11 Facts About Babymaking That I Found Too Interesting Not To Share

I would not have wanted to be Tudor royalty and made to give birth in front of an audience. No, thank you.

1. The chainsaw was invented for childbirth.

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Before Cesarean sections were performed, two doctors invented a hand-crank chainsaw to remove the parts of the pelvic bone of a woman in labor if the baby was stuck.

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2. Here's another birthing invention for you: The Blonsky device, a table in which a pregnant woman is strapped down and spun quickly to get the baby out by centrifugal force.

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George and Charlotte Blonsky were granted the patent for their device in 1965. The device has never made it into general use.

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3. Royal women used to give birth in front of large groups of people to prove the royal baby came from a royal womb.

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Marie Antoinette was said to have 200 people in attendance when she gave birth.

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4. In ancient Egypt, women would pee on a bag of barley and wheat, and if it sprouted, she was said to be pregnant.

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Scientists tested this in 1963 and found it to accurately predict pregnancy 70% of the time. The key may be the elevated level of estrogen in the urine.

If the wheat sprouted first, the fetus was said to be female, and if the barley sprouted first, the fetus was said to be male.

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5. Once embryos have been frozen, they can be stored indefinitely.

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In 2020, a healthy baby girl was born from a 27-year-old embryo.

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6. Some stem cells from the fetus stay in a mother's body, so if you're a younger sibling, you probably have some of your older sibling's cells in you.

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These cells also travel through the mother's body and help with multiple functions (like the healing of a C-section).

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7. Human babies are born with about 46% more bones than adults have.

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Typically, babies are born with 300 bones that will fuse together to make up the average 206.

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8. Non-human primates use their hands to help them get out of the birth canal.

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Actually, a baby loris does all the work, and all the mom does is basically catch them.

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9. Food likes and dislikes can transfer to a baby in-womb, depending on what the mother eats during pregnancy.

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Though mothers don't directly shape all food opinions. Individual preferences will happen on their own, too.

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10. There are specially designed belly button rings for pregnant women that stretch with the belly so the hole doesn't close up.

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It's safe to leave a belly button ring in during pregnancy if the piercing is fully healed.

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11. Finally, a study showed that women on birth control pills blink 32% more than women not on birth control pills.

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Bodies are wild!

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