Have you ever wondered whether a baby is able to hear, breathe or dream in the womb? Or why life before birth affects everything else that follows? Is it true that brains ‘go funny’ in pregnancy and that some ‘twins’ have different dads. Can you believe that 69 babies were born to the same woman and that, around the world, four babies are born every second? Be prepared to find the answers to these and dozens more eye-opening facts about pregnancy, childbirth, and the newborn. Drawing on medical, scientific, cultural, anthropological, psychological, philosophical, historical and sociological sources – as well as her long experience as a working midwife – the author has assembled a collection of facts that offer a totally new ‘look’ at at the beginnings of life and the power of a woman’s body to transform and create.