1 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,355 (FAST HEARTBEAT) 2 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,710 You're looking at a baby's heart. 3 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,753 It's beating 120 times a minute. 4 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:55,273 But, amazingly, it's not the only thing keeping this human being alive. 5 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,628 That's done by the most sophisticated life-support machine on Earth. 6 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,952 To find that machine, we have to leave the heart 7 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,595 and travel through an artery the thickness of a drinking straw. 8 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,439 (L0UD SW00SHING) 9 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,839 Every one of us has an almost identical network of arteries and veins. 10 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,869 Identical, that is, except for this one. 11 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,349 No one watching has a blood vessel like this. 12 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:37,190 It's a spiralling link between this body and its life-support. 13 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:44,395 And at its end, a mass of tubes so tiny even blood cells appear huge. 14 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,034 Through a wall comes the sound of the engine room. 15 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,031 (MUFFLED SW00SHING) 16 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,630 It's a mother's heart, and we've just made the journey 17 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,718 from inside the heart of her unborn baby. 18 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:07,070 This film is the story of the unique relationship between mother and baby 19 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,112 which is at the start of every new life. 20 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,033 (CHURCH BELLS) 21 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:29,710 0ver a hundred million acts of sexual intercourse take place each day in the world. 22 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,992 These result in around 910,000 conceptions 23 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,033 and, nine months later, 400,000 babies. 24 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:49,318 Many of those babies will be first glimpsed like this, with ultrasound. 25 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,829 But we can see them differently. 26 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,595 Stack a hundred ultrasound pictures together and a new image emerges: 27 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:05,794 a remarkable three-dimensional picture of a child yet to be born. 28 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:16,435 Today, new technology is letting us see the world of the unborn in a completely new way. 29 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,756 It also lets us retrace its past from a baby just before birth 30 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,553 to a foetus of thirteen weeks. 31 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:38,354 And further back, unravelling the dazzling complexity of the embryo at six weeks... 32 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:42,238 and four... 33 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:45,998 and three... 34 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,515 ..until we're back at the beginning, with the cells that start the whole thing off. 35 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,157 An egg, 36 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,590 and a hundred times smaller, a single sperm. 37 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,879 The process looks so elegant you'd think it was simple. 38 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,956 But you'd be wrong. 39 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,431 These are my sperm, amazingly about 500 million of them 40 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,393 from a single ejaculation. 41 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,432 With just this one ejaculation it should be possible 42 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,235 to impregnate all the fertile women of Western Europe. 43 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:33,669 And I'm nothing special. 44 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,395 In actual fact, we need all these millions of sperm 45 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,990 to have any realistic chance of achieving just one pregnancy. 46 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,510 Why? Because pregnancy is difficult. 47 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,551 It's a struggle to get pregnant, 48 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:50,716 it's a struggle to stay pregnant, 49 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:55,834 it's a struggle to give birth and it's a struggle to be born. 50 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:05,633 By filming every two weeks, we squeezed the nine months it takes to create a new life 51 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,955 into less than a minute. 52 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:17,313 Having a baby is a common enough experience and we feel we know a lot about it. 53 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:23,629 But more than half of what's actually going on inside our bodies is a mystery even to doctors. 54 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,591 It's our greatest achievement and yet it's cloaked in secrecy. 55 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:43,078 And even when we live through it, experiencing the months of pregnancy first hand, 56 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,273 our bodies still conceal the marvel that's going on within. 57 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,673 In this film I want to look at that time afresh, 58 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:01,711 over a single day... 59 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:06,035 and over 300 days. 60 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,510 We'll follow the complexities and difficulties of the beginning of life. 61 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,757 We'll condense a year into just a few minutes 62 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:32,399 and reveal how, moment by moment, month by month, a struggle to be born unfolds. 63 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:35,996 And we'll show how, time after time, 64 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,510 the human body has to overcome the most daunting of obstacles 65 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:44,031 to complete the everyday miracle of new life. 66 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,238 I think we talked fairly quickly about having children. 67 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,477 I think we decided fairly quickly not to have them straight away. 68 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:59,436 Yeah, but it was never an issue as to whether we would or wouldn't, I think. 69 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:01,710 We just both assumed we would. 70 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:06,994 It was something that didn't have to be discussed as a possibility or a definite no-no. 71 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,076 It was more a question of when. 72 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,039 Phillippa and Jeff Watson live in Bath. They're both in their thirties. 73 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,789 Five months ago, they started trying for a baby. 74 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,555 (JEFF) I assumed very much that as soon as Phillippa came off the Pill 75 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,993 that getting pregnant would be a piece of cake, but I'm not sure that's the case. 76 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,715 Well, I definitely thought, because all my previous experience 77 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,310 has been about contraception and how important it is, 78 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,956 I thought it would be very easy to get pregnant. 79 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,471 There would be no problem at all, but, in fact, that's not the case. 80 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,319 The more you read, the more you talk to other people, 81 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,399 you discover that it's actually not that easy. 82 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:57,992 And, er, my opinion at the moment is that I wonder how people actually do get pregnant. 83 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,470 Seems very, very difficult. 84 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,151 And Phillippa is right, it is difficult. 85 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,070 There are only about 30 days a year when a woman has a chance of becoming pregnant. 86 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:18,799 And even on one of those days a whole chain of unrelated events needs to click into place. 87 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:25,672 Success depends on a cycle that's been part of a woman's life since puberty. 88 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:32,075 With a new medical imaging technique developed especially for this series, 89 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,760 we can see inside Phillippa. 90 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:45,079 Nestling deep in her pelvis lies Phillippa's uterus - her womb. 91 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,352 It's a mass of muscle in which a baby could one day grow. 92 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,192 From the top of the uterus on either side comes a Fallopian tube, 93 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:59,279 reaching out towards one of her ovaries, here coloured white. 94 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,151 This is where her lifetime store of eggs is waiting. 95 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,035 They were all formed when Phillippa was just an eight-week-old embryo. 96 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,112 At puberty something remarkable happened. 97 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,712 Inside Phillippa's brain a tiny gland, her pituitary, 98 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,833 signalled to her ovaries to start to release some of those eggs. 99 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:32,631 Since then, month after month, that's what's happened. 100 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,228 And though it's never been shown on television before, 101 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:37,794 you're about to see what ovulation looks like. 102 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:49,678 We're inside one of the Fallopian tubes, heading towards the ovary. 103 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,473 And at the end of the tube, there it is. 104 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:54,875 That huge white moon is her ovary. 105 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,390 Inside it is an egg about to be released. 106 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,515 Suddenly, the surface of the ovary breaks, revealing a red wound. 107 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,997 It looks enormous, but it's actually only a couple of millimetres across. 108 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:15,957 The end of the Fallopian tube rubs against it in time with the woman's pulse. 109 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:24,590 Then, at the bottom of the wound, a tiny hole appears. 110 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,518 And hidden within is the egg. 111 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:34,909 A strand of sticky, almost see-through cells is pulled away by the rubbing Fallopian tubes. 112 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:42,076 They're nurse cells, up to five million of them, ready to feed and nurture the egg. 113 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,998 The egg itself is deep within them. 114 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,596 This is ovulation. 115 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,759 It will happen just 400 times in a woman's life. 116 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,759 It is the beginning of the possibility of new life. 117 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,190 As the egg is pulled from the ovary into the Fallopian tube, 118 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,118 the race to pregnancy has begun. 119 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:11,471 Inside the folds of the Fallopian tube, the egg and its sticky entourage are squeezed along. 120 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,637 But time is already running out. 121 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,548 The egg has perhaps just 24 hours to be fertilized. 122 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,558 After that it'll die. 123 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:25,878 And to be fertilized it needs to meet a vital ingredient: 124 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:28,912 sperm. 125 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,157 I'm sometimes asked what's the best way to make sure 126 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,590 a sperm meets an egg in those vital 24 hours. 127 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:42,032 The answer's rather technical: have sex and have it often. 128 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:49,950 As our bodies come nearer and nearer to orgasm, every part gears up in anticipation. 129 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,356 (DULL RUMBLING) 130 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,879 Sperm have to travel through the tangle of tubing in the testicle 131 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,389 to the end of the erect penis. 132 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,555 It's a distance of nearly a metre. 133 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:27,434 The white fluid they're in is mainly nutrients for their long journey ahead. 134 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:33,152 At orgasm, huge muscular contractions propel the fluid 135 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,353 on its final ride through the man's body and into the woman's. 136 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:41,393 (L0UD SW00SHING) 137 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:07,196 And now, inside the vagina, sperm face the first of many mortal dangers. 138 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,751 The walls of a woman's vagina are coated in acid 139 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,634 to protect her from infection by bacteria. 140 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:18,796 But it's lethal to sperm. 141 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,869 Within minutes, the walls are littered with the corpses of millions. 142 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,154 And within an hour most of the 500 million sperm that set off are dead. 143 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,676 Yet the woman's body can help, as well as hinder the sperm's progress. 144 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:45,435 It's possible the contractions of her orgasm help to draw sperm into her uterus. 145 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:51,792 0r even that the junction between the vagina and the uterus, her cervix, 146 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,630 is dipped time and time again into a pool of waiting sperm. 147 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:09,431 It's also likely that in the hours after sex the uterus itself contracts, 148 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:12,233 helping to carry the sperm on their way. 149 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,634 Even so, the sperm have been all but annihilated. 150 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,878 0nly a few thousand will complete the journey across her uterus 151 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,719 and into her Fallopian tubes. 152 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,988 Then, minutes, hours or even days after they started out, 153 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,432 the sperm that have struggled so far will find what they set out for. 154 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:50,116 Deep in the folds of the Fallopian tube, here magnified a thousand times - an egg. 155 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,229 As they get near, the sperm are lured towards their goal 156 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,636 by a chemical signal sent out from the egg. 157 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,993 Each sperm carries in its head all the genetic information the man will contribute, 158 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:13,353 and this now needs to meet with the mother's genetic information waiting inside the egg. 159 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:20,632 Suddenly one of the sperm, which has been burrowing into the wall of the egg, 160 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:22,318 breaks right through. 161 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:29,832 Inside the egg, the genetic information is gathered in two tiny balls. 162 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,590 Details from Phillippa are in one and from Jeff in the other. 163 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,917 In a moment the information will fuse together. 164 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:44,194 And the instant that happens the unique inherited characteristics of a new life 165 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,072 will be fixed. 166 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,429 All the information from Phillippa and Jeff is now there 167 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,519 to determine whether their baby will be a boy or a girl, 168 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:01,757 tall or short, have blue eyes or brown. 169 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:08,349 Even whether it's predisposed to heart disease or certain kinds of cancer. 170 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,109 But, as yet, the baby itself does not exist. 171 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:19,077 In fact, the chances of the fertilized egg surviving are far from certain. 172 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,156 Some will do nothing. 173 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,078 But just over half will do this. 174 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:32,469 It makes a copy of itself and divides, again and again. 175 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:51,476 Seen down the lens of a laser microscope, the dividing egg looks like a strange berry. 176 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,797 It's a cluster of eight identical cells. 177 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,350 But they won't be identical for long. 178 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,632 As Phillippa and Jeff continue life as usual, 179 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,912 they're completely unaware of the changes going on inside Phillippa's body. 180 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,352 Hour after hour, the fertilized egg continues to change, 181 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:20,350 and all the time it's journeying along her Fallopian tube towards her uterus. 182 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,234 Her uterus, too, is transforming. 183 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:30,238 Its lining has swollen and thickened. 184 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:34,751 We're seeing a part of the lining magnified almost ten thousand times. 185 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,838 It's the landing ground for the fertilized egg. 186 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:44,239 But the egg establishes itself in the womb in a very unexpected manner 187 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,557 that will set the tone for the next nine months. 188 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,473 This is Hirudo medicinalis, 189 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,956 better known to you and me as a leech. 190 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,548 It's a parasite. 191 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:02,511 It takes whatever it needs to live 192 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,871 by sucking the blood of whatever it can latch on to. 193 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,434 In this case, that's me. 194 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:19,110 As it sucks my blood, it takes from it all that it needs to live. 195 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:21,834 It literally lives off me. 196 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:27,796 And the whole of pregnancy is shaped by a similar kind of parasitic relationship. 197 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:34,157 Unlike the leech, the developing embryo doesn't suck the mother's blood. 198 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:38,751 But it does raid her blood for the raw materials it needs to grow. 199 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:44,079 From the word go, both leech and embryo are out for themselves. 200 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:55,838 The cells of the embryo spread out as they divide and invade the mother's uterus. 201 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,713 It's almost an aggressive attack. 202 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,076 But, surprisingly, the army of foreign cells 203 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,398 does not meet any resistance from the mother's own defence systems. 204 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,196 If anything else grew inside her at the same tireless rate, 205 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:18,189 it would either be killed or eventually it would kill her. 206 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,393 Quite how the embryo pulls off this life-saving trick remains a mystery. 207 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,789 It's around now that a woman may for the first time 208 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,753 sense there's something going on in her body. 209 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:39,672 I tend to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom anyway. 210 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:46,797 And I woke up and I suddenly had this urge to try out the pregnancy test kit. 211 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:51,675 So I was rattling around in the dark, opening drawers and bashing away, 212 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,234 and I'm not quite sure what Jeff thought was going on. 213 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,397 Then I disappeared into the bathroom for ten minutes 214 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:01,399 and, I mean, this was all at four o'clock in the morning 215 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,239 and I crawled back into bed, sort of said, 216 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,513 And we did wander around for a couple of days after that, 217 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,517 grinning at each other like Cheshire cats. 218 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,831 But the struggle of pregnancy is by no means over. 219 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,394 It's really only just starting. 220 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:29,272 This is what's growing inside Phillippa's womb just three weeks after fertilization. 221 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,798 The round ball is the yolk sac, a temporary food store. 222 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,198 Stretched across the top is the embryo itself. 223 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:44,519 Within it, thousands of new cells are created every second. 224 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:49,316 And somehow they are given instructions to where they fit in. 225 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:54,150 This long column is the foundation of the nervous system and the brain. 226 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:03,751 The basic layout of the body is from a very early stage quite familiar. 227 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,032 At six weeks, the developing spine is bent double. 228 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,277 A bud of an arm is beginning to form near the top. 229 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,877 This is the head. 230 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,151 But the exact details of each embryo are unique. 231 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:28,037 It's being built to a genetic blueprint which is a one-off, never tried before. 232 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:41,070 Work starts at the head and progresses down. 233 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:46,991 By six and a half weeks, that makes the head, on the left, disproportionately large. 234 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,795 All four limbs have sprouted, 235 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,230 though the right arm is hidden behind the umbilical cord. 236 00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:00,031 But as the embryo's genetic blueprint is brand-new, 237 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,515 it's never actually been tested. 238 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,952 Each new step could reveal a fatal mistake. 239 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,389 And they're much more common than you might think. 240 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,871 It's a harsh reality, 241 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,312 but what you see here will not inevitably become a baby. 242 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:22,878 Five out of six embryos will not have survived up to eight weeks in the womb. 243 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:36,834 It's almost impossible to see a developing feature and not imagine it finished. 244 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:42,637 But the truth is this will only become an eye if luck stays on its side. 245 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:49,757 Every moment we watch, this embryo is taking another step into uncharted territory. 246 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,799 The embryo has reached eight weeks. 247 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,634 It looks like it may become a boy. 248 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:17,029 But, in fact, what you're looking at could develop not into a penis, but a clitoris. 249 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,949 The embryo's sex is hidden. 250 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,390 For now, both male and female look the same. 251 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,392 Also hidden is the construction work inside the body. 252 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:38,350 Millions of cells are becoming bone, lungs and brain. 253 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:50,798 At this stage, nine weeks, the stomach is producing its own digestive juices, 254 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,957 and the heart has started its vigorous pumping. 255 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,993 We now call it not an embryo, but a foetus. 256 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:08,675 But the name-change doesn't mean its future is any more assured. 257 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,839 The risk of failure still accompanies each new development. 258 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,349 Footprints and palmprints are engraved. 259 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:42,920 All the time, the work is fuelled by the supply line, the umbilical cord, 260 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,190 linking the foetus to the mother. 261 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,112 Now a crucial stage of pregnancy is over. 262 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,233 The foetus has managed to complete the basic structures of its body. 263 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:02,954 It has taken twelve weeks. 264 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:07,995 The rest of pregnancy will be chiefly devoted to getting bigger. 265 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:14,309 And it must get a very great deal bigger, because the scale of these pictures is deceptive. 266 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:25,989 All that we've seen so far is in a foetus no bigger than this. 267 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:29,908 This is a model of a twelve-week foetus and it's tiny. 268 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:34,395 It weighs about 14 grammes. 269 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,876 That's roughly the weight of a one-pound coin. 270 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,788 What's so remarkable is that something this small 271 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,912 can cause such an upheaval in its mother's body. 272 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:51,597 My breasts got a lot bigger very quickly and that was the first thing I noticed, 273 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,756 which I wasn't prepared for. 274 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:58,112 Because, obviously, you look at all the pictures of the week-by-week guide 275 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,754 and it's always the tummy growing bigger, 276 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,795 and they really don't concentrate on that part of the anatomy at all. 277 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:11,313 So I got a bit, not worried, but a bit sort of surprised that it was so immediate, 278 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,034 because you know that they would get large, 279 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,958 but I didn't think it would be at the beginning. 280 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:25,150 With a camera that shows up heat as colour, you can see that process happening. 281 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,273 Hot areas of Phillippa show up as yellow or red. 282 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,790 Before she was pregnant, her breasts were actually colder 283 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,514 than most of the rest of her body. 284 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,949 In the first three months of pregnancy, 285 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,313 a surge of hormones causes the blood vessels around the breasts to expand. 286 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,232 Extra blood flow in these hot, red areas 287 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:52,478 feeds the breast tissue as it gears up to provide milk. 288 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,359 The breast is made up of a mass of tiny glands. 289 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,552 It's these that mature and swell. 290 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:11,196 A maze of passages connects the glands to milk reservoirs behind the nipples. 291 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,799 From very early on, the glands can begin to produce milk, 292 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,913 filling the tubes and making the breasts very sore. 293 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,632 That's why painful breasts are often a problem in early pregnancy. 294 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,109 (SEAGULLS CRY) 295 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,599 But by far the most common complaint is feeling sick. 296 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,155 This is truly miserable. 297 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,077 It's maybe the closest I can get 298 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,397 to what three quarters of all women feel during early pregnancy: 299 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:50,839 morning sickness. 300 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,191 It's rather unpleasantly like being seasick. 301 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,915 First you're worried you're gonna die, then you're worried you're not. 302 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,839 Early in pregnancy the mother's body seems to become much more sensitive 303 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,793 to the waves of chemicals flowing through it. 304 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,799 Many mildly toxic things, which we normally eat and drink quite happily, 305 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,151 can throw the pregnant body into fits of nausea. 306 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:27,672 But the good news is that most women feel better by about twelve weeks. 307 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,597 Although you're not exactly home and dry, 308 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:34,111 after that things are much more stable for both mother and foetus. 309 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,310 So, if the world of the mother can be horribly uncomfortable, 310 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:41,908 what about the world of the foetus? 311 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,718 In the past, we thought of it as a calm, relaxing place. 312 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,876 But how realistic is that? 313 00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:00,158 If you or I were in the womb, what would it be like? 314 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,438 You'd be in the middle of someone else's body. 315 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,912 Their heart, which is bigger than you, would be thundering away. 316 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,229 Around you would be metres and metres of arteries and veins, 317 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,476 filled with someone else's blood. 318 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:22,999 (W0MAN C0UGHING) 319 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,873 And how would you get any peace, when above you, 320 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,197 two cavernous lungs work day and night? 321 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,869 (L0UD BL0WING) 322 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:37,755 And worse still, right next to you would be the biggest distraction of all. 323 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,836 (WOMAN) Excuse me. 324 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:44,909 Three meals a day and who knows how many ice cream and gherkin sandwiches 325 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:46,632 have to go somewhere. 326 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,228 And to top it all, you'd be growing all the time. 327 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,438 The real world inside the womb is dynamic and bustling. 328 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:03,998 And in the last twenty years the tool that's done most to show us that is ultrasound. 329 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:10,236 Developed to help doctors screen for potential problems, 330 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,717 it allows parents-to-be to see what their baby is up to. 331 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,998 Instead of lying quietly, it's having a go at a kick 332 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:23,997 or even a somersault. 333 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:34,549 It gulps and swallows up to half a cup of amniotic fluid every day. 334 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:43,518 From quite early on, it sucks its thumb, a habit which may take years to break. 335 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,317 As it gets bigger, we can see what little room it actually has. 336 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:05,432 Ultrasound is so sensitive that it will even, if you watch carefully, capture a blink. 337 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:07,834 There. 338 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,238 Phillippa is now nineteen weeks pregnant and going for her scan. 339 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,879 (SCAN 0PERAT0R) OK, let's show your baby before I do anything else. 340 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,195 So, you can see this is his head, 341 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,871 body, heart beating away there in the middle of the chest. 342 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,479 (PHILLIPPA) The legs curled... 343 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,637 (JEFF) All right, now I can see which way round it is. 344 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,554 (SCAN 0PERAT0R) There you go. There's a hand. See the fingers there? 345 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:40,477 (JEFF) Piano player's hands. 346 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,151 (SCAN 0PERAT0R) Baby's just having a yawn. 347 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,318 (PHILLIPPA) Told you it would always be tired like me! 348 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,557 (SCAN 0PERAT0R) Plenty of time to rest while it's in here. 349 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,671 It's really the first time it's really brought home to me that you're actually pregnant. 350 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:01,791 It's absolutely amazing 351 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,718 that suddenly I've got to realise that, yes, there is actually something in there. 352 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,479 It was just so moving as well, I was... 353 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,875 I mean, it was very, very emotional, I... 354 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,629 I did shed a quiet tear when nobody was looking, but... 355 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:15,876 I could've cried a lot more. 356 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,118 And obviously, I mean, afterwards, when they explain what they've checked, 357 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,800 it's a great relief to know that everything is all right. 358 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,549 It's gonna be incredible to show this to my mum. I can't wait to show her, 359 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,719 because the technology is incredible, she never had an opportunity to see this. 360 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,479 But here we've got pictures of our future child. 361 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,958 So this is what we know of the foetus' world. 362 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,799 But what, if anything, does it know? 363 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:49,680 By mid-pregnancy, the foetus will have started to develop all five senses, 364 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:51,995 but they're still totally blurred. 365 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,394 Instead of having separate senses, 366 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,035 we think a foetus' senses are much less distinct. 367 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,550 Sounds, for instance, may be felt through the skin, 368 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,750 as well as heard by the ears. 369 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,429 Likewise, changes in the fluid that surrounds the foetus 370 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,393 will be as much smelled as tasted. 371 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:20,556 Sounds from the outside world will be filtered through the mother's body. 372 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,797 My voice would sound totally different. 373 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,912 (MUFFLED AND DIST0RTED) Perhaps something like this. 374 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,157 (MUFFLED) My own mother wouldn't know it was me. 375 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:36,917 Whatever sounds can penetrate into the womb, what does a baby actually perceive? 376 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:41,511 That's a hard question to answer, because when we hear or see or feel, 377 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:46,270 we don't just do it with our ears, eyes or hands, but with our fully-developed brain. 378 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:55,191 0ur ears and eyes, mouth and nose are just sensors. 379 00:33:55,320 --> 00:34:00,872 It's here, deep inside our brain, that we translate the signals they give. 380 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,117 It's our brain that makes sense of our senses. 381 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,070 And in the foetus the brain is still developing. 382 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,671 So, concepts like hearing, seeing or feeling are meaningless. 383 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,473 The brain doesn't just switch on one day. 384 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:23,152 Rather, it comes on like a dimmer switch, going gradually over many, many months 385 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:26,397 from nothing to being fully on. 386 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,908 I think the next time I go to the midwife I'll have to ask about which position the baby is in. 387 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:37,996 - Which way round it is? - Well, yeah. 388 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,635 I can't work out whether it's a bottom or what it is that keeps poking out. 389 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:43,352 - The thing I was feeling earlier on? - Yeah. 390 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,074 Phillippa is now five months pregnant. 391 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:50,910 Like most women just past the halfway stage, she's blooming. 392 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:56,910 And that's rather surprising, because inside the baby is starting to dominate. 393 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,476 It's competing with her for the same limited resources, 394 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,353 yet they co-exist quite comfortably. 395 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,475 Sometimes the movements are very separate. 396 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:12,628 And other times it's little, little kicks. 397 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,990 Actually, I might have a little rest now. 398 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:21,150 The broker of this remarkable peace is perhaps the most amazing organ in Phillippa's body. 399 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:23,032 It's the placenta. 400 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:35,272 This is some of the most sophisticated life-support machinery 401 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,119 available to doctors anywhere in the world. 402 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:47,235 Yet this room full of technology cannot begin to compare with the capabilities of this. 403 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,873 For this is a placenta. 404 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:58,190 It's a kidney dialysis unit, a heart-lung machine, an artificial liver all rolled into one. 405 00:35:58,320 --> 00:35:59,799 It's the go-between. 406 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:03,310 It's what allows mother and foetus to live together, 407 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,353 and for me, it's the most fantastic thing about pregnancy. 408 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,678 Yet all of us, even doctors, tend to take it completely for granted. 409 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:18,077 Wonderful though it is, I can see why not everyone might share my enthusiasm for it. 410 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:23,115 But I think it's the great unsung hero of all our lives. 411 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:34,629 So far in Phillippa's pregnancy, 412 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:38,196 it's been the foetus which has faced the biggest threat. 413 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:42,711 But, in the final three months, her own body will be pushed to its limits. 414 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:53,272 Her uterus will increase massively, up to twenty times its normal size. 415 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,915 Her blood supply will increase by more than a third. 416 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,918 And there's a whole lot more weight to go on. 417 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,872 And all the time, the message Phillippa hears from her body is just, 418 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,558 ''Carry on as normal.'' 419 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:41,958 Eventually, the reality of what's going on inside her must start to take its toll. 420 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,277 And what is going on is quite extraordinary. 421 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,433 We're taking a unique view inside Phillippa's body, 422 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,994 now that she's seven months pregnant. 423 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:57,434 Look how big her uterus has grown to house the baby. 424 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,438 It takes up a huge space inside her. 425 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:06,118 And see how her spine has curved with all the extra weight. 426 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:08,390 No wonder she gets backache. 427 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:17,631 Her organs have all been squashed upwards as her uterus has expanded, 428 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:22,629 her stomach, her liver, her lungs. 429 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,671 That's why she feels breathless. 430 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:30,472 Her large intestine, her colon, is now up near her ribcage. 431 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:32,670 It used to be much lower. 432 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,991 But the most dramatic change is to Phillippa's heart. 433 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:45,032 It has to work much harder and to do that it gets bigger. 434 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,470 As it does, it's pushed out of its usual position 435 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,353 and it's tilted over to one side. 436 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,878 Hello, baby, how are you today? 437 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,672 You've been quite quiet. 438 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,192 Not been a busy day. 439 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,269 Oops, that was a little movement. 440 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:13,556 Which bit was that, then? 441 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:17,951 What are you doing? 442 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,590 Where are you trying to get to? 443 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:24,674 Eh? 444 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,634 You're soon gonna run out of space, you won't be able to do that. 445 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,878 I'm not sure your daddy likes watching this. 446 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,594 I think he thinks it's a bit funny. 447 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:52,396 And probably worries that it hurts, but actually it's quite comforting. 448 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,269 Phillippa and Jeff's baby is due in just six weeks time. 449 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:45,071 All men must go through the same thing, because you feel fairly helpless. 450 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:49,955 While all the changes are going on to Phillippa, physically, mentally, emotionally, 451 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:51,957 the same sort of thing is happening to me, 452 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,230 but I'm only looking very much from the outside. 453 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:58,911 There are times that I wish that I could feel the physical side of things, 454 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,350 so that I could understand it a little more. 455 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,552 It can be quite difficult when there's not an awful lot you can do, 456 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,591 other than carry the shopping or something. 457 00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:12,679 It seems fairly menial by comparison with what's going on to the mother. 458 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:27,879 I just marvel at the fact that all of this is going on with no real intervention from me. 459 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,958 It's just my body taking over and doing it all. 460 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:37,196 I'm not in control of it at all, really. It just all happens. 461 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:57,516 The birth itself is the most difficult yet of the tasks the body has had to tackle. 462 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,439 So, why has it been so tough to get this far? 463 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:18,237 The easy answer is that our bodies are riddled with imperfections, right from the start. 464 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,113 Sperm so weak they're all but annihilated. 465 00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:24,152 Eggs so fragile they only live for a day. 466 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:29,472 But the bigger question is, why are we like that? 467 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:35,675 Why are our bodies designed to make each stage of pregnancy so difficult and so dangerous? 468 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:41,477 And of course that's the whole point, our bodies aren't designed at all. 469 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,559 Instead we have evolved. 470 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:53,758 0ur imperfections are simply problems inherited from our ancestors. 471 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:59,352 The great triumph, though, is that we have also inherited solutions. 472 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:06,638 So although the human body makes pregnancy the most complicated task it ever faces, 473 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:10,753 at the same time it makes it look so very easy. 474 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,159 Glimpsed inside the womb with three-dimensional ultrasound, 475 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,158 this is a baby about to be born. 476 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:28,030 It looks fully formed, but in one crucial way it's not yet ready for the world. 477 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,550 Its brain is still nowhere near fully developed. 478 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:40,235 If it were to wait until it was, it could be in the womb an extra twelve months. 479 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:43,750 But there's a very simple reason why it can't stay there that long. 480 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:50,191 To get out, the baby has to travel through the middle of the pelvis. 481 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:55,075 Any longer in the womb and its head would be too big to fit through. 482 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:00,789 0ur pelvises have evolved to reach their widest limit. 483 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:04,151 Any wider and walking would be impossible. 484 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:06,999 We would have to crawl on all fours. 485 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:12,273 So if the baby is to come into the world at all, it must do it now, 486 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,039 whether its brain is ready or not. 487 00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:17,276 And it's a tight squeeze. 488 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:28,116 Ten days before it's due, Phillippa's baby is beginning to make its way into the world. 489 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:33,360 Most unusually for a first-time mother, Phillippa has decided on a home birth. 490 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:36,959 (MIDWIFE) I'm listening all the way through this one 491 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:38,911 and then afterwards as well. 492 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:43,310 The muscles that have held the baby enclosed for months 493 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,637 now have to be stretched apart to let it out. 494 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:52,755 With the heat-sensitive camera, you can see the waves of hot muscle action 495 00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,555 sweeping across Phillippa's tummy during a contraction. 496 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:03,473 Hour after hour, the walls of the uterus press in upon the baby 497 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:06,353 in powerful, regular contractions. 498 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:14,713 (MIDWIFE) Now Phillippa's contracting about one every three or four minutes, 499 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,671 and they seem to be fairly strong. 500 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:18,995 I think she's coping really well with the contractions, 501 00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,680 although she doesn't always think she is. 502 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:24,030 I think she is doing extremely well. 503 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:29,473 And we're just hoping that the contractions are making the cervix dilate. 504 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,557 At first the contractions aren't moving the baby. 505 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:37,753 They are painfully forcing open the neck of Phillippa's womb, her cervix. 506 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,998 It will have to go from closed to ten centimetres wide open. 507 00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:46,238 For a first-time mother, this takes an average of ten hours. 508 00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:52,717 0nce the cervix has been opened, the baby's exit route is clear. 509 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:57,391 The head acts as a battering ram, forging a way for the rest of the body. 510 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,955 To see more clearly what's happening, 511 00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:06,596 let's look beneath the skin at the baby preparing for its exit. 512 00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:09,234 It has to perform a difficult manoeuvre. 513 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:12,557 It's facing us here, but as it enters the pelvis 514 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:16,309 its head gets turned round to face Phillippa's spine, 515 00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:21,560 and then its head and neck are bent right back through an angle of ninety degrees. 516 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:26,513 It's rather like forcing your foot into a Wellington boot. 517 00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,830 (PHILLIPPA GR0ANS) (MIDWIFE) Well done. 518 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:35,835 (MIDWIFE) Well done, the contraction's gone, Phillippa. 519 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:37,712 (PHILLIPPA) I can't... (MIDWIFE) OK. 520 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,798 If you sit... Phillippa, if you sit on the edge of the bed. 521 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,276 - And then just put your fingers down. - I don't think I can. 522 00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:46,550 Just lean back like that, just as you are. 523 00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:51,516 Just reach down and touch the baby's head. 524 00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:55,315 Just inside now, when you're pushing, it comes out quite a lot. 525 00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:58,477 - Oh, no. - OK, you don't have to. 526 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,910 Big long push again, Phillippa. That's excellent. 527 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:05,990 Well done, that's it, keep it there. 528 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:10,154 (MIDWIFE) Right, let's have a really good push. 529 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:13,272 (W0MAN) Put your chin down. (MIDWIFE) That's it. 530 00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,311 (MIDWIFE) Take a breath. 531 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:18,034 (MIDWIFE) One more push, Phillippa, if you can, it's so close. 532 00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,156 (W0MAN) That's it, you're doing it now. (PHILLIPPA SCREAMS) 533 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:26,033 (MIDWIFE) Pant, pant, pant. Well done. 534 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,628 (PHILLIPPA PANTING) 535 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:31,638 (MIDWIFE) That's the baby's head. 536 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:33,478 (PHILLIPPA M0ANS) (W0MAN) That's all right. 537 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,839 (MIDWIFE) Big push. (JEFF) Come on, come on. 538 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:40,234 (JEFF) Look, look, look. 539 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:42,476 (JEFF) Look, look. (PHILLIPPA PANTS L0UDLY) 540 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:44,397 (BABY CRIES) 541 00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:55,549 Oh, well done, wee baby. 542 00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:58,911 Perhaps birth should be viewed 543 00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:02,271 not so much as an occasion when things can go wrong, 544 00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:08,475 but more as a miracle that things can go right, which they do most of the time. 545 00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:12,597 Phillippa gave birth to a healthy baby girl, 546 00:48:12,720 --> 00:48:16,872 just one of almost a million babies that share her birth date, 547 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:19,833 all around the world.