After the Woman has gone her due Time of Nine Months, the most usual Term; the Signs preceeding Labour are Pains about the Back, Navel and Loins; a considerable Falling of the Tumour of the Belly, by the Burden’s sinking lower; and incommoding the Woman in walking; a more frequent Inclination to make Water: These Symptoms increase in Proportion as the Birth approaches; but as the most certain Knowledge of natural Births, can only be obtained by Touching the Woman in Labour, after having premised some Things concerning her proper Situation; I shall direct how it ought to be done.
CHAPTER IV. Of SITUATION.
M
ANY in the Country choose to be on their Legs or Knees, supported by a Woman on each Side, or lean on a Chair or Bed, and pass well enough through the present Scene of their Miseries: But I would preferably advise a Posture between lying and sitting, on a Pallet or common Bed, the Head and Shoulders being rais’d by Bolsters or Pillows, the Feathers beat back from the Bed’s Feet, to support the hollow of the Loins, and prevent the Pressure of any Thing against the Bottom of the Back Bone, to obstruct the Passage of the Child.
This Situation is most commodious, during Labour, for a Woman to assist her Pains with the greater Freedom of Respiration, and the least Fatigue and Expence of Spirits; especially if the labouring Woman lay hold of a folded Napkin, held stiffly for that Purpose, drawing her Feet upwards towards her Seat, separating her Knees, and fixing her Feet against something that will not easily give Way.
If the Person in Labour will not be in Bed, the End may be answered by her sitting in another’s Lap, with the Bottom of her Back-Bone situate between the other’s Knees, with her own separated and supported, and Feet fixed as aforesaid, to favour her bearing down.
’Tis inconsistent with the Design of my Writing to describe all the convenient Situations, necessary in Cases of Difficulty, yet when the Operator has rectified all Obstructions to the Birth, the same Situation of the Body upon a Slope, from the Head downwards is most suitable, even altho’, for Conveniency, she should be deliver’d lying on one Side.
I shall, on this Occasion, observe, what I have found Advantageous in my own Experience, as well as consonant to the Advice of the best Writers on the Subject: That the Delivery on the Back, by the Assistance of one placed on each Side, supporting her by the Hams, with her Knees separated, and raising her Back Bone a little from the Bed during the Activity of Pains, and the Midwife’s Assistance of either Sex, is vastly preferable to the Delivery on one Side, to which I impute the Loss of many Children brought by Turning, as well as a more tedious Labour in other Cases; because this Posture, in some Degree, contracts the Passage, and only admits the proper Separation of one Knee.
CHAPTER V. Concerning TOUCHING.
T