Back in December, 2010, German scientists captured the first-ever MRI of live childbirth. It went down exactly how you think – a woman delivered a baby whilst encapsulated by an MRI machine. She was 24-years-old and was admitted to the hospital at about 37 and a half weeks.
So next time your mother tells you how difficult you made her life while coming out of the womb, just point her to this story. Or don’t, you know, if you want to keep your head.
At the time, we were only treated with still images of the MRI birth – which were amazing enough. But now, a video clip has germinated, and it’s absolutely incredible.
Check it out below:
Here’s what we’re looking at, according to the study:
Accelerated real-time cinematic MRI seriesAccelerated real-time cinematic MRI series in an open high-field scanner during the active second stage of labor, when the mother starts performing expulsive efforts with the valsalva maneuver. The midsagittal plane is shown and the amniotic membranes are intact.
The reason the images stop right as the baby’s head begins its exit is because that’s the moment researchers stopped the MRI in order to protect the baby’s ears from that notoriously deafening MRI noise.
According to New Scientist, the whole reason for the MRI was to look at the relationship between fetal movement and its position as it make its way down the birth canal. All I know is that I much prefer this view to the one we’re all familiar with from health class.