BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: 'Natural caesarean'

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Thursday, 20 December 2007, 22:12 GMT

In pictures: 'Natural caesarean'

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Doctors at Queen Charlotte's hospital in London are pioneering "natural caesarean" births with the aim of making the surgery less traumatic for mother and baby.

The baby's head emerges from the incision

The baby's head emerges from the incision

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Normally, after the incision, babies are delivered rapidly behind a screen. But in this case the parents, Sheri and Jason Tan, are able to watch the baby's head emerge.

The baby is now half way out

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A full minute later the baby is still only half way out and only now decides to wake up and announces its presence.

The baby is laid on the mother's chest

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It takes three minutes for the baby - a boy - to be delivered - and he's immediately passed to his mother.

Mother and baby cuddle

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The aim has been to make this invasive form of delivery as un-traumatic as possible for mother and baby Evan.

Baby Evan after the birth

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Queen Charlotte's says the natural caesarean is now becoming an established procedure at the hospital.

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