10 Things You Do That You Didn't Know Ruin Your Life

4. Lying Down To Give Birth

Childbirth is, to put it mildly, a bit tiring. With this in mind, you'd think that it would make sense to do as much of it lying down as possible, but this is probably one of the worst ways to give birth, short of standing on your head and crossing your legs. Throughout human history, women have given birth in an upright, crouched position or on a birthing chair. These chairs can be found throughout cultures worldwide, probably developed because it's just such a ruddy good way of giving birth. This technique was generally used before the 1800s, when childbirth was most definitely "women's work". Giving birth in the upright position lets gravity do some of the work and is much less tiring for mother and baby. However, once male doctors started getting involved and devices such as the forceps were introduced, women started to recline. This was largely due to the fact that the doctors wanted an "easy access" birth canal, and didn't want to be crouched on the ground in front of the labouring mother. There are some historians who reckon that the French king, Louis XIV, had a bit of a fetish for watching women give birth and invented the flat-on-your-back-legs-in-stirrups position so that he could get a better view. This, however, is probably a wild rumour. Also, ew.