In ancient times, there was no modern medical technology, including equipment, sterilization conditions and other things so developed, it is hard to imagine how hard it would have been for them to give birth to a child, and we now have anesthesia to ease the pain, to suffer a lot less than in ancient times.
The risk of giving birth to a child is also very high, in ancient times, they would often ask whether to keep the big one or the small one, I think this is a very cruel words, although nowadays the doctors also ask this, but the chances are much smaller, mothers are indeed the greatest people in the world, they give birth to us to raise us, the suffering is a lot.
In ancient times, childbirth was a life-threatening event, with low levels of medical conditions and even less guaranteed hygiene, so there were many problems like obstructed labor and hemorrhaging, and the death rate was very high.
Once a woman's water breaks, a lot of blood will flow out, and the midwife needs to help the woman clean it up, and they themselves need to wash their hands. Hot water is sterilized at high temperatures, which avoids the bacteria present in ordinary cold water.
We all know the principle of heat expansion and cold contraction, and when a woman is in labor, hot water can help her dilate her uterine opening, which is beneficial to the labor.
After the baby is born, the umbilical cord needs to be cut, and if the scissors are not sterilized, it is very likely that the umbilical cord of the fetus will be infected. The resistance of the newborn baby is very low, once the bacterial infection may lead to more diseases.
When the baby is first born, there is a lot of blood on the baby's body, and the birth attendant needs to clean the baby up, and she can only use hot water, which I think should be common sense.
At the end of the labor, the birth attendant also needs to clean the woman's wounds. Chinese women can't even touch cold water after giving birth and sitting in the moonlight, let alone during labor, so hot water is needed again at this time.
In ancient times hot water was really important when giving birth and it was easy to lose your life if you were not careful.