newell turned the machine off.

"I set an egg timer. I will not go over 12 minutes. I feel very strongly about that. There are no proven effects, but why push it," Newell said.

For more information about Early Images, call 739-8989.


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