Participant information
Recruitment
We are planning to recruit 500 pregnant participants over 4 years.
Participants should be planning to have their first vaginal birth at term (over 37 weeks).
If you are interested in taking part we will ask you to read our study information sheet.
You may wish to discuss the study details with your partner, family, friends, midwife or doctors.
We are also here to answer any questions you may have by emailing as at mibirthteam@kcl.ac.uk.
In some women an MRI may not be possible because of the presence of fixed metallic implants in the body, their size or extreme claustrophobia.
The MR examination day
We would like to acquire an MRI anytime after 36 weeks gestation. This can be organised on a day that is convenient for you. We will use a low field (0.55 Tesla) magnetic resonance scanner (pictured) The examination will last about 60 minutes, with a midway comfort break. You can watch a video of a participant having an MRI to see what this entails.
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We will also ask whether you would be happy to have an Ultrasound before or after the MRI.
We would also like to take a sample of your blood.
We can provide you with some images of your baby (pictured) after the examination.
If there is time before you give birth we may ask whether you would like to have another scan 1-2 weeks later.
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The MR images that we take are for research but might be of benefit to you in improving the information gathered to help take care of you and your baby during your pregnancy.
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If we find anything that we consider to be clinically important for you or your baby, we will discuss this with you and refer you for an appropriate consultation.
Clinical information
With the permission of the participant we will collect information about the reminder of the pregnancy, the labour and delivery.
We will collate this data with information about the baby such as birthweight, head circumference and their initial assessment (Apgar scores) after birth.
We plan to contact participants 10 weeks after the birth to ask how they are feeling, whether they have any physical or mental health issues, and whether their baby is feeding and sleeping well.
