Thumbs up from baby in the womb

When mother-to-be Donna Sayer and her partner Simon Biscoe went for a routine 20-week scan of their baby they were told its head was unusually elongated and too small. So the couple, who live in Northwood Road, Whitstable, were told to come back to Kent and Canterbury Hospital for another scan a fortnight later to check its development.

Fortunately when they did it showed the baby's head had grown to a normal size and there was no further need for scans or any concern. But as if to reassure its parents the scan photographs showed the baby giving the thumbs-up.



Donna, who is 29, said: "After checking everything was okay the nurse said she would try to get some more photographs of the baby but it was hiding and all she could get was its hand giving the thumbs-up as if it was trying to tell us that everything was fine. The image was quite clear. We had both been concerned during the two weeks before I had the third scan but everything is okay. We have shown the photograph to family and friends and they all think it is quite apt."

Fay Smith, advanced ultrasound practitioner for East Kent, said: "It is not that unusual to see a baby with thumbs up. You see them sucking their thumbs, doing rude gestures, and in later scans blinking. I often laugh with parents-to-be when babies have got their hands over their private parts!"