We owe the cesarean section… to pure desperation!
The year was 1500, and the wife of a man named Jacob Nufer, who worked as a pig castrator, was having a very hard time giving birth.
She had been in labor for days. Thirteen midwives came to help, but none of them could deliver the baby.
Jacob, who was used to helping animals give birth, decided to try to save his wife. He had learned a lot from his job and had done similar surgeries on animals like pigs, cows, horses, dogs, and sheep.
Back then, pig castrators would sometimes do C-sections on animals if they thought the mother might die, just to save the baby. Midwives also knew about the method, but in the early 1500s, C-sections were only allowed if the mother had already died.
What we now do—saving the mother, even if the baby might not survive—was not allowed at that time.
Jacob was out of options and desperate. He got special permission from the authorities to do the surgery on his wife, even though she was still alive.
He used a simple razor blade to cut her open. Amazingly, both his wife and their baby survived.
Even more incredible—she later gave birth to five more children naturally. That means Jacob must have stitched her up really well.
Because of his bravery, he didn’t just save his family. He opened the door to modern C-sections that have saved millions of lives since.