This week on the Kids Sleep Show, I welcomed Ellen Murphy, the founder of Sona, formerly Belly Baloo, to discuss her new product that enables you to get photos from your ultrasound right to your phone during your appointment. It’s amazing to see how far technology has come and what amazing things Sona is bringing to the space. If you are expecting your first or next, you don’t want to miss this episode.
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Episode Highlights:
- How did Sona come to be?
- What did you notice during your time in the Ultrasound Tech space?
- How do you hope Sona will change the landscape of the pregnancy and postpartum period in relation to the availability of images?
- What exciting things do you have in store for the business as you scale?
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Welcome to The Kids Sleep Show podcast, where we dive into the magical world of sleep and all things parenting. Join us as we embark on a journey filled with expert advice, practical tips, and heartwarming stories that will transform your little ones into sleep superheroes and empower you to navigate the beautiful chaos of parenting. I’m your host, Courtney Zents, and I’m on a mission to change how the world views sleep and provide accessible sleep coaching resources for all families to build healthy sleep habits in their home for children and adults of all ages. As an award winning speaker, author, and pediatric sleep expert, myself and my team of consultants work intimately with families around the world to teach healthy sleep habits to children and adults. I believe wholeheartedly that sleep is the foundation for which a happy home is built, so let’s sleep together.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to this week’s episode of the Kids Sleep Show. I am joined this week by the founder and CEO of an amazing new company I’m excited to tell you about, miss Ellen Murphy. Why don’t you take a minute and introduce Sona to our lovely Kids Sleep Show listeners? Great.
Thank you so much for having me, Courtney. So Sona is a mobile app designed for expecting parents, that enables them to access their ultrasound images and videos. We built HIPAA compliant technology that integrates with the ultrasound machine so that right from the the ultrasound, parents can get videos, image, images of their baby right on their phone, and and kind of how this started. So I’ve spent the last ten years in the ultrasound industry working for a very large ultrasound service provider. So I’ve seen how far ultrasound imaging has come in terms of technology.
If if a parent gets a three d image of their baby nowadays, they can pretty much tell what their baby will look like before they’re born. And where there’s been no technology has been on how how these images are delivered to parents. So they are still getting these static printouts that are the same today that they were four years ago. It’s we saw such a need for to bring technology to this space. So with with, through the ultrasound network, we built the technology, and we built it under the name, which which is how we got started.
We ran a a very sizable pilot with with a bunch of doctors’ offices that we worked with, and we started offering this to patients. I saw that patients loved it. Moms loved it. Families loved it. And it wasn’t until I got pregnant that I realized how much of a game changer it was for for parents.
So having pregnancies long, nine months long, Parents looks look forward to their their ultrasound just so they can see their baby. Finally, see their baby’s heartbeat, see those kicks. And to have easy access right in the palm of your hands on your phones, I think it’s it’s such a game changer. So that that made me realize I need to make this available to to all moms. So that that’s our mission, to get our technology out there to to doctors’ offices, ultrasound offices so they can use our technology, which we offer to doctors for free, and they as as many families as possible can get this when they’re pregnant.
I love that. And it is such a game changer. I’ll tell you, with my son, we did not know if it was a boy or girl. So we went through the whole pregnancy, and we had the ultrasound and stuff, but we didn’t know. And we didn’t wanna know for the first.
And, it was funny because then when the second was coming, my husband’s like, well, you know, I I’ll find out, but I didn’t wanna know. So I was gonna see we kinda knew. My husband and I have, like, a pretty playful relationship. And I was like, I wanna see how long it’s gonna take my husband to keep it a secret if he knows and I don’t. You know?
Knowing full well I’ll find out at some point. But he’s also very cheeky in that, like, sometimes he’ll be like, she must have had some of your coffee. He is kicking like a karate kid. Right? So it’s like, is it a boy or is it a girl?
And you’re kinda left wondering for nine months, and there’s a little bit of excitement with it because we didn’t care, you know, as long as the baby came out healthy. That’s what we cared about. And we were getting the ultrasound for, you know, for, baby number two. And so the tech knew I didn’t wanna know, but he did. And literally, like, I closed my eyes and, like, turned my head.
She showed him and wrote, like, boy or girl on the screen, you know, and then deleted it and then kept on with the ultrasound. And my husband’s very, like, stern faced. Like, he can keep a secret. You know? It wasn’t like, oh my gosh.
Yay. It’s another boy or girl. Right? He was very, like, straight faced. And literally, two seconds into the ultrasound, he’s like, well, she’s flipped over.
Oh, no. And I I liked and the tech caught him. And I looked at him, and I was like, she’s flipped over. He’s like, god damn it. She shouldn’t just blah blah blah blah blah blah.
You know? And it was a really funny moment, because he lasted thirty five seconds knowing what this was. So we kinda just had a chuckle about it, but it’s it like, those pictures, you know, it’s like you print it out and you bring it home. And I I joke because I use mine all the time with Max when I’m talking about swaddlers and stuff. But I have this, like, really long thing that has now turned into, like, I roll it up like a, you know, paper scroll, And I don’t have it on my phone.
I don’t you know what I mean? So I think the technology you’re building, you’re right. Like, so much is advanced in technology, but yet they still give you, like, these 45 printouts of, you know, the baby that you hope may get through, you know, getting home even from the ultrasound the way my car looks. You know? So I think the technology itself tell me a little bit about it.
Right? So you go into the OB GYN’s office. You get the ultrasound, and they go, hey. Well, we have Sona. You can download the app right from the App Store for Sona.
Right? You sign up for an account, and then it links the photos over. Right? Like, a person can get leave that ultrasound with their three d images, which I never did. But, you know, they get the three d images.
They can get the video, and, like, that’s a special moment. Right? So, like, they get to take it and walk out that day with these pictures right on their phone. Right? Yeah.
Exactly. So we wanted to make the the process as seamless as possible, not only for parents, which are important, but but if we for the ultrasound techs. If we didn’t make this seamless for the ultrasound techs and we added more workflow for them, they would not offer it to patients. So, if if doctors wanna use our technology, we’ve made it as simple. And this is very we’re HIPAA compliant.
We’ve had to follow the protocols, invest a lot of money into to building something very, very secure. We’re in the health care space. But it’s as easy as doctors just having to download our software on on a computer in their ultrasound office. We give them instructions on just on how to add us as a destination on their ultrasound machine. And when a mom comes in, a pregnant mom comes in and is on the exam table, that exactly this the ultrasound tech will ask them if they want Sona, and the they just have to enter the mom’s cell phone number into a designated field on the ultrasound machine.
And then as the the ultrasound tech is going through and scanning the mom, the mom’s not gonna wanna see, like, pictures of, you know, measurements and, some other confusing things. Doctors don’t want them to get access to that either because then they they they are concerned unnecessarily. So the ultrasound tech can choose which images just with a click of a button to send to Sona. And what happens is we cut out all the medical data around the image. So you’re not seeing, when the mom receives her image, you’re not seeing the mom’s name, her date of birth, her her where she was scanned, any of the the medical information up top.
You’re just getting the baby. And that was so important for doctors as well. And moms, a lot of times when they wanna share their images, they don’t want everyone to know their birthday. So so we crop all that off, and they get it right right on their phone where they can invite, you know, their partner, where they can invite friends onto the platform, where they can invite their parents, grandparents. I will say my dad has, I think, eight grandchildren on his app.
I’ve I’m one of five kids, and we all had babies all at once. So he can open up his app and see every every one of his grandchildren, which is cool, in one place. But but you’re right. When with those black and white printouts that you get from the ultrasound machine, you try to take a a picture to text your your friend who lives across the country, and there’s such a glare. The quality isn’t as good.
So we’ve just made the the experience a bit better. Oh, that’s so cool. And, I mean, talk to me about app wise. Right? So they have an app.
I know I have an iPhone, so you can go to the iOS store and download the app. It’s available for Android and iOS. Right? Yes. Android and iOS.
And, it was so important for us to give full access to expectant parents for free. So they can get access to their all their images and videos, and then they can upgrade to premium for for right now, just a small annual price. But but they do have free access to their images and videos. We do not restrict that. And they can they can invite, you know, whoever they want on their platform on our platform as well.
That’s so cool. I mean, it’s so far kind of out of pilot. You’ve had a very good amount of folks, you know, do the testing for it. What’s on the horizon for you? Like, where do you see this going?
I’m excited to watch Sona and just, you know, more doctors are getting access to it. Right? So I know you’re doing a bit of growth. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, well, I’m in Utah. Is it coming here or wherever you might be?
Right? Like so talk a little bit about, like, what are you doing right now? Because I know it just came out, and, you know, the technology is evolving. So where can where can people expect to find it, and then where is it kinda coming soon just to set expectations? Because we do have a large listener base here.
Yeah. Sure. So, yeah, we just came out of our pilot, in in offering our technology to anyone who wants it, all doctors, OB GYNs, imaging centers. So they can just download us. Go to sonogram.com and, sign up for an account and download us in their office.
We can help with installation. It’s it we’ve designed it to be pretty, hands off, and seamless. So, if you’re a an expectant mom listening or if you know of an expectant mom that might might want this, we encourage moms and and their guests to to tell their doctor about us. We’ve have had so many calls from doctors or ultrasound offices that have asked about us because their patients have asked them. So, that that is really helpful too.
And we try to make it a no brainer for these doctors. You know, we we have the HIPAA compliant checked. We are free for them. We’re very easy. We fit right into the ultrasound tech’s workflow.
So, yeah, our goal now is just to to grow and get our technology out out into as many offices as possible. And we have a pretty exciting product road map for our app, in terms of features that we’re rolling out. And I don’t know if you want me to talk about that at all, Courtney. No. I don’t wanna give away the, you know, all the exciting things you’re working on.
I just want people to know, like, hey. It’s just rolling out. So, you know, maybe you don’t have it in Oregon yet, but it’s coming. And if people want it in Oregon, they can tell their doctor in Oregon, and then it’s in Oregon. Right?
So I think there’s a little bit of growth coming out. Like, we’re recording this at the February. The episode will air in March. And, you know, and, it’s just so exciting to see what you know, I knew and and met you as Belly Baloo to watch where it has evolved even over the past year and a half. And And it’s so cool, you know, just to see how Sona’s taking shape.
I think these are the exciting moments. Like, you spend so long waiting to get pregnant and trying to get pregnant and then getting to the point where you get to go into that ultrasound to leave with almost that same level of, excitement and energy, I think, is really cool. You know? To your point to share it with your relatives and your friends, like, it’s a very special moment. You know, my aunt asked to be in our delivery room when my son was born, and my mom is dead almost twenty years now.
And my aunt and I are very close. And my husband’s like, I don’t wanna be down there. I’m not looking at your hoo hoo while you’re popping a baby out. Like, I will be forever scarred. My husband doesn’t mince words.
He’s so he’s like, I’ll stay up by the head because he’s also got a very weak stomach, so he’ll mom it while I’m birthing a child. He’ll be the guy that passes out in the delivery. Right? But my aunt was, like, down there, and I’m like, you know, some parents aren’t as comfortable with that. Yeah.
That level of, you know, whatever. I feel like, you know, she still won’t admit that I pooped on the table, but I know I had to have because everybody does. Yeah. If you’re pregnant, you probably will also poop on the table. But but some people like they you know, they wanna give that relative, I think, a level of that experience of, like, the feeling and seeing their baby in your belly at that moment floating around.
Like, that’s cool. You can’t capture that on a printout. You just can’t. I gotcha. For sure.
The ability to share that with those that you wanna share it with, you know, in your close knit community is just such a cool you know, I don’t know. It’s just like this is one of the most exciting things in your life that you go through, that you wait for, that you’re, like, trying for. And then to be able to share it with someone with that same level of emotional impact, I guess, is the word I’m trying to say, is cool. You know? It is.
It means so much to to pregnant parents, but also not just while they’re pregnant. It’s it’s going beyond that. It’s it’s preserving these forever. I I hear so many moms that are, you know, are their kids are older now, and they say, we wish we had this. Like, we don’t they their their ultrasounds are tucked in a drawer.
They’ll never get those videos back. They’ll never be able to experience what what their baby looked like during that time of pregnancy. I went through for for our first baby, I went through IVF to get pregnant. And just to have that, video of the baby’s heartbeat, my son’s heartbeat, I mean, now but also at the time, it meant so much to me because it just felt like you’re so unsure. Is this baby gonna stick?
Is it gonna is it is it do I am I pregnant? And especially in the early days, you don’t you’re not showing. You don’t really feel anything besides nausea. But it’s that heartbeat. It’s those kicks.
It’s it’s being able to, you know, pull your phone out of her pocket and look at your baby. That’s that’s what we want moms to feel, and we want them to to have a more connected, happier pregnancy. And we we we hope to accomplish that through through getting our technology out there. Ah, well, I’m excited for more and more doctors to have it. So if you’re listening to this, and I guess you’re in The US only right now, Is there a plan to expand at some point?
Would love to. Yeah. Well, I put it out there. You know, I know the whole world has different medical systems, but, like, for right now in The US, for our listeners, I have a strong listening base in Australia, which is great. Good day, mate.
But, you’re not available in Australia yet. But, but, yeah, just I mean, I think just the ability to tell a doctor, like, hey. I want this, and it’s so easy for the the doctor to go out to sonogram. We’ll put all the links in the show notes so people can get it and just be able to experience this. It’s really cool, and, I’m excited to to have folks do that.
So if people wanna find you, we’ll put the links. It’s sonogram dot com. They can follow you out on social. Like, where can they find you on social? I know Insta, TikTok, and all the things.
You know? Yeah. Our Instagram handle is Sona Moments. Would love for you to follow and and would love for you to share your ultrasound journey and and pictures of your baby. I I still love it.
Anytime I get a a a picture of a baby, whether it be three d, two d video from any mom, it like, it touches my heart every time. I love it so much. So feel free to share your pictures with us. We’d love to see. I can share the one where my husband was like, she’s turned over.
Oh my gosh. That’s amazing. Even make it out of the room. We joke about it still. So that’s good.
Well, I’m excited. I will put the links in the show notes. Everybody can find Sonogram. And if you are expecting or you think you’re gonna try for another now that your baby might be sleeping better, because I know we cursed off a second kid until the first one was sleeping through the night. But, you know, when you’re ready and that baby’s grown in your belly, definitely ask for Sonogram.
And thank you, Ellen, for coming on today and sharing, and we’ll definitely have you back as I know the road map has some cool things on it. And I’m excited to have you back to share that when it’s time. Awesome. Thank you so much, Courtney. This is great.
Alright. Thank you. One more thing before you go. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode with someone you know who could use a little more sleep in their life. For tips and resources, be sure to visit us at tinytransitions.com or follow us across social media.
Here’s to better sleep, brighter days, and healthier, happier families.
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