We all know that ancient China is a society where men are superior to women, and until recent times the phenomenon of patriarchy evolved due to the inferiority of men still exists in vast areas of China. So for the ancient people how to treat pregnant women? When a pregnant woman to give birth to a child, and choose which place as a maternity ward? If you think the maternity ward for pregnant women to give birth is of course home, then you are wrong! In ancient times, when women gave birth, most of them didn't even have a decent maternity ward, and the environment for giving birth was not only dangerous and difficult beyond imagination, but many times even basic dignity was not available!
Birth rooms during the Qin and Han dynasties: grave or roadside births.
In ancient times, due to medical conditions and the limitations of hygiene, pregnant women in ancient times were prone to difficult labor or post-partum hemorrhage, and their lives were in jeopardy. So pregnant women give birth to children is extremely dangerous, more chilling is if a pregnant woman died in childbirth is not more pity, but is regarded as a "plague of blood", pregnant women give birth to "unclean", home birth is a big taboo! It was a taboo to give birth at home, and it was even more desirable for husbands to accompany them. Therefore, during this period, people often in the grave or roadside, temporarily built a hut as a maternity ward.
The maternity wards of the Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties: women in labor were "expelled" from their homes to give birth to their children.
Wei-Jin-Southern and Northern Dynasties, pregnant women's "maternity ward" back to the home, but not because women are valued, but - but sometimes there are aristocrats do not want to see pregnant women when they go out to play, not to mention do not want to see the maternity of the birth of a child!
Pregnant women's "senior maternity ward" is only the treatment of the aristocracy
Nan Shi has recorded, the Southern Liang literature Zhang Huang Huang has a "garden" maternity ward: not only is it spacious, there are special beds, there is a garden in front of the maternity ward.
But this is, after all, a minority of aristocratic pregnant women can enjoy the treatment, for ordinary pregnant women, the pain of childbirth, the danger, the environment of the simple, really let people think about it is chilling!
There are a lot of scenes of child birth in many Qing dynasty dramas, basically no different from what we have now, except that there is no support for numerous medical equipment, and there is no cesarean section, there is just the expression of the pain of the maternal exertion and in and out of the steady woman, and then, just listen to the wow, the great work is done!
So, is this really how it was in ancient times?
Sui Chao Yuanfang and other compilation of "the source of all diseases on the woman will give birth to the disease of all the symptoms," the record mentioned that the pregnant woman gave birth to take the position said, "women give birth to, there are sitting and lying down," that is to say, in ancient times, women give birth to a child, there are similar to today's recumbent position, but the preferred posture is sitting position. And the ancient sitting and now is not quite the same, the ancient so-called "sitting", including kneeling, squatting and even standing to give birth to a child are sitting.
When giving birth to a child in a sitting position, two or three women were needed to help, mainly to support the mother to avoid falling down due to loss of strength. According to the Treatise on the Origin and Criteria of All Diseases, "If you give birth in a seated position, you must sit upright and hold your ribs and waist next to you, and do not tilt it, so that the child will be able to follow its own path."
Sitting down to give birth to a child, this position in our view is very uncomfortable position, it is difficult to understand, but this position is really effective in avoiding the occurrence of obstructed labor, "Ruan Gong tune qifang" inside a case, said there was a man, his sister and two daughters gave birth to a child died in obstructed labor, and then to the daughter-in-law to give birth to a child and then dare not be careless, to find a high mountain inside a high mountain. The man said that there was a man, his sister and two daughters died in childbirth, then to the daughter-in-law to give birth to the time no longer dare to be careless, to the mountain inside to find a high man to guide, the high man then let his daughter-in-law to adopt a standing position to give birth to a child, and ultimately the mother and child safe, smooth delivery. The Dazu stone carvings in Chongqing also have carvings of squatting to give birth to a child, which can prove that this way is very popular in ancient times.
Yang Kanghou, a medical doctor in the Song Dynasty, gave an explanation of the advantages of this way of giving birth to a child in his "Theory of Ten Births," the main reason being that in a semi-squatting state, the birth canal can remain maximally dilated, which is more conducive to the birth of the fetus.
Occasionally, ancient costume dramas will show a pregnant woman giving birth, at which time the laboring woman always urges to prepare hot water. For example, the screen god drama "Mi Yue Chuan" birth process there is a dialogue, roughly meaning this "hot water, hot water, this time the hot water can not be cut off, instructed the kitchen to constantly burn hot water?" This line has been involved in many ancient TV dramas, but careful and curious fans of the drama should also have such a question, why do you need boiling water to give birth to a child, and why do you need to boil so much boiling water?
Now look at the reason? The wisdom of the ancients is really no joke!
There are many uses for hot water, the following rough list of some, experience the wisdom of the ancients.
1, cleaning role
Because the ancient birth is mainly natural birth, maternity ward is generally the residence of concubines, simple conditions, the process of production of blood, amniotic fluid, etc. can not be reasonably drainage, the midwife of the maternal birth of the observation of the situation is affected, therefore, can only be improved through the use of water to flush the visual environment. Hot water was needed to scrub wounds and wash towels.
"Mi Yue Zhuan" labor scene
2, disinfection
It is well known that in ancient times, disinfection conditions are not good, the maternal mortality rate is extremely high, the birth of the woman at that time can be said to be a ghost gate. The mother-in-law was constantly scrubbing the woman's blood and washing her own hands. In ancient times, the water was either well water or river water, which was full of bacteria and easy to be infected by mothers. Hot water was sterilized at high temperatures to reduce the chance of infection. Relevant organizations in the 18th and 19th centuries, did a survey, found that obstetricians delivering the death rate than the birth mother is also higher than a large section, the main reason is that obstetricians do not wash their hands during surgery, resulting in bacterial infection.
3, wipe role
When the child was born, the body is full of fetal fat, blood and fetal feces, it is difficult to remove, the newborn child can not be scrubbed with cool water to avoid irritation, the need for warm water to wipe, warm water is convenient to remove.
4, conducive to the production
Boiling water a role in fact really is the role of cleaning
We all know that the ancient medical setup is very simple, with the present must be that is very backward, in fact, our mothers in the process of labor, maternal blood and amniotic fluid are on the mother's judgment of the mother's condition has a great obstacle, this time if the hot water Clean off these, it is also a great improvement to the vision of the birth mother, in general, our baby in the newborn, the body is covered with blood as well as fetal feces, this time warm water to wipe the fetus on the body of the filth can be completely removed.
In fact, the ancient water supply conditions are also very single
Generally speaking, we know that the ancient water supply setup is also very simple, the general water is from the well and the river water, these water are directly extracted, this time we have to pay attention to, these water is contained in a lot of bacteria, if we maternity in the birth of the process of direct access to these water, will be It is easy to lead to maternal infection, this time the maternal production of boiling water is to eliminate a lot of bacteria, which can largely protect our maternal safety.
5, heating warming
As in the case of bathing, the steaming atmosphere not only raises the temperature of the maternity ward, steaming hot water also helps to create a steaming environment for the birth of the pregnant woman, conducive to the birth of the pregnant woman.
At the same time, it's also in line with Chinese medical thought, which holds that women should avoid cold and rain during labor and menstruation!
Yes, the ancient pregnant mothers to give birth to a child can only rely on luck, good luck may be safe mother and child, once the bad luck suffered a difficult labor, I am afraid that it will be more bad luck.
So much so that some people say, ancient pregnant women giving birth to a child is like being tortured in general? So, how can it be seen?
Birth conditions are poor
Ancient pregnant women in childbirth, usually at home, usually in a small room isolated from the main residence, and this hut must be unventilated. Pregnant women from poor families were even less equipped to have a choice of rooms, and often had to give birth on the floor or haystacks in the main dwelling.
Birth positions like being tortured
Ancient child birth positions are varied, there are "sitting birth", "standing birth", "kneeling birth", "squatting birth" and other positions. However, in ancient times, pregnant women generally preferred vertical labor. Among them, the vertical birthing positions include squatting and kneeling, both of which look like they are being tortured.
The typical vertical birth is attended by at least two people, one of whom holds the woman's waist from behind while the other prepares to deliver the baby.
Difficult labor
In ancient times, a pregnant woman who suffered a difficult labor could be described as having a lot of bad luck, so in order to help the pregnant woman give birth to her child, the ancients also came up with a lot of methods.
Mothers were even sometimes whipped or watched others being whipped to induce labor. According to a German legend, a late-born queen was carried to a room to watch 20 people being whipped, and two of them were knocked unconscious, the queen was shocked and went into labor.