Comment Re:How stupid are we (Score 1) 249
Thorough human history, and in all culture I'm aware of, there have always been midwives. Women who help other women, who learn from one another, watching the other women delivering babies, learning from mistakes and teaching each other.
So, no, I don't think not innately knowing how to deliver a baby is a big deal. At least nothing that changed in the last hundred years.
What has changed is our isolation from others. A hundred or two hundred years ago, you'd be hard pressed to live somewhere without some midwife nearby. Maybe if you lived alone on a farm (hard as there would always be family/farmhands around), but in this case the couple couldn't even call the neighbors for help, and they wouldn't be likely to know what to do.
Actually, I'm kind of surprised the midwife didn't stay on the phone to talk them through it. But yeah, google can substitute in a pinch. Kudos to the father for his level-headedness, many would've freaked out in that situation.