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Jan. 01, 1971 - Meet The Electronic Baby: Engineer Bernard Cronin saw and heard the heartbeat of his daughter-five hours before she was born; Doctor had attached an electrode to baby Emma Jane's head as she lay in her mother's womb. but the thrill for Bernard Cronin, as the steady heartbeat blipped across a monitor screen, was a side benefit. The expensive electronic equipment at his wife's bedside in Rochford maternity unit was an insurance policy for his daughter's safe arrival. Emma Jane, like one in five babies born in Britain, was at risk'. She should have made her entrance before Christmas and there were medical complications too. But she arrived a healthy 8lb. 6oz. with full VIP treatment and the help of equipment that is taking the guesswork out of childbirth. The electrode on her head replaced the ear trumpet stethoscope generations of midwives used to check the heartbeat of unborn babies. Information, with no chance of human error, ordelay, was instantly available to a tean led by senior house officer Dr. Robert Colby. As well as the heartbeat, the machine told them the length, strength and frequency of the womb's contractions. The information was relayed by small round sensors on the abdomen of Mrs. Phylis Cronin, 33, from Woodside Avenue, Thundersley. Photo shows. It's all over. and as doctors lift baby Emma Jane gently into the world, the electrode that traced her tiny heartbeat still dangles from her head. From the top of the bed, her father watches the baby who beat the at risk tag-thanks to the dream of six young doctors. and the dedication that made that dream an electronic reality

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Abdomen Available Bedside Chance Childbirth Colby Complications Contractions Cronin Dangles Dedication Electrode Electronic Error Expensive Frequency Generations Gently Healthy Heard Heartbeat Instantly Insurance Lift Maternity Midwives Monitor Phylis Reality Relayed Replaced Rochford Safe Sensors Steady Stethoscope Thrill Thundersley Tiny Told Traced Unborn Womb Woodside

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