When Emily Foster, a 29-year-old expectant mother from Kent, England, arrived at her local hospital for what was meant to be a standard prenatal appointment, she anticipated nothing out of the ordinary. The visit was scheduled as a routine mid-pregnancy ultrasound, a familiar milestone that most parents experience with calm expectation rather than surprise.
By 20 weeks, Emily had already attended several prenatal checkups. Each followed a predictable pattern: settling onto the examination bed, the cool-to-warm gel applied across her stomach, and the quiet hum of medical equipment filling the room as grainy images appeared on the monitor. These appointments had always been reassuring, offering steady confirmation that her pregnancy was progressing as expected.
