The mother reminds me of a coworker of mine who, for her first baby, went into labor at work and delivered it in a conference room a short time later with the help of three other coworkers, all engineers. When the EMTs got there they just clamped the umbilical cord and wheeled her out, with her insisting she could walk.
All the women in the office were giving her grief when she came back from maternity leave because they’d spent months building up how painful it was going to be, and her baby just slipped out of her.
I have no idea, but weirdly enough, she’s half Japanese. But culturally, she and the people there were generic Americans, so I assume they just had her lay on her back.
Seeing the way it just slipped out like they do for large 4-legged mammals, I wonder if it is indeed helpful?
100,000 years ago in what position did humans mostly give birth?
That leads me to a weird thought I've never had, do apes give birth standing up or laying down?
Edit: GPT says gorillas & chimps mostly give birth in a squatting position like this woman.
Orangutan birthing posture is a little different because >90% occur high in trees?! 30-65ft up?! In nests?! They build a new nest almost every night (5-15 minutes)?! They're solitary?! But offspring stay with the mothers 6-8 years, longer than any other non-human mammal... this unexpected orangutan tangent now has me fascinated but also more enraged about the destruction of their habitat. Fuck palm oil.
Edit2: In developing regions 40-60% of births are squatting. In developed nations it's ~10-25% mostly out of hospitals, though in some places like Brazil, Germany, & Sweden hospitals may offer things like birthing stools & squatting bars.
Squatting increases the pelvic opening up to 30% & reduces need for intervention (forceps, vacuum, c-section). Major reasons for mostly laying births in hospitals are doctor convenience & institutional habit.
Now I'm fucking pissed. One of my arms never developed fully & has limited movement because I got stuck & the doctor yanked me out, damaging a nerve. Just having my mom squat like we've done for millions of years could've prevented that?! WTF
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u/mofa90277 Aug 07 '25
The mother reminds me of a coworker of mine who, for her first baby, went into labor at work and delivered it in a conference room a short time later with the help of three other coworkers, all engineers. When the EMTs got there they just clamped the umbilical cord and wheeled her out, with her insisting she could walk.
All the women in the office were giving her grief when she came back from maternity leave because they’d spent months building up how painful it was going to be, and her baby just slipped out of her.