Where can I get a computer animation of the movements of the human
fetus through the birth canal.

Hi there,

I found some excellent presentations at Discovery.com:

Vaginal Delivery - Shockwave animation
http://health.discovery.com/minisites/pregnancy/labor_delivery/tools/vaginal_anim.html

Vaginal Birth - Slideshow
http://health.discovery.com/minisites/pregnancy/labor_delivery/presentations/vaginal_pres_1.html

Cervical Changes During Labor - interactive tool (also requires
Shockwave)
http://health.discovery.com/minisites/pregnancy/labor_delivery/tools/cervical_tool.html

Shockwave plug-in for your browser:
http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/frameset.fhtml

There are also a couple of videos on this topic for sale, which
include an animation of birth:

Stages of Labor: A Visual Guide 
http://www.sivideo.com/parenting/stages.htm

We're Having A Baby!
http://www.lamazevideo.com/

Search words used:

birth delivery animation
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=birth+delivery+animation

Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by tjtarby-ga on 29 Jun 2002 05:49 PDT

None of the presentations actually show the movements of the infant as
(s)he descends through the birth canal.  It is this an animation of
this set of movements, with the positions of the limbs, that I need.

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Clarification of Answer by robertskelton-ga on 29 Jun 2002 09:27 PDT

Hi again,

I would've expected precise images of the limb positions during birth
being online, but after much researching I don't believe they exist -
not in video or computer animation. This could in part be due to the
number of ways a baby can come out... head first, legs first, or a
variation (even sideways).

With regards to a "head first" birth, there appears to be only two
positions for the limbs to be in: stretched out ahead of the
shoulders, or relaxed behind the shoulders. In the animation I linked
to, the arms carried through limply, after the head. This would be a
reasonable expectation given the limited amount of room in there.
Aside from the movements of independent vaginal muscles, I can't
imagine what a more detailed animation could show, or why there would
be a need to show it.

Based on the the lack of information online, I doubt that during the
delivery through the birth canal the position of limbs changes to a
degree worth taking notice of.

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Request for Answer Clarification by tjtarby-ga on 01 Jul 2002 07:24 PDT

You indicated finding an animation of a vertex (head first) delivery
in which the arms followed "limply" behind.  You didn't give the url
of that animation.  I would like to see that.  I would expect the arms
to be pressed tightly between the uterine wall/pelvis and the infant's
chest.  Is there enough detail in the animation to appreciate this or
is it like the few that I've seen where there is essentially nothing
between engagement of the head in the pelvis and delivery.  Thanks for
your help so far.  tjtarby

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Clarification of Answer by robertskelton-ga on 03 Jul 2002 03:49 PDT

The animation is the first one I linked to in the original answer:

http://health.discovery.com/minisites/pregnancy/labor_delivery/tools/vaginal_anim.html

- not a new one that I had found. I failed to appreciate the cut-away
nature of the animation - to me the arms appeared to be loose, where
in fact they would be very tight against the birth canal. If I had
been clearer with what I wrote, it would have read:

This is my opinion, not based on what I know, but by what seems
logical. Birth, by nature, is a process involving forces of tightness.
In a head-first delivery the arms and then legs would have little
choice about what their position was - pinned to the side and dragged
through. Of the all the other possible delivery positions, I would
find it unlikely for the arms to be anything except straigt. This
obviousness would explain the lack of information regarding limb
positions being available on the Internet. For example, this article
goes into much detail about the baby's possible positions during
birth, and the only mention of limb positions is in regard to a
"breech birth" where the legs are coming out first:

Fetal Anatomy
http://www.gynob.com/position.htm

A Google Image Search for "birth canal" shows how few still images of
the fetus going through the birth canal can to be found online, let
alone animations:

http://images.google.com/images?q=%22birth+canal%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

Complete.  Confirmed my impressions from searching despite assurances
from others that there must be something out there!