Blind Mansfield dad-to-be surprised with 'amazing' embroidery of pregnant partner's 12 week scan

Nathan Edge, 26, who lives in Mansfield town centre, completely lost his sight overnight in 2014 when he was 19-years-old following multiple bleeds on both of his eyes.

The business-owner who has had guide dog, Abby since becoming blind over six years ago, shared why the tactile gift of his partner Emma Fotheringham’s 12 week baby scan meant so much to him.

"I've got no sight at all, until it came to the 16 week scan where we were able to listen to the heart beat, I've not been able to get the visual part out of the scans”, Nathan said.

"It has still been great to be there but obviously I've never been able to physically see the scan so it is hard.

"It's the bit a lot of people look forward to when you're becoming a parent, seeing those sort of things so I was a little bit sad that I couldn't see those but I knew that was going to be the case and I was expecting it.”

Nathan’s friend, Deb Fisher, spent weeks secretly hand embroidering the image of the pregnancy scan using multiple threads with different variants of thickness to create a 3-D, tactile version of the picture.

His partner Emma, who is almost five months pregnant with their baby boy, shocked him by handing him the artwork yesterday (Thursday, December 10).

“It was an amazing surprise, it has got to be one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received to be honest”, the dad-to-be added.

"We had actually been looking to see if anything like that was even possible and I think there are some 3-D scans out there which you can have done to be tactile but they are obviously very expensive, so it wasn't something we had looked into hugely.

“Once I sort of had the chance to feel it and take it all in, I was actually quite emotional."

The 26-year-old first met Deb, who is a local guide dog walker in Mansfield, back in 2014 and the pair have kept in touch ever since.

Nathan continued: "When she found out our good news that we are expecting to have a baby next year, she was just really thoughtful and saw I wasn't going to be able to see the scan.

"She just had the idea and she's always been very creative and wanted to work on something embroidered and this was the first thing she has ever done.

"It was a real special thing that I hadn't been able to enjoy in the same way that my partner had and my family had.

"But having this now and to be able to build a picture by feeling the embroidery, it is just very emotional and so nice to be able to feel it in a way.

"That was the piece that was missing, that I couldn't be as much of a part of so to be able to access that by touch is a really, really nice feeling to be able to do it.

"It's really thoughtful and such a kind thing to consider.”

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