I'm sitting here thinking that if the obstetrician in charge of my birth had listened to the midwife, I might have a younger sibling.

If that team had known about the all fours thing I, a large posterior baby, would not have had to be dragged out with forceps, damaging my mother's uterus such that she couldn't conceive again.

I might not have spent time in the NICU, resulting in my mother losing her milk (this was in the early 70s, nowadays they have mothers pump, but not back then).

I should have had a younger sibling. My mother desperately wanted a second child.

Everything you are talking about denied me that second sibling.

And I was not born in the U.S. The U.S. is the worst, but western Europe isn't great either.

By the way, the reason for the lithotomy position is to put less strain on the back of the *medical professionals*. It's so it's easier for them to see.

It's 2023, we could design a birthing stool that solves that problem, surely.

(For those who don't know, a birthing stool supports a woman as she gives birth in a seated position, which is better and safer because gravity helps pull the kid out).