Birth

"When I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do."

"BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar."

"A man is born alone and dies alone."

"The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning."

"Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations."

"Population growth results first and foremost from the physical labour that only the biological female can perform. This labour, which is performed by the woman’s body, can be described as reproductive labour and it includes the processes of menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. These have been defined as natural processes or events, things that just happen, rather than as work performed by the woman, but like all other forms of labour these activities require energy and drain physical resources. The decline in levels of fertility that has taken place throughout much of the world has been decline in the level of this reproductive labour, but most scholars dismiss the notion that women had or have a particular motivation to reduce fertility. The pains and pleasures of the body are assumed to be perennial factors that are always present and therefore do not create change. However, changes in fertility rates show us that the burden of reproductive labour borne by the average woman has risen and fallen sharply over generations."

"Compared with controls, PP cases had odds ratios of 95 for previous preterm birth, 186 for abortion and prematurity and 158 for fetal loss, abortion/prematurity after controlling for confounding variables. Compared with controls, PTB cases had an odds ratio of 96.5 for previous preterm delivery, 84 for abortion and prematurity, and 320 for fetal loss/abortion and prematurity after controlling for confounding variables. Conclusions: Previous preterm delivery, abortion and prematurity and fetal loss/abortion and prematurity all increase risk for subsequent preterm birth with or without PROM."

"It is alleged that I was born in Granger, Utah, in 1883, on the 24th of October. I was there but do not remember the event. However, my mother was an honest woman and I must take her word."

"As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began, And on a simple village green; Who breaks his births invidious bar."

"For the generation under age 35, nearly half of all births are now outside marriage. This family structure, once common mainly among African-Americans and the poor, is spreading across races and into the middle class. Factor in education, though, and the difference is stark, raising concerns of a new class divide. Among young women without a college degree — those like Michelle Sheridan — 55 percent of births are outside marriage, according to an analysis by the research group Child Trends. For those with at least a four-year degree, its just 9 percent."

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."

"Lest, selling that noble inheritance for a poor mess of perishing pottage, you never enter into His eternal rest."