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01-07-2011 | Materno-Fetal Medicine

The history of vaginal birth

Authors: Raphael Câmara Medeiros Parente, Lílian Paglarelli Bergqvist, Marina Bento Soares, Olimpio Barbosa Moraes Filho

Published in: Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics | Issue 1/2011

Abstract

Vaginal delivery, as known today, is a still unfinished product that originated hundreds of million years ago, much before mammals evolved on land. In this article, we will discuss the way in which our direct ancestors were born over the eons until the present day, focusing on the factors that presented substantial changes in how birth occurred, in relation to our earlier ancestors. The history begins with the first amniotes around 300 million years ago and ends with the appearance of the first Homo sapiens around 160,000 years ago.

Altricial

birth of a fetus before development/growth has been completed. In neoteny, the physiological (or somatic) development of an animal or organism is slowed or delayed

Anthropoidea

monkeys and apes

Australopithecines

the most likely ancestors of the genus for Homo of approximately 4–2.5 mya

Hominids

members of the family Hominidae (or “great apes”), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans

Hominoids (superfamily Hominoidea)

the great apes such as humans, gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan and lesser apes (gibbons). Living hominoids are humans, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan and nine species of gibbon

Hominins

humans and our ancestors, but not other apes

Human

Homo sapiens. The word is sometimes also used to refer to any extinct member of the genus Homo (hominins)

K/T boundary

separation between the age of dinosaurs (Cretaceous 145–65 mya) and the age of mammals (Cenozoic). Geologist can find a worldwide layer of iridium (a rare metal in the earth’s crust, but common in meteorites) in the geologic strata at 65 mya. K is the traditional geological abbreviation for Cretaceous, the C already being in use for Carboniferous epoch (360–300 mya)

K/T mass extinction event

presumably a large meteorite impact 65 mya near the Yucatan peninsula that caused extinction of all dinosaurs (except birds) and approximately half of all other species

Old World monkeys

a group of primates, from the superfamily Cercopithecoidea. Old World monkeys live in Africa and Asia today, but are also known from the fossil record in Europe. The most familiar species of Old World monkeys are baboons, mandrills and macaques

Pelycosaurians

earliest mammal-like reptiles, living in the Carboniferous period. The best known example is the Dimetrodon. Pelycosaurs had a sprawling gait

Permian

geologic period from 300–250 mya that ended, with the most extensive extinction event recorded in paleontology, probably by impact of a comet larger than in the K/T event. In the Permian–Triassic event, 90–95% of marine species and 70% of all land organisms became extinct

Precocial

refers to species in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching

Tetrapods

animals with four limbs, digits, ribs and neck

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Title: The history of vaginal birth
Authors: Raphael Câmara Medeiros Parente
Lílian Paglarelli Bergqvist
Marina Bento Soares
Olimpio Barbosa Moraes Filho
Publication date: 01-07-2011
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics / Issue 1/2011
Print ISSN: 0932-0067
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0711
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-011-1918-6

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The history of vaginal birth

Abstract

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Abstract

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