Cruise buys sonogram machine to watch baby

Not every family can afford one at a price tag of up to US$200,000 (NZ$288,300) but actor Tom Cruise says he bought a sonogram machine for his pregnant fiancée Katie Holmes so that they can monitor the development of their child.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters to be aired on a November 29 television special about the "most fascinating people of 2005," Cruise said: "I'm going to donate it to a hospital when we are done."

A sonogram machine, which uses ultra-sound to look at a fetus's development, can cost between US$150,000 and US$200,000, according to People Magazine which published excerpts from the interview.

Cruise said he did not know the gender of the child but said if he did, he would not reveal it. Walters then asked him, "So what do you see?" and he answered "a little baby."

The couple revealed last month that Holmes, 26, was pregnant and in the Walters interview, Cruise said, "We are going to get married in summer or early fall. We don't have a date set yet."

Cruise and Holmes are currently in Shanghai, China. Cruise will be filming part of new film Mission Impossible III in Xitang, a town near Shanghai, and then in downtown Shanghai.

- REUTERS