nerve roots. Your baby's spine can now protect the central nervous system as the compressive forces of labor force him further into your pelvis. The molding process begins when the left parietal bone at the top of your baby's head comes to rest against a lip of bone on the top of your sacrum, the sacral promentory (Figure 4 and 5).

Figure 4: A baby lines up the widest diameter of his head with the widest diameter of his mother's pelvis.

Figure 5: Unossified dura mater remains between the cranial plates to allow for molding.

The first layer of muscles, which are directed from the front of your pelvis to the back, will apply pressure to the right side of his head and force one parietal bone to slide slightly under the other. Dural

stress fibers will permit only a slight overlapping to occur in order to protect a large blood vessel, the sagittal sinus, which is housed between the parietal bones (Figure 6).

Figure 6: One parietal telescopes beneath the other to begin the molding process.