How the child in the womb is nourished

The child lies in the womb between the stomach, intestine and rectum, wrapped in the moist membrane (jarāyu) in deep darkness, and absorbs from all sides the pitta- and kapha-rich juices formed from what the mother eats and drinks, like a corpse in a water pot. After the seventh month a cord like a lotus stalk forms at its navel, which the commentary says is joined to the mother's heart, and it takes nourishment through it. It grows amid many obstacles and causes the mother severe pain; it may be born easily, die, or even take the mother's life, so there is said to be no suffering like human birth.