Recent comments in /f/history

Skyblacker t1_izubiqq wrote

Reply to comment by sfcnmone in A question on the history of perineal stitches after giving birth by Endorion

I've also read that pushes during natural birth tend to be shorter (less than 10 seconds each) than when coached through an epidural, and it's long pushes that increase the odds of pelvic dysfunction afterwards.

I actually ran that experiment myself during my last birth. While coached, I watched the clock behind my doctor and deliberately did not go over 10 seconds per push. It made a difference!

After a previous birth, I fainted. But after this one, I still had enough energy to be hungry and demolish a cheeseburger from hospital room service. After another previous birth, I had hemmeroids that felt like continuous contractions. But this time when the epidural wore off, I was just sore like I'd overdone squats at the gym.

Were there other factors? Maybe. And I admit that this is anecdotal. But I do believe that shorter pushes made the difference between fainting from exhaustion and screaming in pain, to being merely worn out and sore.

And up until the advent of the epidural (which I love overall, don't get me wrong), shorter pushes were the norm.

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MeatballDom t1_izu8jzs wrote

Reply to comment by TeacherAdorable4864 in Egypt: Portraits of Egyptian Mummies Discovered in Ancient Philadelphia by IslandChillin

Egypt is both Mediterranean and African though, and Egypt had long been influenced by other cultures, commuities, and networks and trades long before the Ptolemies. These communities never existed in vacuums. And while yes, Cleopatra's family was Greek/Macedonian in origin, you have to also consider the scope of the time. We're talking three hundred of year between Alexander becoming pharaoh and Cleopatra dying. At this point the family was also Egyptian. Even though Europeans forcefully took control of the Americas we wouldn't say that Tom Englishman who's family came to the Americas 300 years ago is English, not American.

And as Bentresh has already pointed out, you cannot judge by the appearances in the art as to whether those people had Greek origins or not. These things, as is often the case, are more complicated than they appear.

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