When I mention having a baby, I automatically think of the scene in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" where the whole body is shaking and the lips are white. I once heard a friend who had given birth recall that "felt like breaking 20 ribs at once." The taste of makes me shiver just listening to it.
They are all mammals. Why is it that only humans have heart-wrenching pain when giving birth, but animals look like nothing is wrong? , as the only advanced intelligent species, has not evolved a pain-free body structure! Recently, some medical experts said frankly that these pains are actually caused by humans! Why would you say that?
The older the baby is, the more painful the birth will be.
Just imagine, when you were a child, you were constipated and had to exert all your strength to breastfeed in order to poop twice as big as usual. If it gets stuck in the middle, your face will turn red from holding it in before you can completely separate from it. Similarly, the "monster" of babies will undoubtedly expand and deform when passing through the mother's reproductive tract. 's mother's heartbreak probably started from this moment.
Therefore, during delivery, the bigger the baby is, the more severe the pain will be for the old mother. In other words, the weight ratio of cubs to the mother determines the mother's level of pain during childbirth.
You must know that the weight ratio of an elephant mother to her calf is 30:1, and the weight ratio of a tiger to her cubs is 140:1. The ratio of pandas is only 800:1! What is this concept? When a panda gives birth, it's like having a baby at most.
Unfortunately, this ratio for humans has reached 21:1. This leads to the fact that when women give birth, they have to endure the pain of a huge thing being squeezed out of the narrow reproductive tract. Although in order to welcome the baby, the birth canal has been expanded from the usual 2 fingers to "10 fingers", but the fat little one weighing three to five kilograms will definitely bring a heart-breaking experience to the mother. What a nightmare!
A bigger head and a deformed pelvis
In addition to the heart-wrenching pain caused by the baby emerging from the reproductive tract. Looking at the history of human evolution, mothers are destined to suffer more in giving birth to children.
In order to climb to the top of the ecological chain of species, humans choose to work hard to grow a "big head" , and all nutrients are concentrated to supply the "big head. " because the skull is larger and can accommodate more neurons Cell will also be richer.
After possessing advanced intelligence, humans find it more convenient to walk upright. So after millions of years, the ability to walk upright evolved.
This seems to free up the hands, but it brings another serious drawback: deformation of the bone structure, especially the female pelvic structure. In order to maintain balance when walking, the originally spacious and straight birth canal can only be squeezed into a ball, narrow and curved. These irreversible structural changes add risks to the birth of the baby.
In contrast, most primates are much more leisurely. They still follow the habit of crawling on all fours, the birth canal is wide and straight, and the pain is almost negligible. Especially for animals such as rabbits and mice, which have multiple litters, jump out directly to look for food after giving birth to a litter, and there is no need for confinement at all.
In fact, when humans evolved , as long as they made their heads smaller and walked on all fours from time to time, they would suffer a lot less pain when giving birth to children. But our ancestors adhered to the mentality of "even if it hurts to death, they still have to roll over other animals." only left the pain of bone erosion to mothers.
Animals: "In order to survive, you can only hold it in"
In the animal kingdom, some animals scream in pain during childbirth, but their survival instinct tells them that this scream is likely to turn them into lions and tigers. prey in the mouth. In order to survive by chance, could only endure the pain and give birth quietly.
In the cruel nature, antelopes and hares at the bottom of the food chain do not have sturdy houses to hide in like humans. They may be targeted at any time, especially the bloody smell during childbirth, which is more likely to attract The cheetah pounces.
Therefore, for safety reasons, they often spend several days building a safe and hidden nest. Everything was ready, and when she was about to bear the pain of giving birth to her cubs, she suddenly found a bleeding tiger standing behind her. The only way to survive at this moment is to "escape".
Sometimes the doe has just gone out to look for food and returns to the den to find that her cubs have been eaten. Even though tigers and lions are so majestic, when they give birth, they will go to a hidden place to give birth alone, and then return to their territory after giving birth.
Looking at it this way, human beings are indeed much luckier. You don’t have to worry about attracting predators with your loud roar, you can vent your anger without restraint. Sometimes the mother roars and exerts force, and the baby is pushed out with this force.
For the next generation, no matter how painful it is, we have to endure it.
In fact, nature has always been cruel and fair. If humans choose a larger brain capacity, they will have to endure the pain of the baby's head being squeezed out of the birth canal. Choosing to walk upright comes at the cost of deformed, smaller and narrower pelvis.
What is even more sad is that the newborn cubs of many animals become prey of tigers leopards. In contrast, human beings have become absolutely unique in the race of survival of the fittest. The pain of childbirth is also the inevitable result of evolutionary selection to a certain extent.
Modern medicine is becoming more and more developed, and painless delivery is also becoming increasingly popular. Humanity has little pain to bear, and it is slowly being overcome. We should believe that the choices of our ancestors are to create better us. The desperate development of medical technology is also to reduce the suffering of the next generation. is passed down from generation to generation and continues to grow.
References
[1] Xu Qiong, Li Meiyan. Labor pain mechanism and commonly used labor analgesia methods [J]. International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2018,04(03):34-37.
[2] Wang Shanshan, Yu Xiurong. Research progress on labor pain and painless delivery [J]. General Nursing. 2019,06(11):90-93.
