If you’ve given birth, or watched someone give birth, there’s a good chance you or they were lying on their back.

And while some choice, like an epidural, make this necessary, the truth is that there are many positions that are more advantageous for both speeding along labor and better positioning for delivery.

Before the 17th century, women knew this instinctively and would get into different positions, the most popular of which was a birthing stool, which had the laboring mother sat propped up.

So, why do most of us now do it lying down?

Some blame King Louis XIV – France’s Sun King – and his interest in watching each of his progeny come into the world.

King Louis XIV had 22 children, and reportedly loved getting all up in the business of his wife and mistresses while those children were birthed.

Professor Lauren Dundes said he “promoted the new reclining position” because he “enjoyed watching women giving birth,” and “became frustrated by the obscured view of birth when it occurred on a birthing stool.”

She and other scholars believe he liked to watch for carnal reasons, though how they know he didn’t just have a scientific interest is beyond me.

As the king promoted the birthing position, it could have caught on with the masses.

“The influence of the King’s policy is unknown, although the behavior of royalty must have affected the populace to some degree. Louis XIV’s purported demand for change did not coincide with the changing of the position and may well have been a contributing influence.”

17th century French doctor François Mariceau also gets some credit for promoting this change in position as well, which had begun to gain popularity in the late 16th century.

He believed it was not only more comfortable for women, but provided better medical access for midwives and surgeons as well.

It still dominates today, though not because the king likes to watch.

At least, not that we know of.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.