"It takes just two cells to make a human being." "Two cells and a miracle." "In nine months the parent cells blossoms into billions." "Where once was nothing now grows a tiny human gently nestled and protected in mother's womb." "Together, mother and child share this odyssey of life nurturing and rapid change." "A magnificent adventure called pregnancy." "Out here you're not as warm." "But that's okay mommy's gonna make sure you are." "Each of us is unique and yet every one of us is more alike than we might imagine." "Our chromosomes and genes are almost identical." "And we all got here in much the same way voyagers on the same miraculous journey as our cells became ourselves." "This is a story of that journey." "It's about the bond between mother and child." "A bond that starts invisibly from the moment of conception." "From the very first moment when two tiny cells begin to transform into a new person the mother's body starts to reshape and remodel itself." "She becomes perfectly suited for carrying the most precious cargo imaginable the fragile beginning of life itself." "Reproduction is both exquisite and exquisitely common." "Perfect in its design." "It begins the instant 400 million sperm launch against the cervix the entrance to the woman's reproductive system." "Each is programmed to seek out the egg and fertilize it." "It's a risky mission." "Many sperm perish in the acidic climate of the vagina." "The strongest make their way through the cervix to start their marathon." "The sperm must swim the equivalent of nine miles through hostile waters to reach the egg." "Out of 200, 400 million sperm only a few make it to the egg itself and it does so by whipping its tail." "Vigorous, but also desperate and doomed most get lost in the folds of the uterus or follow the wrong fallopian tube where no egg exists." "The remaining sperm race toward their target and only one can fertilize the egg." "The egg is one of the biggest cells in the human body." "Of the hundreds of millions of sperm mere hundreds find it." "They surround the egg, each trying to burrow its way in." "The instant one sperm penetrates the zona pellucida or eggshell the exterior closes, and the race is over." "All other sperm are shut out." "The egg is sealed and so is the fate of the person who will grow from it." "The fertilized egg now has all the genetic information it needs to create new life." "A glorious chain reaction has begun." "Like the embrace that began the process the nucleus of the egg and sperm join inside the egg nearly a day later." "Together they create the very blueprint from which a new person will be made." "You've got 23 chromosomes from your father and you've got 23 chromosomes from your mother." "Inside the nucleus of the egg and sperm is a pro-nucleus a capsule containing the 23 chromosomes on which the DNA code is written." "Those two pro-nuclei will come close together in that position." "The chromosomes in each will have doubled so you've got 46 in each." "The pro-nuclei will, will dissolve." "Those, those chromosomes come together and they are then pulled apart and this cell then divides and you've got a two-cell embryo." "Only two cells and yet the future baby's sex, looks even potential health problems are already determined." "This tiny speck is pushed by fingerlike cilia through the fallopian tube toward the uterus." "On the long journey it divides again and again." "At 32 cells this cluster begins its transformation." "The cells divide into distinct types." "One type destined to become the baby the other its supporting organ the placenta." "The cells continue to feverishly multiply unnoticed by the mother." "In six days one cell has bloomed to nearly 200 and the embryo has outgrown its protective bubble." "Like a flower bursting from its bud it emerges and expands, burrowing into the soft warm folds of mother's uterus." "In a matter of days cells become structures building a human framework." "Among the first is the neural tube which in short time will become the brain and the spine." "It's at this stage that the cells on the back of the embryo will start rising will form a tube and actually come together at the top of that tube and fuse." "And this all begins at the midpoint of the back and it will proceed in a zipper-like fashion from the midpoint towards the head and towards the tail." "By the end of the third week comes another milestone." "The head and the tail portion of the tube fuse completely." "A brain starts to form." "The tail, a dramatic reminder of our primordial past, eventually fades away." "Everything about the young embryo is primitive." "Until the placenta develops a yolk sac provides nourishment for the first weeks." "If you were to look at a three-and-a-half week-old embryo." "It would be very diffiicult to look at it and say, "this is a human."" "It may look like the same thing as a as a mouse embryo or a pig embryo." "They all look very similar." "By four weeks, the human resemblance is not much clearer, but mother and child are already communing." "The embryo sends chemical signals and the mother's body prepares to nurture forging an unbreakable, lifetime bond." "By the end of the fourth week the mother might suspect she's pregnant." "To the outside world there's no sign of the changes within." "Proteins secreted by the developing placenta tell the mother's body to stop releasing eggs and prevent the uterine lining from shedding." "The embryo's fragile world inside the uterus is now secure." "By the fifth week comes a glorious explosion of life force." "Within the watery, amniotic fluid-filled cocoon the embryo grows more than a million new cells every minute." "Each of these cells has a job to do." "A critical point during embryo genesis is the point at which all of the organs are signaled to begin developing." "The genes that all have to be turned on at that point all have to be done like a a well-conducted orchestra." "The heart is the organ that develops first." "The cells destined to become heart cells begin their first erratic flutters soon after the egg implanted in the uterus." "By four and a half weeks those cells are forming the structure of the heart." "In another few weeks beating inside this embryo will be a fully functioning heart." "It is disproportionately large right now but the rest of the tissues and organs will soon catch up." "Not long after the heart begins to develop, the liver starts growing." "Soon it is more than ten percent of the embryo's size." "From eyes to limbs, ears to lungs all of the embryo's organs take shape cell by delicate cell." "Each system takes its cue from nature's strict and graceful choreography." "Each organ makes its entrance at just the right moment to assure the baby's health." "Just like the constant beat of this little heart the pace is quick and unstoppable." "Even from day to day, these amazing changes are unmistakable." "The yolk sac, no longer needed for nourishment finds a new role as the embryo's blood cell factory." "It is firmly tethered to the amniotic sac." "Weighing less than half an ounce the growing embryo is already independent with a circulatory system that's separate from the mother's." "The placenta keeps the two bloodstreams apart." "The placenta also feeds the embryo with nutrients it extracts from the mother's blood and rids the embryo's environment of waste." "The umbilical cord links the embryo to the placenta the lifeline between mother and child." "At less than half an inch long and six weeks old tiny limb buds begin to emerge." "They start as a protrusion" "Two in the upper portion of the embryo and two in the lower portion of the embryo." "The cells on top will tell the cells on the bottom to divide, grow and they start pushing the limb buds outwards." "This keeps happening for another four or five days and at that point you'll have little petals on the end of those buds that will look like little hands and little feet." "The transparent skin reveals everything inside this tiny body." "Dark pits appear where eyes will soon develop." "Not more than seven weeks old the embryo looks more human with each passing day and with each day the mother's body makes remarkable adaptations of its own." "I just can't wait until my stomach starts getting bigger." "Like right now you can you know, you can't even tell that I'm pregnant and like I can't wait until I start feeling the baby move and kick and all that good stuff." "Hi!" "Congratulations, Brenda." "Thank you." "I'm Doctor Abraham-Hebert." "Brenda and her husband are expecting their first baby." "She feels ready for the changes even the unexpected ones." "Okay, Brenda let's go over some more details here." "I'm gonna let you know some of the things that you're gonna expect and give you a chance to ask both of you give you a chance to ask me some questions." "Okay?" "I didn't expect to get anything because my mom really didn't have any morning sickness and neither did my sister so I thought I'd be the lucky one also and not get it." "Increase of progesterone and estrogen hormones cause morning sickness." "Usually about 70, 80 percent of women during early pregnancy even starting as early as four to eight weeks, begin noticing nausea." "That's actually a very good sign to me that shows that the, usually the progesterone hormones are increasing normally and her pregnancy is most likely very protected." "The obstetrician, a prospective mom's guide in pregnancy does her best to alleviate fears and answer questions." "How are you doing right now with that?" "It's okay some days." "Some days are pretty bad and some days are fine." "So." "Okay." "All right." "You want to make sure your stomach does not get empty." "When you get an empty stomach you the, the acid will start building up and that can cause a little more more of the nausea and the heartburn." "Brenda's breasts are becoming more tender as they grow fuller." "Once a month about after, about a week after your period." "Some of the changes in the breast that occur during the beginning of pregnancy and that continue during the rest of the pregnancy are increased growth of the actual cells of the breast and this is very early." "The glandular as well as the ductal cells they're, they're growing in number and they actually expand getting ready to fill with milk which will, which will happen right after delivery." "Okay." "All right." "Okay." "At eight weeks into her pregnancy" "Brenda's body is transforming into the perfect, life-giving vessel." "Her uterus is undergoing the biggest changes and is enlarging and softening to accommodate its flourishing embryo." "I can actually deep inside feel the top of your uterus." "The individual uterine muscle cells are increasing in size as well as increasing in number." "They, they increase in size all the way through the beginning of pregnancy to, until delivery." "But initially what happens is the size of the uterus grows from about this starts from as the size of my fist and, and even smaller in some people and it increases to the size of a large orange or grapefruit" "cantaloupe and then of course a small watermelon." "What happens around, between nine and twelve weeks is that it actually goes from a pelvic organ to an abdominal organ." "Discomfort has always been the handmaiden of early pregnancy." "Though it signals to Brenda that there is new life inside her she has not seen any actual evidence of it until today." "Through ultrasound" "Brenda and her husband meet their child for the very first time." "That's a pretty good, pretty good picture, guys." "Oh, the baby looks wonderful!" "Look at that little heartbeat!" "Can you guys see it?" "Okay." "Here we go." "This, this is the baby right in here." "The head is on this end." "The bottom's down here." "Right in the center is this little thing flickering away really fast that's the heart." "Can you see that?" "Brian can you see?" "No." "Ok." "It's right in the middle." "Stick your head around." "Do you see it, like the movements?" "Yeah." "That's the, that's the heartbeat." "Okay." "What it looks like with the measurement the baby is about three centimeters." "Just like a, the length of a peanut." "Okay?" "Your little peanut here." "Okay." "We don't have fingers and things right now but they're called arm..." "For Brenda the concept of motherhood is no longer abstract." "At only eight weeks, the embryo looks like a miniature baby, her baby." "At eight weeks of development the embryo will look much like a very, very tiny human more, not more than five or so millimeters in size." "So it's very tiny." "The head will have eyes." "It will have little, tiny, what appear to be ears." "It will have arms, it will have legs." "You can see the body of the embryo and the back of the embryo looks much like a small, tiny baby that, that could be, you know born at that stage." "But it's much of course much too small and underdeveloped to survive outside of the womb." "The limb buds that appeared a few weeks ago are turning into actual limbs with tiny fingers and toes." "Every day brings staggering noticeable changes to the embryo." "Though just over an inch long most of the major organs are already formed." "Staring blindly into their watery universe the embryo's eyes continue to form as the face takes shape." "The lens, optic nerve and cornea are in place and the iris forms over the lens." "Small folds of skin, the eyelids complete the intricate structure." "Between eight and ten weeks after conception, the lids close." "For the next five months the eyes will mature enough to take in the world." "The brain grows enormously." "100,000 new nerve cells are created every minute forming this organ of unrivaled complexity." "Now, this tiny embryo makes a monumental transition." "It graduates from embryo the developing phase to fetus the growing and maturing phase." "It won't be long before it is able to move to swim in its liquid cocoon." "As the fetus grows more complex the mother must adapt to fill its growing needs." "The placenta is the fetus' life source supplying nutrients from the mother's blood." "The mother's heart must work extra hard to pump the increased volume of blood through her system so anything she does to keep her heart healthy will keep her fetus healthy too." "Walking is good exercise keeping the supply of blood to the placenta rich and plentiful." "Eating right throughout pregnancy is also essential for mother and child's well being." "The fetus depends on mother's diet to supply the raw materials for healthy growth and for her own health the mother can't afford to skimp on vitamins and minerals." "When it comes to nutrition rule number one is what's good for the mother is good for her developing child." "And what the mother eats her fetus eats." "The requirements of the body increase as far as calories are concerned about 300 extra calories a day" "300 to 500 extra calories a day all throughout pregnancy." "If you have a more healthy balanced diet and intake there's decreased problems in development." "What harms the mother doubly harms the fragile fetus." "Tobacco is extremely dangerous to both mother and fetus." "It can affect the mother's cardiovascular system and the, the blood vessels and how effiiciently the heart is pumping and it actually affects the fetus as well and causes a lot of low birth weight babies." "A pregnant mother never drinks alone." "She shares any alcohol she consumes with her fetus." "When consumed in excess, especially during the early, crucial stages alcohol can stunt the fetal development." "The placenta is like a fine mesh fabric virtually any chemical can pass through if it's small enough." "When the mother smokes and drinks nicotine, carbon monoxide and alcohol glide through the placental barrier to taint the fetal bloodstream slowing the development of the fetus' brain, eyes and respiratory system." "Mothering begins long before birth as the mother-to-be creates a healthy environment." "The beginning I was really happy and then I went through a period where I was scared and I was like," ""Oh, my God I can't believe I'm doing this,"" "and, but then I realized that you know I'm, I am, doing it so you can't be scared you just got to..." "I've read a lot about it researched and stuff like that so kind of put me at ease." "At the end of the third month of pregnancy the mother's body finally begins to reflect the remarkable changes inside." "A little more than 16 weeks into her pregnancy, Mini is anxious to learn if her baby will be a boy or a girl." "Sex is determined at the moment of conception but it takes nearly 20 weeks before it can be recognized." "I am guessing that it's gonna be a boy I just have a feeling." "But for my daughter's sake, and I love her dearly," "I hope it's a girl." "It's just like a gut feeling, a big gut feeling." "This tiny fetus nestled deep inside mom's womb continues its transformation." "It's just three and a half inches long but there's no mistaking that it's human." "The tiny face of this fetus looks as if in deep slumber." "The arms are long enough to grasp each other and the legs are outstretched." "The skin has become less transparent with only blood vessels visible and the fetus finally reveals its gender." "Here we can actually see as the baby allows us to" "Mini and her family have looked forward to this day for nearly 20 weeks." "Today, they'll learn the sex of their baby." "With the head at this end and the chest and the heart" "moving towards the feet and then eventually we get to the thighbone." "Months of anticipation are about to end." "Let's take a look here and this one's fairly obvious." "So do we want to know what the sex is?" "Yes." "Yes." "Okay." "The male and female sexual organs start identically as a small nub between the fetus' legs." "Two small bumps, one on either side of the nub soon emerge." "If this fetus is a boy the nub becomes a penis." "The two bumps grow together to form a scrotum." "The boy's developing testicles are still deep inside his body within them, primitive sperm are already developing." "If this fetus is a girl, the nub becomes a clitoris." "A vagina forms from the same tissue that forms a urethra in both sexes." "Inside her tiny ovaries, all the eggs she will have for her entire lifetime are already forming." "I want you to focus in between the legs." "Well what do you think?" "What do we think?" "A boy?" "That's right." "That's right." "It, oh!" "There's the picture right there." "My goodness, gracious." "So we got our answer." "You have a baby brother." "What do you think about that?" "The only growth spurts that I felt was last month where I was small and all of a sudden I gained like in a week I gained six pounds and it just pushed right out." "It was just really weird." "What happens is the top half of the uterus expands and as it expands or as it stretches and grows it actually pushes all the organs that used to accompany used to occupy that space it pushes them up to up higher and higher into your upper abdomen." "By the 24th week virtually all the mother's organs have been rearranged to make room for a new living being." "But rather than discomfort, Nancy feels euphoric about the child inside her, and the astounding changes of her own body." "You kind of feel sexy." "You just..." "It's a different feeling." "It's a different feeling, and I don't think anyone understands." "Either you feel good and you feel sexy and you kind ofjust guess walk the talk." "I don't know." "Just a fabulous feeling." "The epic journey of the fetus continues." "A growth spurt last month added almost four inches and two pounds." "Now, at more than a foot long and two and a half pounds the fetus seems eager to explore its cozy womb." "As if reacting to private thoughts expressions wash over the face." "The fingers and toes are fully formed now complete with nails and fingerprints and the entire fetus wears a furry coating." "The hair, called lanugo follows the patterns of the connective tissue, covering the fetus in swirls and spirals of down." "The skin bears a waxy coating called vernix caseosa." "It protects the fragile fetal skin from the amniotic fluid and infection and will aid the fetus during the dramatic squeeze through the birth canal." "Nancy is learning to cope with her new lack of grace." "The size and weight of her belly requires new ways to perform her daily routine." "I was easy when I bent down I could keep my balance," "I'm not keeping that balance any more." "The stomach's a little heavier so I'm not sure which way I'm gonna go." "Nancy isn't alone in her struggle for comfort." "For the first time she can feel with excitement her baby-to-be growing restless." "As the life inside her starts to fidget and kick" "Nancy's body responds." "As Nancy's body prepares for labor her uterus practices Braxton Hicks contractions named for the doctor who first observed them." "These irregular contractions are not as intense as those of true labor but to Nancy, each breathless pang feels like the flutter of butterflies." "Braxton Hicks contractions are irregular contractions very irregular maybe five to 20 a day and very low pressure as well." "When we get up into maybe 24, 28 weeks most women will actually feel these contractions." "Again they're not painful, they're very low in pressure." "They'll notice a tightening and then they, they pass." "The fetus too is flexing its muscles." "With room in the uterus to stretch and kick, poke and prod it announces its existence to a waiting world." "The baby's starting to move and you can feel him turn and kick." "No one else feels it." "Every time I have someone put their hands on my belly it's quiet." "So, but I feel it." "Goodnight, moon." "Goodnight cow, jumping over the moon." "At 26 weeks the womb is no longer a bubble of silence for the growing fetus is starting to learn the sound of mother's voice." "Goodnight kittens." "Goodnight mittens." "Goodnight clocks." "As it develops the fetus will be able to respond to sounds both inside and outside mother's body." "Goodnight mouse." "The fetus' world is getting noisier by the day." "The structures of the fetal ear began to develop only five weeks into pregnancy." "The ear is constructed from three components and in three stages." "The outer structures began to take shape at eight weeks." "Pits on either side of the head form the inner ear responsible for processing sounds and maintaining balance." "Not long after, the auditory canal and eardrum developed." "Now, at nearly 26 weeks the ear looks complete and the three parts come together to enable hearing." "Every day brings a symphony of new sounds to the fetus." "The most prominent and reassuring come from mother." "The beating of mom's heart and the blood coursing through her veins provide constant comfort." "By now, every part of the fetus resembles the child that will emerge." "The brain busily twists and folds miles of neuro-pathways into a rippling maze." "In the process, it stitches together the core of the child's humanity as its countless connections set the stage for thought self-awareness and reason." "Growth of the fetus creates challenges for the mother as her internal organs vie for space in cramped quarters." "Nancy sometimes feels out of breath." "But nature, which produced this temporary problem, also provides an eloquent solution." "Pregnancy hormones are making Nancy's lungs more effiicient bringing in 40 percent more air oxygenating more blood for her and her fetus." "A major change is occurring in the fetal lungs too." "To prepare for life outside the womb the cells lining the air sacs of the lungs begin to produce a substance called surfactant." "It keeps the air sacs inflated much like a soap bubble." "As the baby gulps its first breath moments after delivery the surfactant will coat the ducts of the lungs to reduce the surface tension and keep them from collapsing." "With lungs now full of surfactant this nearly complete little human stands a chance of surviving the world outside but it's far from ready to leave the safety of mom's womb." "His eyes are opening now." "He's swallowing and making breath movements." "He, he can hear us now." "He knows my voice." "By the seventh month the pangs and stirrings that were once so strange have now grown almost routine and familiar but certainly no easier to bear." "They're a constant reminder of the active life inside." "Well believe it or not even though some people don't think that I'm that big" "I felt a huge growth spurt in my in my belly." "And, that was exhilarating but exhaust, exhausting you know." "Your back hurts a lot more." "It's hard to breathe." "He gets stuck up in my my ribcage and he, he'll have a foot or an arm or something up there." "He pushes against the diaphragm where it makes it hard to, to breathe." "Circulation suffers as the large uterus puts pressure on her veins." "She feels occasional numbness in her hands and feet and cramping in her thighs and calves." "After about 20 weeks of pregnancy we encourage pregnant women not to lay on their back anymore." "At this point the uterus is quite a bit heavier, and it actually lays on the blood vessels that run up the up your back and they both become compressed." "And some people will lose consciousness when pressure's applied to this, these vessels." "The huge physical toll can't compare to the euphoric anticipation of the birth to come." "That I'm having a baby that's the neatest thing." "That he's a person now and not not an alien but that he's, he's just a he's an actual being and he's mine." "For Sherry, nine months of waiting has whittled down to mere weeks as she prepares to bring her baby into the world." "She feels elated but uncomfortably big." "Her breasts are tender and enlarged with colostrum." "She struggles to balance her enormous belly." "She's never felt more expectant." "The last couple of weeks of pregnancy are an eternity." "You pretty much have everything ready to go and all you're doing is waiting." "You can't turn around the way that you used to." "Spaces that you normally fit through you no longer fit through." "Sleeping, switching from one side to the other." "Bending over is very diffiicult." "But Sherry won't be this big for much longer." "Inside her uterus, the fetus prepares to leave its watery shelter." "Turned head down in the womb there's barely room now to stretch or kick." "The fetus fully fills the womb, every contraction squeezes in around it." "Now the sensation is stronger." "The upper part of the uterus shrinks and the lower expands, making the uterus longer and narrower." "There is little to do but wait for the chemical signals that trigger labor." "It can start at any moment." "Kesa too is waiting for labor to begin and to meet her new baby at last." "I really do enjoy being pregnant." "It's a great experience for me." "I do like the end process and the end process is a beautiful baby you bundled up in your arms." "And I thinkjust the fact of of feeling a human being growing inside of you and not being able to see the baby's face or, or really to just hold them or snuggle with them or orjust to touch them." "I think that's where I want to be at right now." "I'm ready to, to hold and cuddle and go to that next experience." "For nine months Kesa's body has embarked on a biological odyssey geared to nurturing her developing child." "Now, it's time to bring that child into the world." "Birth is is triggered or in, is induced by the the fetus, by the the baby that's about to be born." "And it's done so as the baby gets to a certain size or to a certain length in the uterus." "It does so by releasing corticosteroids a number of different hormones that cause the, the muscles of the uterus to contract." "Once this occurs there's a definite cross talk between the embryo and the mother's uterus then beginning to contract." "The cross talk keeps happening." "It happens faster." "It happens faster." "Some of the signs that you'll know that you're in labor are regular contractions." "The duration of each contraction is usually about 30 to 60 seconds and if you notice, you know, one hour goes by and you have six contractions, and then the next hour goes by and you have ten contractions." "And you're noticing that an actually a pattern that's when we have you call the doctorjust to let them know what's going on." "Kesa is in the first stage of labor." "Over the last few days her cervix has thinned and shortened." "The sporadic, practice contractions of the past are more regular now only minutes apart" "There are three stages of labor." "The first stage of labor is from when the initial strong contractions start until when the cervix is dilated fully that'sthe first stage of labor." "The second stage of labor is actually the pushing stage when the, the cervix is completely dilated until expulsion of the baby." "That is stage two." "Stage three is actually from delivery of the baby to expulsion of the placenta." "That's stage three." "As Sherry goes into labor she uses relaxation techniques to ease her discomfort." "But her labor is long." "The doctor has pierced her amniotic sac." "But after the water has broken her contractions intensify." "And the pain becomes more diffiicult to bear." "Kesa's labor is progressing quickly." "Okay, just breathe through it..." "Each time the uterus contracts the baby's world shrinks and the placenta and umbilical cord compress." "At the peak of each contraction the baby's heart beats faster as the uterus pushes the baby further down the birth canal." "The contractions actually are a physical tightening of the entire uterus." "All those uterus smooth muscles work together in concert and they, they're actually squeezing that infant out." "That squeezing contributes to Kesa's pain which signals that the baby is on its way." "The first stage of labor is the longest, but the next steps are just as crucial." "The cervix must become shorter and wider for the baby to pass through." "The process of effacement squeezes the inch-long cervix to practically nothing." "At the same time the cervix grows wider or dilates from the width of a pinky finger to the width of a grapefruit." "When it reaches ten centimeters" "Kesa is ready to push out her baby." "The contracting and stretching muscles coupled with the increasing pressure of the baby produces the legendary pain of childbirth." "Here comes a contraction." "You're just zoned out." "Throughout the whole thing?" "Huh, huh." "I just didn't feel them now here comes one right now." "To ease her pain Kesa opts for an epidural." "The anesthesia is administered directly into the spine and lightly numbs the pelvic region" "Feels a little uncomfortable." "One, two, three." "Can she sit up?" "Yeah." "Come on up" "Relax." "You all right, baby?" "As Sherry's labor progresses her doctor becomes concerned that something might be wrong." "Baby's heart rate's going down a little bit." "I think there's a cord around somewhere neck or arm or body or the baby's just pressing against it." "If it continues to go deeper and deeper with every contraction and we can't recover you know, then we'll talk about the next step." "Even before Kesa's cervix is fully dilated, the baby begins the descent down the birth canal." "Tremendous pressure builds in the pelvis but it's not time to push yet." "Nine?" "This is really to nine now." "This is not gonna be a whole lot longer now, I think." "To pass through the narrowest part of the pelvis the baby guided by the muscles of the birth canal turns its head sideways to align with the pelvic inlet." "The baby is a miracle of design." "Though the head is its widest part the plates of the skull compress by half an inch to ease its passage." "Ready to do a push." "Okay, stop." "You know what we're gonna do?" "We're gonna get everything prepared." "Okay?" "I think by the time we do that it will be time to have your baby." "I hope so." "All right?" "The drop in the heart rate of Sherry's baby let the doctors know that the umbilical cord might prevent his normal descent down the birth canal." "They decide that a C-section delivery is the safest approach for mother and child." "There you go." "Okay." "Just great." "His head is out?" "Yeah." "Biting my finger." "There's our cord Right around the neck." "There's our cord." "There's our cord." "Okay," "here you go." "Okay." "Move around the, should, around the shoulder." "Okay?" "Minutes later a healthy baby is born not exactly as planned, but with joy gratitude and awe." "And in that instant an unbreakable bond is forged between parents and child." "Look sweetie, right, right over here." "A bond that will last the rest of their lives." "All right." "All right." "Tell me when I can push because I got to push." "Not yet." "Okay." "Kesa is now in the critical second stage of labor." "In the face of intense pain, she must use all her concentration and willpower." "This is like the last time sweetie." "As she contracts her abdominal muscles the pressure inside the uterus increases forcing the baby downwards." "My goodness." "Oh my God, she's" "The vaginal opening gets larger as the baby approaches." "Here he is." "Soon the top of its head is visible." "Sweetie." "Come on sweetie!" "Keep pushing!" "Come on." "Here it comes." "Here it comes." "Come on." "Oh!" "Take your time." "You ready?" "You ready?" "Kesa." "Oh!" "Ready?" "Easy does it." "Beautiful." "Finally the head is out." "Oh!" "There's that pain!" "It hurts so bad." "Oh!" "Baby she, she's almost here." "All the way here, sweetheart." "Okay." "Okay." "She got it." "Easy does it." "Oh, my goodness!" "She's out!" "And the baby emerges." "There's mommy." "Oh, my God!" "Let me get that out of there." "Yes." "Hi, there!" "Oh, my God." "Thank you." "Hundreds of millions of years of evolution collide in this single moment." "You are incredible." "She is, like two or three pushes or something?" "Hey, baby!" "Mommy has waited for so long." "Okay?" "For nine months mother and child share an incredible transformation." "Oh, hey baby girl!" "I'm your mommy." "Now, anotherjourney is just beginning." "Mommy has been waiting for you for so long." "Okay." "Yeah baby, I know." "Do you look like your brother?" "I know it sweetheart."