Sweet Peeks Imaging opens in Winter Garden

Expectant mothers can see realistic images of their unborn baby at a new business that has opened near downtown Winter Garden. Jessica Ledford, a registered diagnostic medical sonographer, said she created Sweet Peeks Imaging to give parents a chance to visualize their baby and bond with him or her before birth.

The prenatal imaging studio offers elective ultrasounds in 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D and HD in a variety of packages. The 5D option gives parents a cleaner look at their baby and allows for better image resolution, better depth perception, more enhanced facial feature recognition and a virtual light source.

“Pregnancy is truly such a magical season,” Ledford said. “From tiny kicks to big rolls, there’s a whole lot happening in the womb.”

She has dedicated her career to being a registered diagnostic medical sonographer and said working with expectant parents and their families has been such a rewarding journey. Most of the patients she encountered at the obstetrics and gynecology office where she has worked are interested in seeing their little one and his or her features as soon as they are developed.

At Sweet Peeks, the entire family can go to the visit. It’s a simple process, she said, and it takes about 20 minutes.

“I felt like COVID changed a lot with the healthcare community, and I felt like this gave an opportunity to get personalized again,” she said.

During the pandemic, physician offices stopped allowing family members to accompany the pregnant mother during the screening.

“You want to be able to share your excitement, especially for a first-time child or grandparents of the family,” she said. “I want them to feel like they are a part of a special time. I tried to make my studio very comfortable and relaxing and homey.”

Ledford has been a registered sonographer for almost 14 years. She has worked in the hospital setting in radiology and with private-practice OB-GYNs. In fact, when she was pregnant with her own children, who are now 9 and almost 7, she performed 4D imaging on herself.

Ledford, 35, said her interest in sonography started in high school when she took an early childhood class. In her senior year at West Orange High School, she said, she did her class project on the up-and-coming new fascination with prenatal imaging.

“That moment specifically was the reason I went to college for ultrasound,” she said. “I went to Florida Hospital’s College of Health Sciences, which is now Advent University. And I found out ultrasound was much more learning than I expected. I thought it was just about babies, but you can ultrasound anything.

“I always felt specifically pulled in this one direction,” she said.

Ledford is the granddaughter of Ralph and Jodie Suggs, of Winter Garden. Her grandmother was a registered nurse, so hospital work runs in the family.

“I’m fourth generation from Winter Garden, and I take a lot of pride and I want my community to know that they can feel safe and they’re in good hands with me,” Ledford said. “I want providers to know they can feel confident in recommending my services to my patients.”