Uncovering Secrets "In The Womb"

Over a quarter of a century ago the first ultrasound images of foetuses inside the mother’s abdomen were all the rage these images were grainy but lucky parents were able to take away crude snaps of their unborn child and for the first time parents realised the true miracle of what was happening in the nine months leading up to the birth of their precious child.

These 2D scans are used extensively to help doctors measure and assess the growth of the foetus, but they convey very little information about behaviour in the womb. In 2004 Professor Stuart Campbell perfected a technique which not only produces detailed 3D images but records foetal movement in real time. His work has shown for the first time that the unborn baby engages in complex behaviour from an early stage of its development. These 3D ultrasound images have shown many kinds of behaviour inside the womb - from yawning, blinking, swallowing, thumb sucking to grimacing and reacting to loud external noises. A whole new window on the womb has been uncovered and it is possible to see fascinating images of your baby at landmark stages of gestation: the early stages where you can see whole baby moving about within the uterus where the umbilical cord and the placenta are visible in detail, through to the later stages of pregnancy which show excellent pictures of the baby's face. This new technology has allowed scientists and doctors to understand exactly what was happening in the womb day-by-day, minute-by-minute. For the first time they could capture every moment of foetal development and understand more about what was happening to the baby and what was happening to the mother. For obstetricians, the development of 3D and 4D scans has been the equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope, allowing researchers to scrutinize fetal development and behaviour in unprecedented detail.

It is these advances that made it possible to make a definitive film on gestation and hence "In the Womb" was born, so to speak. Suddenly making a documentary about the unborn child was possible as we could now spy on a previously unseen and unknown world. With the co-operation of Professor Campbell, Pioneer Productions one of the world’s leading science documentary producers was commissioned by National Geographic Channel and Channel Four to make a 100 minute special that was "to stay mostly in the womb". Called "Life Before Birth" on Channel 4 and "In the Womb" on National Geographic Channels worldwide, the film has been made using a combination of state of the art model making techniques, the most up to date computer graphics technologies and the skills of David Barlow, a world renowned special effects photographer. With the visual excellence of the Director, Toby Macdonald, and the exacting standards of National Geographic, this film is the definitive guide to human gestation.

Julia Behar, Managing Director of DVD company Rocket Rights, has brought the international version of this award winning and breathtaking film to DVD. Having worked on the project from the early stages, as a mum in her own rights, Julia immediately saw how this excellent film would be an invaluable pregnancy companion for mums-to-be: "I just knew that this was what expectant mothers would want and, to my mind, should have: a thorough, up-to-date film about gestation, a blow by blow account of what is happening to the mother and foetus right through from conception to birth".

The DVD is organised into trimesters and calendar weeks allowing the viewer easy selection of specific gestation periods and it provides a clear and fascinating guide that can be enjoyed by expectant mums - and dads - in the comfort of their own home.

Mothers are thrilled to see what is happening to themselves and their baby right through pregnancy and use the DVD in much the same way as books by dipping in and out of the film as pregnancy progresses and for second time mothers it can also be shown to older siblings to prepare them for the imminent arrival of a brother or sister.

Fathers, as a rule of thumb are mesmerized by the film (nearly all of the reviews in the national newspapers were written by men) and all those women who watched the film with their partners during our research period reported that the film fully engaged their partners in many cases for the first time.

It is a valuable education tool and very useful in helping the entire family bond.

‘In the Womb’ is only available from Rocket Rights. Visit www.rocketrights.com and buy online or download an order form. Otherwise call 01273 648375 for assistance.

If you would like to share your pregnancy experiences please email the site at contributions@forparentsbyparents.co.uk.