CTG Birth Scroll 2

I've been thinking about CTG scans produced during labour as contemporary 'birth scrolls'. Medieval and early modern birth scrolls were long rolls of parchment covered in prayers to assist with the pains and perils of childbirth. CTG scans record fetal and maternal heart rates as well as contractions during labour, producing long scroll-like scans. I requested a copy of my medical records from my son's birth, including the CTG scan, which records our heart rates during the last couple of hours before he was born. It feels like a contact relic, a trace of our final moments as one entity. 

​

'CTG Birth Scroll 2' (pictured here) is a drawing based on the last hour and a bit of my son's birth. The lines of the original CTG scan (contractions, maternal heart rate, and fetal heart rate) are repeated until they press up against each other, creating a topography or geology of labour.