An obscure image of your baby appears on the black and white screen during the ultrasound session, and your doctor explains in detail the health and well-being of your unborn child.

In the near future, you can expect more than just blurry, monochromatic scans and fuzzy polaroid-like pictures of your baby when you go for your regular fetal check-up.

Philips Healthcare is envisioning a medical advancement in fetal monitoring for doctors and parents alike to see more during a fetal ultrasound than ever before, with live crystal-clear 3D images of your child.

The fetus will be seen as an actual baby developing in impressive detail, including the ability to view the chambers of the heart, the spinal cord, fingers and toes.

This improvement in fetal monitoring can help to answer many questions regarding multiples, placenta location and birth defects prior to delivery.

For parents-to-be, it is an opportunity to form a stronger bond and connection with the child by seeing something more realistic, something more than just indecipherable lines on a screen, and a doctor's interpretation of years past.

In a less clinical environment, the entire experience of the fetal ultrasound scans are as comfortable as they are exciting, and one that could be shared with the whole family.

While it is yet to be available, Philips Healthcare hopes inspire and ultimately deliver more healthcare innovation to the community with this vision.

The following four images show the remarkable evolution of medical technology over the years:

The past image is a 2D ultrasound scan from 2001. While this type of scan has diagnostic value for the doctor, it's hard for parent to connect what they see on the screen with their unborn child.

The present image is a live 3D scan, and is a good example of the detail that is available to doctors and parents today.

Known as the "Celebrating Pregnancy" concept, the future images show how ultrasound scans can look in the not-too-distant future.