Reading about childbirth even in grimdark fantasy, of all genres, seems tame. From what I understand, high mortality rates and low average life expectancy in more primitive times were such in big part thanks to women just not surviving childbirth, with my not living through 20's. I've known women who claim being heavily traumatised by their experiences. I believe them. I've read accounts of women describing scenes awfully similar to what you could see in ''Alien''. Fact is stranger than fiction. This is prime free real estate for horror fiction. As close to ''natural grimdarkness'' as there is, because it is all REAL. Are there even any books about pre-moder-medicine era, in which women actually die?