By Eloï Ducasse
The caesarian-section (c-section) procedure has increased in prevalence in the recent decades and so has the average quality of life for most countries. Could there be an underlying correlation between those two tendencies?
Ave Caesaria
Stories have been told for centuries if not millennials, but sadly like it is sometimes the case in human history, the truth can be distorted and altered after every account.
According to the historical records and oral traditions, the procedure of physically removing the child from the womb has been used around the world but the term is said to have gotten its name from the story of the birth of Julius Caesar. However, it is more likely that it was named after a Roman law that aimed to secure the prosperity and growth population if the life of the foetus was in jeopardy.
Birth - A Physical Challenge
The fight for survival does begin in the womb, but the first real challenge of mankind is to be brought upon this world with a minimal amount of complications. These can equally affect the mother and the child in some instances.
From the first use of anesthesia to the mastery of the epidural, generally speaking women can now rely on medicine to ease their pain. The pain of childbirth is indeed due to its laborious task; while compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, humans have undergone through a succession of changes under a relatively short period of time.
One of these physical changes is the shift to bipedalism, in order to be able to stand where humans are today, physical modifications were naturally selected within our lineage such as a narrower pelvis for optimal weight distribution.
Another prevalent change concerns our brain and cranial size that has gradually increased throughout our evolutive history. Alongside the selection of a narrower pelvis this resulted in what is now known as the obstetrical dilemma. Put simply, the head of the child barely fits through the female birth canal during labor.
Human Selection
In our modern times, c-sections are now used in instances where the mother has not physically dilated enough to allow the child to pass through without suffering too much constriction and ultimately brain damage.
It is no secret that a healthy population will produce healthy babies, such data shows that the average birth weight and size of human babies has increased steadily over the last centuries but our pelvis did not get any wider.
Our intelligence has freed our species from the pressures of natural selection. Thus the mind does wonder, with the advent of in vitro fertilisation and scientists working on artificial wombs techniques, are we destined to move away from the natural birth methods?
