Day 2: Another Day with Ina May

Today was an unexpected day to do some more reading instead of starting my time shadowing the midwives. I came down with a cold on Saturday, and I didn't feel well enough to start my experience today. Hopefully I will begin tomorrow morning!

I continued reading one of the books by Ina May Gaskin called Spiritual Midwifery. Today's focus was learning about getting ready for the birth itself–the essental anatomy of the mother, the baby and its life-support system, and determining the relation of the baby to the mother's pelvis. The section I found amazing and extremely fascinating was the weekly development of the baby inside the womb. It is really incredible to read about how something so complex quickly comes into creation.

One of the things that struck me the most was how small the baby could be while having all the basic structures and systems. For example, by the fourth week, the back bones, spinal cord, and brain begin to take shape, as well as the beginnings of a face, throat, eyes, ears, nose, stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, blood vessels, blood, and a heart! But can you guess how big it is by the end of the fourth week? The baby is only one-fifth of an inch long from head to tail! It could fit on my pinky fingernail, yet it has all these amazing systems starting to form, grow, and specialize. Here is a diagram of what the baby looks like at this stage:

By the sixth week, the baby is only half of an inch long, but the brain already controls the functioning of the other organs. There is also a complete skeleton of cartilage, which later hardens and turns to bone. By this time, everything the baby needs is there, and the rest is all growth and specialization–everything is packed into half an inch of length...wow!

To give more perspective, here is a life-size model of a baby at eight weeks:

Although it is important and fascinating reading, I am excited to connect some of this knowledge to the patients I meet.