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(FAST HEARTBEAT)
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You're looking at a baby's heart.
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It's beating 120 times a minute.
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But, amazingly, it's not the only thing
keeping this human being alive.
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00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,628
That's done by the most sophisticated
life-support machine on Earth.
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To find that machine,
we have to leave the heart
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and travel through an artery
the thickness of a drinking straw.
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(L0UD SW00SHING)
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Every one of us has an almost
identical network of arteries and veins.
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Identical, that is, except for this one.
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No one watching has a blood vessel like this.
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It's a spiralling link
between this body and its life-support.
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And at its end, a mass of tubes
so tiny even blood cells appear huge.
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Through a wall
comes the sound of the engine room.
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(MUFFLED SW00SHING)
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It's a mother's heart,
and we've just made the journey
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from inside the heart of her unborn baby.
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00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:07,070
This film is the story of the unique relationship
between mother and baby
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which is at the start of every new life.
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00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,033
(CHURCH BELLS)
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0ver a hundred million acts of sexual intercourse
take place each day in the world.
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These result
in around 910,000 conceptions
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and, nine months later,
400,000 babies.
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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.
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00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,595
Stack a hundred ultrasound pictures together
and a new image emerges:
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a remarkable three-dimensional
picture of a child yet to be born.
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Today, new technology is letting us see
the world of the unborn in a completely new way.
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It also lets us retrace its past
from a baby just before birth
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to a foetus of thirteen weeks.
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And further back, unravelling the dazzling
complexity of the embryo at six weeks...
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and four...
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and three...
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..until we're back at the beginning,
with the cells that start the whole thing off.
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An egg,
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and a hundred times smaller, a single sperm.
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The process looks so elegant
you'd think it was simple.
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00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,956
But you'd be wrong.
39
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These are my sperm,
amazingly about 500 million of them
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from a single ejaculation.
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00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,432
With just this one ejaculation
it should be possible
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to impregnate all the fertile women
of Western Europe.
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And I'm nothing special.
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In actual fact,
we need all these millions of sperm
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to have any realistic chance
of achieving just one pregnancy.
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Why? Because pregnancy is difficult.
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It's a struggle to get pregnant,
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it's a struggle to stay pregnant,
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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
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into less than a minute.
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Having a baby is a common enough experience
and we feel we know a lot about it.
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But more than half of what's actually going on
inside our bodies is a mystery even to doctors.
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00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,591
It's our greatest achievement
and yet it's cloaked in secrecy.
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And even when we live through it,
experiencing the months of pregnancy first hand,
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our bodies still conceal
the marvel that's going on within.
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In this film I want to look at that time afresh,
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over a single day...
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and over 300 days.
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We'll follow the complexities
and difficulties of the beginning of life.
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We'll condense a year into just a few minutes
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and reveal how, moment by moment,
month by month, a struggle to be born unfolds.
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And we'll show how, time after time,
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the human body has to overcome
the most daunting of obstacles
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to complete the everyday miracle of new life.
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I think we talked fairly quicklyabout having children.
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I think we decided fairly quicklynot to have them straight away.
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Yeah, but it was never an issue as towhether we would or wouldn't, I think.
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We just both assumed we would.
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It was something that didn't have to bediscussed as a possibility or a definite no-no.
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It was more a question of when.
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Phillippa and Jeff Watson live in Bath.
They're both in their thirties.
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Five months ago, they started trying for a baby.
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(JEFF) I assumed very much thatas soon as Phillippa came off the Pill
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that getting pregnant would be a piece of cake,but I'm not sure that's the case.
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Well, I definitely thought,because all my previous experience
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has been about contraceptionand how important it is,
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I thought it would be very easyto get pregnant.
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There would be no problem at all,but, in fact, that's not the case.
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The more you read,the more you talk to other people,
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you discover that it's actually not that easy.
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And, er, my opinion at the moment is thatI wonder how people actually do get pregnant.
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Seems very, very difficult.
84
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,151
And Phillippa is right, it is difficult.
85
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There are only about 30 days a year when
a woman has a chance of becoming pregnant.
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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.
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Success depends on a cycle
that's been part of a woman's life since puberty.
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With a new medical imaging technique
developed especially for this series,
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we can see inside Phillippa.
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Nestling deep in her pelvis
lies Phillippa's uterus - her womb.
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It's a mass of muscle
in which a baby could one day grow.
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From the top of the uterus on either side
comes a Fallopian tube,
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reaching out towards one of her ovaries,
here coloured white.
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This is where
her lifetime store of eggs is waiting.
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They were all formed when Phillippa
was just an eight-week-old embryo.
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At puberty something remarkable happened.
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Inside Phillippa's brain
a tiny gland, her pituitary,
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signalled to her ovaries
to start to release some of those eggs.
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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
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you're about to see what ovulation looks like.
102
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We're inside one of the Fallopian tubes,
heading towards the ovary.
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And at the end of the tube, there it is.
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That huge white moon is her ovary.
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Inside it is an egg about to be released.
106
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Suddenly, the surface of the ovary breaks,
revealing a red wound.
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It looks enormous, but it's actually
only a couple of millimetres across.
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The end of the Fallopian tube rubs against it
in time with the woman's pulse.
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00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:24,590
Then, at the bottom of the wound,
a tiny hole appears.
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And hidden within is the egg.
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A strand of sticky, almost see-through cells
is pulled away by the rubbing Fallopian tubes.
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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.
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00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,998
The egg itself is deep within them.
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00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,596
This is ovulation.
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It will happen just 400 times in a woman's life.
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It is the beginning
of the possibility of new life.
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As the egg is pulled
from the ovary into the Fallopian tube,
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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.
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After that it'll die.
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00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:25,878
And to be fertilized
it needs to meet a vital ingredient:
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sperm.
125
00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,157
I'm sometimes asked
what's the best way to make sure
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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.
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As our bodies come nearer and nearer to orgasm,
every part gears up in anticipation.
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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
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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.
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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.
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00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,869
Within minutes, the walls are littered
with the corpses of millions.
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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.
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00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:09,431
It's also likely that in the hours after sex
the uterus itself contracts,
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helping to carry the sperm on their way.
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00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,634
Even so,
the sperm have been all but annihilated.
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00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,878
0nly a few thousand
will complete the journey across her uterus
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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,
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00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,432
the sperm that have struggled so far
will find what they set out for.
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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.
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00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:20,632
Suddenly one of the sperm, which has
been burrowing into the wall of the egg,
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00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:22,318
breaks right through.
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00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:29,832
Inside the egg, the genetic information
is gathered in two tiny balls.
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Details from Phillippa
are in one and from Jeff in the other.
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00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,917
In a moment the information will fuse together.
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And the instant that happens the unique
inherited characteristics of a new life
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will be fixed.
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00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,429
All the information
from Phillippa and Jeff is now there
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00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,519
to determine whether their baby
will be a boy or a girl,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,350
But they won't be identical for long.
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00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,632
As Phillippa and Jeff continue life as usual,
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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.
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00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,234
Her uterus, too, is transforming.
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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
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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 nightto go to the bathroom anyway.
210
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:46,797
And I woke up and I suddenly had this urgeto 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 surewhat Jeff thought was going on.
213
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,397
Then I disappeared into the bathroomfor 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 aroundfor 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 quicklyand 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 picturesof 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 concentrateon 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 ofsurprised that it was so immediate,
278
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,034
because you knowthat they would get large,
279
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,958
but I didn't thinkit 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 babybefore 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 therein 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 seewhich 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 wouldalways 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 broughthome 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 tearwhen 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 reliefto know that everything is all right.
358
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,549
It's gonna be incredible to show thisto 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'llhave 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 bottomor 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 muchfrom the outside.
453
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:58,911
There are times that I wishthat 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 difficultwhen 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 comparisonwith 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 isgoing 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 listeningall 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 contractingabout 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 wellwith 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 contractionsare 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.
52126
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