Life Before Birth

Credit - David Barlow

It is thought that the foetus can sense pain from 24 weeks on – and possibly even earlier. This is also the time the baby could be born and stand a chance of surviving – and it is also the latest time that abortions can be carried out in the UK or the USA. The baby can now open its eyes regularly – but only the very brightest light can get through the abdomen wall. At 25 weeks the eyes are fully formed but the pigment will only mature when it is born – the pigment cannot properly form without light. The baby will drink 2 litres a day of amniotic fluid. It serves no nutritional value but does help perfect the art of swallowing – so important for later survival.

Foetuses spends around 90% of their time asleep but when they are awake they can be full of beans, often exhibiting the ‘startle’ reflex where it throws it arms and legs out if it hears a loud noise. The baby has been hard at work sucking its thumb since the 11th week. By the 25th week it will suck its fingers, toes - in fact anything it can get hold of. At week 26 it is possible to hear the foetuses own heartbeat by pressing your ear to the mother’s abdomen. Its heartbeat is twice as fast as it mother’s. And it ‘breathes’ just like a newborn, except that its lungs are filling with fluid rather than air. The air sacs inside the lungs are still closed and will not open until the moment of birth.

By the 7th month the baby kicks and hiccups just like a new born. And when it is asleep 4D scans reveal that it experiences REM – rapid eye movement - as far as we are aware a clear indication of dreaming. What is it dreaming of – its mother’s voice, her heart beat or the loud noises outside? We don't know.

The cry of a new born baby already exhibits some of the speech features and rhythms of its parents. A French newborn baby prefers to look at a French speaking person and a Russian newborn at a Russian speaker. Incredible but true. And fast music can stimulate the foetus. Music similar to the heartbeat rhythm will have a soothing effect but faster music will agitate it. At 32 weeks a foetus can recognise a piece of music and move in time to it. Also it can remember things extremely well. If its mother has watched a lot of one soap opera – after it is born it is more likely to be calm and quiet when that programme is playing on the TV. So our bad TV habits start before we are even born!

Credit - David Barlow

By the 9th month the baby inverts itself so the head is pointing down ready for its exit into the big wide world. The baby is putting on weight – mostly fat – with less and less space to move around inside it mother. How the birth process starts is still a mystery but we know it has something to do with the placenta. At some point the placenta stops the release of progesterone and this somehow kicks off contractions in the uterus wall. During the first phase of labour the cervix expands to allow the baby to pass through. Birth is a particular problem for humans – our brains and therefore our heads are large and this is the trickiest part to get out of our mothers. Large amounts of adrenalin are released inside the baby to keep its heart going just in case the umbilical cord is squashed and the oxygen supply is cut off. The adrenalin also helps kick start the lungs for a lifetime of work.

Finally after 9 months the baby is thrust into a bright, noisy world. For the fist time the baby has to breathe and feed on its own. As its incredible odyssey inside the womb comes to an end another journey begins – the journey of life.

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