From the dawn of time, humanity has wanted a way to peer within the womb of the developing child. Some of the earliest writings about issues of health like Soranus the Greek had drawings with somewhat fanciful images of the child in utero. Over the centuries, midwives developed ways to determine the outline of the baby through the abdomen and uterus by carefully feeling for the head, the buttocks, the feet etc. This technique is still useful and should be known and practiced by all birth attendants. At the end of pregnancy and during labor, it is often supplemented by internal examinations, once again relying upon the skill of the examiner’s hand to interpret sensations into a picture of the position and size of the unborn child.
X-rays were discovered in 1895 and were discovered to be potentially lethal soon thereafter. However, the value of the images obtained led to a great desire to use this technology, and at one point in time it was not uncommon for a pregnant women to have at least one (and possibly more) x-rays taken specifically of her baby or of her pelvic anatomy (with the baby inside). In 1958, the first studies showing a definite link between prenatal radiation exposure and childhood malignancies. This was followed up by other studies and by the early 1970s, the link was clear and unarguable. The current practice is to limit ALL ionizing (X-ray type) radiation in pregnancy to that which is absolutely necessary to make good medical decisions. None the less, in 1969 and 1970 pelvic x-rays were done in an estimated 6 – 7 % of hospital deliveries. I experienced this myself during my first labor in 1974, as did my sister in 1981 (we both went on to have normal births, and to date both of these children are healthy).
X rays have the capacity to show bony structures. Therefore, they could show the position of the baby, the shape and size of the pelvic bones, and were valuable for diagnosing and c
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