Revisiting the Womb’s a Balloon

Modelling the Uterus There’s nothing wrong with using a model to reimagine some function of the body, models are the scientists’ equivalent of metaphor (McGilchrist, 2022). You have to start somewhere, and if, like me, you question the traditional model of uterine...

Anatomist Extrordinaire

Modelling the Clitoris A little while ago I came across a most enlightening video showing that the heart is, essentially, a tube twisted at each end and then crossed over. I found it amazing that such a complicated but crucial part of our anatomy could have such a...

The Clitoris in Labour

Did you know that, like an iceberg, most of the clitoris is hidden beneath the surface? I didn’t until a couple of years ago but there was a spate of pretty pink 3D clitorises (?sp ??clitorati) on the net and it got me thinking and Googling.  I found an article by a...

Kick starting labour – a new model of uterine function

Kick starting labour – a new model of uterine function. The current management of women in labour is based around RCTs of what health professionals do – or don’t do – to women under their care. Physiology comes right at the bottom of the hierarchy of evidence in...

Zen and the Science of Birth

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has replaced Arthur Ransom’s The Picts and the Martyrs as my desert island book. My daughter says that no one ever should be told that they ought to read a book but my son recommended ZAMM when I was agonising over two...

Traumatic Childbirth

Yesterday’s Observer (7/5/2017) had a heartrending piece about traumatic childbirth. The comments section confirmed that the author was not alone. There were accounts dating back 30 years or more of appalling injuries which remained unresolved to this day, damage to...