When it comes to planning your own birth, there are a lot of options. Depending on your preference, you can choose to give birth in a hospital with doctors or at home with a midwife. You can choose to have an epidural or give birth naturally. And the list goes on and on.
But while there are plenty of options to consider before going into labor, the birthing process today aren't half as crazy or surprising as some of the rituals we've seen throughout history. You won't believe what some women used to do way back when, just as they were delivering their babies!
__Read more ¿Qué más?:Any crazy woman can fake a pregnancy easily with this ridiculous invention__Below, check out some of the craziest birthing rituals of the past:
Birth in front of an audience
In Europe, monarchs were expected to give birth in front of their entire court. Can you imagine having that many people watch you in labor?!
Chair
In the second century AD, Greeks and Roman women would give birth on chairs with crescent-shaped holes to deliver the baby through.
Groom down there
You would think shaving would be the last thing on your mind during birth, but women who gave birth at home during the 1950s in England often had their pubic hair shaved during the early stage of labor. They also often underwent enemas, because it was thought to reduce the chance of soiling themselves during labor.
Birth trays
Nowadays, a woman might receive a push present. But Renaissance women usually received birth trays, as seen above, decorated with biblical births and used to serve jars of soup. Afterwards, they were hung as decorations.
Use leaves
There are reports that after midwives would help Native American women give labor either standing or sitting, but no one would catch the baby. Instead, the child would fall into a pile of soft leaves placed between the woman's legs!
Go to sleep
In 1914, doctors in the U.S. would often administer a combination of morphine and scopolamine (to wipe away memory) to help relieve labor pain, but many found that trying to stay conscious was even worse than the pain.
