Pregnancy andchildbirth were not always events that were anticipatedwith excitement.
Ritual and superstition often played a significant part of a natural process that few had any control over.
Many of these historical beliefs aboutchildbirthhave been debunked by science.
Others show just how intuitive midwives and birthing women have been for thousands of years.
But what if it didn’t work?
Among his recommendations to woman in Greco-Roman times?
And to help bring along the placenta?
Pliny said that earthworms soaked in raisin wine should do the trick.
Mother and baby were washed thoroughly after the birth, as birth blood was also considered unlucky.
Childbed fever
Childbed fever, or puerperal fever,plagued women for thousands of years.
Puerperal fever claimed rich and poor alike, including Henry VIII’s favorite wife, Jane Seymour.
They concluded that inflammation due to pregnancy was to blame,and the answer was bloodletting.
Babies were greatly affected, and born in a drug-induced state.
Among some time honored favorites?
The belief that eating sour foods, like pickles, would produce a baby with an equally sour disposition.
Glanced at a mouse lately?
Then your babe will most likely be born with a hairy birthmark.
Don’t take a bath, lest you risk drowning your unborn child.
If you are carrying high, or find yourself craving orange juice, you are definitely carrying a girl.
Cold feet or persistent headaches mean a boy.
Suffering heartburn… your baby will be born with a full head of hair!
And these are just a few of the tales still told to pregnant women there’s a lot more.
The one thing they have in common?
None are based on scientific fact.
But it’s not like they do any harm.
So go ahead, tie a string around a ring and dangle it over your pregnant tummy.
Just don’t do it while eating strawberries, or else your kid will have a splotchy face.
In developed countries, the worries of childbed infections are almost completely eliminated.
Religious curses and superstitions have made way for proven medical science.
So science has confirmed one reality of childbirth that ancient women knew all along.
As for hyena’s paws and goose semen elixir?
We are still waiting on the data.
