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Your body made for babies

Written by: Amanda McKinley
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Pregnant woman with man

If a mom were called by any other name, would she still be able to change a diaper so swiftly? Why, yes! Believe it or not, you were made to make babies.

Surprise! You don’t just want to have a baby—you were made to have a baby. The physical difference between boys and girls runs much deeper than the usual penis/vagina explanation. The way in which moms and dads are put together shows that women naturally adjust to their maternal, care-giving position. So as your nimble little mommy fingers click around on pnmag.com, you can rest assured, you’re biologically programmed to be a fabulous mom.

Brain

The holistic, caring nature of females gives them a natural edge for taking on the role of caretaker. Women are able to comprehend a wider range of emotions than most men, making them better at understanding the tears of a fussy baby, or making even the most frightful boo-boo disappear.Don’t believe everything you hear, because in fact, size doesn’t matter. Although men’s brains are about 10 percent larger than women’s, the compact brain of a female is loaded with more nerve cells. This, combined with a thicker corpus callosum, means women are able to transfer data between their left and right brain more quickly than men.

These statistics have nothing to do with intelligence, but the cranial differences between the two sexes are substantial. Men are usually left-brained, which means they have a tendency to approach things in a logical and analytical manner. This is why males generally have a very “black and white” approach towards puzzles, problem solving and relationships. On the other hand, women use both sides of their brain more evenly, resulting in a creative, intuitive and nurturing individual who is able to make sense of those little “gray” areas in life.

Bones

 Remember the movie Junior, where Arnold Schwarzenegger was expecting a baby? As much as we’d like to see the “Governator” pave the way for male incubators everywhere, this situation is totally unrealistic. As fate would have it, the second his belly popped he would have promptly fallen over, physically unable to uphold a bulging baby bump. Women’s spines are adapted to curve when pregnant—that way they don’t fall forward with the excess frontal-weight.

Our bone differences don’t stop there, either. Men have longer limbs and thicker bones, while women have smaller teeth and phalanges and narrow rib cages. Also, women have a flatter, rounder and proportionately larger pelvis than men. Essentially, women's wide hips are what make childbirth possible, allowing the baby’s head to pass safely through the birth canal.

Hormones

 While men and women both produce the hormones estrogen and testosterone, the levels of each vary greatly between the sexes. Women produce approximately 10 times more estrogen than their male partners. At puberty, the production of estrogen increases, resulting in the growth of breasts and an increase of body fat in the tummy and hip area (both of which are crucial for birthing and caring for an infant). Men, on the other hand, have much more testosterone flooding their bodies, and with the onset of puberty they experience increased height and muscle mass.

While these hormonal shifts cause men to be more muscular and stronger than women, females tend to outperform men in endurance tests. Meaning your man may be able to lift more than you, but when it comes to swaddling a baby for hours he’s no match for mom.  

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