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Volume 169 - Issue 11

Snapshot!

Med J Aust 1998; 169 (11): 641.
Published online: 7 December 1998
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Snapshot!

"Unto us is born a son..."

So sings the carol; however, the long-held alternative view that children are brought by the stork may have some credence.

Umbilical artery doppler from a third-trimester obstetric ultrasound shows a definite avian form perched next to the entwined vessels of the cord.

X-ray image

Despite an eagle-eyed search of the amniotic cavity no other birds (nor any bees) were found.

The stork's beak is empty, consistent with a developing intrauterine gestation. Indeed, not long afterwards the mother delivered a baby boy.

David J E Lord
Radiology Registrar
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW





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