Pelvis Opening to Release Baby (See below for video)

In this TED Talk, internationally renowned journalist and author, Alexander Tsiaras, presents his work on a digitized visualization of human existence from conception to birth.  Merging contemporary knowledge in the fields of biology and computer science, he has created a three dimensional computerized diary of fetal development.

Tsiaras’ work is highly medicalized but could be quite useful in the visualization process of pregnancy and birth, especially for two reasons that I can think of.  The first of these reasons is simply that the series of images remind the viewer of how truly wondrous is the scientific process of conception to birth.  More practically speaking, the video segments during which baby is expulsed from the womb (captured in the still shot above) can be very helpful to the pregnant woman in helping her to understand how her pelvis will widen to release her baby.  As the video shows, the pelvis is made to extend in order to accomodate the emerging baby.  

When my husband and I were preparing for our first child’s birth back in 2009, we took one birth class in which the birth educator brought out a life-size model of the female pelvis bone. Designed to show expecting couples how the pelvis functioned, the model pelvis opened and closed.  Using a toy baby, our educator showed us how baby descends and turns in the pelvis.  This portion of the class really helped me to visualize how my hips would open for my baby on the day of labor.  Tsiaras’ images of this process could help others to understand the way that the female pelvis is designed to open and release a baby into the world.