The Female Physician / Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

by John Maubray

BUT this however I would have done in the Beginning of the Travail, and reiterated (if need so require) before the CHILD be advanced too far Forwards.

NOW the MIDWIFE finding all things in a Natural Posture, and the Child in a Forward way, is to advance her Hand skilfully, (which at every individual Touch ought to be fresh-anointed with the Oil of white Lillies, Roses, &c. or Fresh-Butter, Hogs-Lard, or whatsoever of this Nature is readiest at Hand) entering the ORIFICE with the Fingers-Ends, dilating it by opening them gently as the Pains come on: Thrusting gradually the Sides of the ORIFICE towards the OCCIPUT or Hinder part of the Child’s Head, and moistening these Passages also with what she uses for her Hands.

WHEN the VERTEX, or Crown of the Head, appears without the Privities, the MIDWIFE most commonly calls out or says the Child is in the Passage; and the parturient Woman then finding these Parts (as it were) scratch’d or prick’d with Pins, often groundlessly imagines that her MIDWIFE deals roughly by Her with Nails and Fingers; whereas that Pungency is only occasioned by a violent Distension, or perhaps a Laceration, sometimes inevitably made, by the Bulk of the Head of the INFANT.

HOWEVER that be, and whatever the Woman may think or say, the MIDWIFE is only to mind her own Business, and discharge her Duty faithfully upon this CRISIS; in order to which, it is now High Time that she also place herself in a convenient Posture to receive the BIRTH: Which (when advanced as far as the EARS, or thereabouts) she is to take gentle hold of, by both Sides of the HEAD with both Hands; so that by this Means she may be ready and able, against the first Onset of the next good Pain, to draw forth the Child. In doing whereof, she must take special Care that the NAVEL-STRING be not entangled about the Neck, or any other Part, lest the Secundine or the Womb itself thereby suffer Violence, and consequently cause either Flooding, or break the String, which may render the Case dangerous and the BIRTH difficult.

BUT in thus attracting the INFANT, the MIDWIFE must carefully observe, not to draw the HEAD straight-forwards, but move it gently from Side to Side, that the Shoulders may the more readily and easily take Place: For these must immediately follow the HEAD without Loss of Time, otherways the BIRTH may be strangled in the Passage by the WOMB shutting upon its Neck: To prevent which Tragical Catastrophe, the Cunning Expert MIDWIFE directly slides in her Fingers under the Arm-Pitts, and then draws discreetly the BODY forth without any Difficulty or Danger.

THUS, in fine, We have discreetly deliver’d our good WOMAN, in Case of a Natural Easy Birth; but on the other Side, in difficult and Preternatural Cases, the several Conditions and Circumstances will mightily differ from the Beginning; because in these the PAINS are not always sufficient to produce the BIRTH. Hence it is sometimes more convenient for the WOMAN to be Passive, rather than Active; especially when the Position of either the Womb, or the Infant is Preternatural: For then it is the MIDWIFE’s whole Business to labour more than the WOMAN; then her ingenious Touch is of infinite Service to the PARTURIENT, since by that only she can distinguish the Degree of the Ill Situation whether of the CHILD or the WOMB. Which being dextrously done, She is in the next Place, prudently to consider what kind of POSTURE, Sitting or Lying, is most convenient, that she may the better discharge her own good Office and Duty: Of which I shall treat more particularly in the following respective Chapters; since it still remains here, by the way, that we also deliver our above-mentioned Woman of her After-Birth, &c.

CHAP. XVIII.
Of the Method of Extracting the SECUNDINE,

&c.

AFTER all, to perfect or finish the Woman’s DELIVERY, it still remains that She be freed of her After-Birth, or Secundine. Now this I advise to be done with all imaginable Speed, after the Child is born, even before the NAVEL-STRING is cut: Because the Womb immediately contracts itself, so that This cannot be accomplish’d afterwards without great Difficulty.