The Province of Midwives in the Practice of their Art Instructing them in the timely knowledge of such difficulties as require the assistance of Men, for the preservation of Mother and Child; very necessary for the perusal of all the sex interested in the subject, and interspersed with some New and Useful Observations.

CHAPTER IV.

Chapter 4356 wordsPublic domain

_Of_ SITUATION.

Many 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.