The Only Person Who Wants To See Your Ultrasound Picture Is Your Mom
I was so excited for our first ultrasound. I was thrilled for the opportunity to actually make out some limbs and a skeletal system on the little being I was housing. That little alien-looking baby was mine – and I loved him from first glimpse. It’s a little hard to be objective about these things when said alien-baby is in your womb. Don’t be surprised if others aren’t as thrilled as you are to see its image.
There doesn’t seem to be much etiquette on disclosing ultrasound photos – but there should be. Even though I understand the excitement surrounding the image, I never quite got why someone would share something like this on Facebook. Or even worse – have a party and invite others to watch the ultrasound go down.
Not sure why it doesn’t strike more women as odd to be showing the 400+ friends on their Facebook page an ultrasound image of the inside of their uterus. Not that I don’t get it – by the time you get around to showing anyone this image you’ve probably been keeping the secret of your pregnancy for months. Having a baby is exciting. Actually seeing an image of your little baby – even if it looks freaky and transparent – is really cool. Just maybe not something you need to expect your casual acquaintances to appreciate.
Simply sharing these images for a Facebook like seems totally harmless when you remember a trend that never quite took off from last year. Remember the ultrasound party trend? It never actually became a trend (thank God), but there were stories of people actually hiring ultrasound techs with their own equipment to come to their homes and give mommy-to-be an ultrasound – in front of her guests. This took pregnancy overshare to a whole new level. Can you imagine having guests watch you get all that goopy jelly crap they put on you during an ultrasound smeared all over your belly? No thanks.
It’s just a picture. Share it if you want – I don’t think you’ll be offending anyone. Just don’t be surprised when people aren’t as thrilled about it as you are. Nine times out of ten, they won’t even be able to make out what they are looking at. Ultrasounds are like Rorschach tests – if you’re not pregnant, most of the time you don’t even see a baby. You see an alien. Or a ladybug.
Show your little alien to whoever you want. Just don’t expect them to be as excited as you are to see it.
