During delivery, the baby’s entire body must pass through the mother’s pelvis and into the vaginal canal. As we know, the baby’s head is proportionally the largest part of its body at this stage, with a diameter equal to that of the thorax.
Due to its size, it is not easy for it to pass through the maternal pelvis, however, nature is very wise and during delivery, the baby’s head is accommodated to facilitate its expulsion. And now, thanks to a new study, we can learn through three-dimensional images how the baby’s head is deformed during delivery.
Published in the journal Plos One and conducted in France by French and American researchers, the study was conducted using MRI to obtain three-dimensional images showing how the baby’s head is deformed to facilitate delivery.
In order to observe how this transformation happens, the researchers asked seven pregnant women to have an MRI scan before and during the second stage of their labor – active dilation, which is when the baby’s head begins to poke out.
After the images were taken during the MRI, each woman was immediately transferred to the hospital’s maternity ward to continue her labor. The images show how the skull and brain of babies are crushed and deformed in order to pass through the birth canal.
In this first image, the frontal bones are marked in pink, the parietals in green, and the occipital bone in blue. In the anterior view (A, B), it was observed that the anterior fontanel decreased in size during delivery. In the lateral view (C, D), the bones of the skull change in orientation and overlap . In the superior view (E, F), it was observed that the anterior and posterior fontanelles decreased in size during delivery.
In this second image, the brains of all babies were observed to change shape in the second stage of labor . This change in the shape of the fetal brain reflected the displacement of the fetal skull bones, observed during the second phase of labor.
Just as the researchers expected, the heads of each of the seven babies changed shape to fit their mothers’ birth canal . Of all of them, five quickly regained the normal shape of their heads, while another two remained deformed for a longer period of time, although this had no observable effect on their health.
All the children were born healthy, with the exception of one of them, since their results in the Apgar test were lower than normal when they were taken immediately after delivery, however, when they were taken again 10 minutes later their results were showed normal. Coincidentally, that baby was one of three babies who had the most deformed head during delivery .
The deformation of each baby’s skull depends on a number of factors , such as the shape of the mother’s birth canal, the size of the baby’s head, and the force with which the tissues hold each section of the skull together.
Some deformation is necessary so that babies can be expelled during delivery, however, excessive deformation could be a sign that something is wrong , such as happened in the case of the baby whose first Apgar test results were not normal.
Because the study was small, the researchers comment that further research on this topic is needed to obtain more statistical data, however, this is a good start and could help doctors predict whether a mother will have difficulties during labor or delivery. if the baby is at risk .
Photo | Pexels
Via | Discover Magazine
