IN this Posture the Child may be gently and gradually extracted with Ease; next the SECUNDINE must be fetch’d away in its Turn, and lastly the Womb is to be thoroughly cleans’d of all heterogeneous Bodies, as formerly directed[[166]]. And thus the Womb (having yielded up its Contents) immediately contracts, by which MEANS of divine Appointment, the Vessels close and shut firmly, and consequently the FLUX ceases, together with all the concomitant SYMPTOMS.
BUT it is to be well remembred, that this Operation ought to be timely perform’d; that is, before the Woman has lost too much Blood, or is too much spent; in which Condition such a painful Attempt would but accelerate her Death. As to her Regimen next, upon this melancholy Occasion, She must be duly provided for beforehand, that she may be able to undergo and stand out such an extream difficult DELIVERY; and afterwards, that she may recruit her Spirits, and retrieve her exhausted Strength: For which Purposes, she ought to be supplied from time to time with some good Broths, Jellys, and a little generous Wine, smelling continually Rose-Vinegar, and applying repeated warm Toasts dipt in Wine (in which Cinnamon has been infus’d or boil’d) to the Region of her Heart, as also Napkins dipt in a Mixture of Water and Vinegar about her Reins, in order for turning the Course of the Flux.
THESE Things being all duly and artfully perform’d, the Patient (under God) will soon recover and be in Statu quo. Now These, in short, are all the principal and most common Causes of difficult Births proceeding from the part of the Mother; which being thus discussed with all Brevity, I go on to——
CHAP. VI.
Of Difficult BIRTHS proceeding from Causes of the INFANT.
IT sometimes also happens, that the Difficulty in Labour arises from the Infant: And that FIRST when Two or More strive for Priority in BIRTH.
NOW this Condition the Midwife can no otherways distinguish or discover, but by the Touch; and when the one is more forward than the other, ’tis not to be done or known, until she has even touch’d the very Fund of the Womb: Because sometimes it so happens, that One Child has its Hands and Feet so intermix’d, that whatever way She turns her Hand, she finds Legs or Arms, Hands or Feet, which often deceives Midwives, believing there are TWINS. But in this perplex’d Case the most sure and only certain Sign, is, when she feels two Heads or two Backs; for then she cannot be Mistaken, since one Body cannot have two Heads, unless it be a Monster, which may be soon discover’d by feeling if the double Head be fix’d to one and the same Body.
BUT in the Case of TWINS or more Children (as long as they come right) the Delivery is perform’d, as if the Woman had but One, in the Natural Case already Stated; so that I shall repeat or recapitulate Nothing of what I have said, only that the After-Birth, or Births are not to be touch’d, until all the CHILDREN are Born: Upon which drawing gently the Navel Strings (in their Turns) with the One Hand, the Other brings them forth easily and orderly; as is set forth more fully in Sect. IV. Chap. 18.
A SECOND difficult LABOUR may proceed from the Weakness and Debility of the Infant, or from its being too Small-grown; in which Case, both the Woman and the Midwife are to use their best mutual Endeavours to promote the BIRTH, since the CHILD can do little or nothing for itself, and the Less it is, the less it is affected with the THROWS of the Mother, and the less Impression her Impulses make upon it: Whereupon Nature is to be assisted in this weak Condition by all convenient Means, whereof THAT of the Agile or Nimble Hand is the most effectual.