PREGNANCY.
§ 88. The woman, when she perceives that the catamenia does not recur at the expected period, begins to reckon her pregnancy from the last time that she "dwelt alone." As the months pass, she says, "Min´ gána b¢in´," I am that number of months (with child). If she cannot tell the exact number of months, she asks her husband or some old man to count for her. At other times, it is the husband who asks the old man. They calculate from the last time that the woman "dwelt alone."
Dougherty says that he did not hear of any case of "longing, or of nausea of the stomach, during pregnancy."
§ 89. Couvade, Fœticide, and Infanticide.—Couvade is not practiced among the ₵egiha. Fœticide is uncommon. About twenty-two years ago, Standing Hawk's wife became enceinte. He said to her, "It is bad for you to have a child. Kill it." She asked her mother for medicine. The mother made it, and gave it to her. The child was still-born. The daughter of Wackan-man¢in used to be very dissolute, and whenever she was pregnant she killed the child before birth. These are exceptional cases; for they are very fond of their children, and are anxious to have them. Infanticide is not known among them.
§ 90. Accouchement.—The husband and his children go to another lodge, as no man must witness the birth. Only two or three old women attend to the patient. In some cases, if the patient be strong, she "takes" the child herself, but requires assistance subsequently. Should the woman continue in pain for two or three days without delivery, a doctor is sent for, and he comes with a medicine that is very bitter. He departs as soon as he has caused the patient to drink the medicine. There are about two or three Omahas who know this medicine, which is called Niacinga makan, Human-being medicine. The writer saw one of these roots at the Kaw Agency, Indian Territory. It is used by the Kansas. The doctor never comes of his own accord. After having given this medicine two or three times without success, he says, "I have failed, send for some one else." Then another doctor comes, and tries his medicine. Very few Omaha girls die in child-bed.
After delivery the patient is bound tightly about the abdomen, to reduce the size, as is the custom among civilized nations. Then is she washed in cool water if it be summer time, but in tepid water if it be cold weather. She must bathe twice a day. Mr. Hamilton was told that "the flow of blood ceased then to a great extent, especially after a few days; seldom lasting beyond ten days." La Flèche said that the women do not tell about the cessation of the flow. When the woman is strong she may go to work on the following day; but if she be weak she may require a fortnight or three weeks for recovering her strength.
When the husband asks about the infant, and they reply "It is a boy," or "It is a girl," he is very glad. Sometimes the husband treats a girl infant better than a boy, saying, "She cannot get anything for herself, whereas a son can take care of himself, as he is strong." Mr. Hamilton says, "I have heard of cases of severe labor. Women act as midwives, and with some skill, removing the placenta when adhering to the uterus, and in the usual manner."
Soon after birth the child is washed all over, wrapped in clothes, which are bound loosely around it. About two or three days after birth the infant's father or grandfather gives it a name, which is not always a nikie name. (See the account of the ceremony in the [T]a[p]a gens, when a child is four days old, § [65].) Sometimes it is put into the cradle or board in two or three days; sometimes in about a week.
Nursing.—Another woman serves as wet-nurse till the mother's breasts are full of milk. Mammary abscess is very rare.
§ 91. Number of children.—In 1819-'20 Dougherty wrote thus: "Sterility, although it does occur, is not frequent, and seems to be mostly attributable to the husband, as is evinced by subsequent marriages of the squaws. The usual number of children may be stated at from four to six in a family, but in some families there are ten or twelve. Of these the mother has often two at the breast simultaneously, of which one may be three years of age. At this age, however, and sometimes rather earlier, the child is weaned by the aid of ridicule, in which the parents are assisted by visitors." In 1882 La Flèche and Two Crows declared that there are many cases of barrenness. Children are not very numerous. While some women have seven, eight, nine, or even ten children, they are exceptional cases. And when a woman gives birth to so many, they do not always reach maturity. There are women who have never borne any children, and some men have never begotten any. One woman, who is of Blackfoot origin, is the wife of James Springer, an Omaha, and she has borne him twelve children; but no other woman has had as many.