SUCH BIRTHS, (properly speaking) are only Preternatural, which degenerate from the Natural, in respect either to the Situation of the Infant, or the Womb, or of both these jointly: Such (I say) may be well call’d Preternatural, because of the imminent Danger that (in these Conditions) threatens both the Mother and the Child.
HENCE we find the Difference between This and the Natural BIRTH; in as much as the One depends entirely upon Art, and the Other merely upon Nature: In That the INFANT is artificially extracted by the Hand, but in this it is naturally extruded by the PAINS.
HIPPOCRATES gives[[169]] us a Two-fold-Cause or Reason of a Preternatural BIRTH; to wit, the Amplitude of the Womb, and the inordinate Motion of the Woman about the Time of LABOUR: Who, because of her afflicting PAINS and great Ailments, keeps her Body in a restless and unsteady Posture, throwing herself sometimes here, and sometimes there, sometimes on One side, and sometimes on Another through Uneasiness. By which means it cannot be otherways, but that the INFANT may be easily turn’d into some Preternatural Situation.
AND to These Causes, Senertus, Rodericus à Castro, &c. add the Two following; namely, the Solidity of the MEMBRANES, and the Debility of the Head of the CHILD: Because (as they well observe) when This is not strong enough to break through Those, the INFANT endeavouring it otherways, (with Feet or Hands) may readily fall into some Preternatural Position.
BUT because I find, that Preternatural BIRTHS deviate in different Degrees, and vary in many respects from the Natural, and that also according to a great Variety of CAUSES (no ways known to those most Learned Authors) but only of late discovered; I shall now again reduce the different Species of Preternatural BIRTHS to four Classes; namely, Preternatural BIRTHS on Part of the INFANT, on Part of the Womb, on Part of Both those jointly, and lastly on Part of some intervening Accidents.
IN treating of which, I shall according to my best Judgment, state these respective HEADS in due Order, and assign each its proper Branches; which I shall particularly discuss in brief Terms, for the Facility and Benefit of the Candid READER, whether MAN or Woman-Midwife; That they may (by this plain and easy Method) be enabled the more readily to judge of, and distinguish the several Circumstances, and consequently the better discharge their Duties (upon Occasion) to the Comfort and Satisfaction of those PATIENTS concerned, and the Honour of their own ingenious Profession.
BUT before I enter upon These, I would willingly in this place, previously subjoin a Word or two of Advice (by way of Precaution) to the Young Andro-Boethogynist: Which, in short, consists in this Point, that as it is the too common Practice here in England, for an obstinate Set of Women to keep their Labouring PATIENTS so long under their own Hands only, until the very last Extremity; so I would not counsel him at that Time, when sent for, upon such a ticklish Occasion, to go Head-long to such a Work, nor to undertake the Delivery of such a Woman, before He makes some requisite Observations: And that I mean no ways because of any Danger of the Preternatural BIRTH which she labours under, how difficult soever it may be; but merely, on account of the Woman’s exhausted Strength and Ability, to undergo the respective Operation in her weaken’d Condition; which I would very much question in most Women, after One, Two, or Three Hours strong Labour, and that in Some far sooner, notwithstanding that others have been known to stand it out, and struggle a much longer Time.
HOWEVER, be this as it will, I commonly guess at the Woman’s State of Ability, not only by her Pulse, if strong or weak, unequal or intermitting; by her Eyes, if dejected; by her Speech, if faint; by touching the Extremities of her Body, if frigid: but also by some other Symptoms, which infallibly appear, if the Woman be too far spent, such as Cold Sweats, Swoonings, Convulsions, Loss of Sense, &c. Whereupon I say in these Cases, it is more adviseable to let alone or decline the Office, than to undertake such a precarious uncertain Piece of Work; because if the Woman happens to die under his Hand, He may perhaps be (however unjustly) blam’d for the errant Midwife’s Faults, or at least He will scarce avoid the Censure of the Ignorant and Malevolous.
YET this Advice (however wholesome and prudent) is, I confess, what I would but seldom have Recourse to, or follow myself, notwithstanding the worst Consequences of the Case; since as long as there is Life, there is Hope with me, by the Blessing of God: Which tho’ never so little, I should think myself obliged in Conscience to do what both Art and Nature command, and rather in all Conditions of Life to attempt an uncertain Cure[[170]], than abandon the Distressed to certain Death, as some Politicians in Physical Affairs commonly do, who prize their vain Reputation above the Life of their Neighbour. But thus, in short, (for my own Part) I would chuse to act, because I have often seen, and known NATURE to have perform’d, and recover’d a weak spent parturient Patient, even beyond all human Probability.
NOT but that I would take the proper Precautions along with me, before putting my Hand to the critical Work, upon any such desperate or dangerous Occasion, by giving my ingenuous Prognostick to the nearest Friends and By-standers of the extreme Danger that both Lives may be in: Whereupon after thoroughly examining all Circumstances, with respect to the Child, whether One or More, Dead or Alive, &c. I would chearfully begin my Endeavours to relieve the afflicted Woman, encouraging and exhorting her in the first Place, for God’s-sake, as well as her own, and the tender Infant’s Life, to put herself entirely into my Hands, to undergo her Labour patiently, and contribute what she can to the Delivery.