Childbirth

“When they [pregnant women] are in labour, and when they lie in, they encompassed with many difficulties and dangers …” – John Peechy. OK, think of it. All of you who have had a Caesarean section, in the 18th century, your chances of dying during childbirth were pretty good. Caesareans were only done if the mother had already died or there was a good chance she would. And if she didn’t die before or during the birth, the infection caused by the surgeon’s unwashed hands would do her in, since the infections were almost 100% fatal. There was a move from female to male midwives, called “man-midwives,” and one of the biggest complaints about them was they used forceps too often. Female midwives were not allowed to use surgical instruments because they were not part of a professional association (Like the College of Physicians, for example) and not allowed to form one. Female or male, however, nobody washed their hands or their birthing tools. This resulted in “childbed fever”, also known as puerperal fever. Even in uncomplicated deliveries, women could still get and die from puerperal fever. It didn’t help that the method of “assisting” the birth was to lubricate the midwife’s hands with duck grease and literally pull the baby and the placenta out, ripping the mother. Tradition was the soiled bed linen was not to be changed until she was allowed to sit up, two weeks after the birth. It is amazing any mother survived. Waller, Maureen. 1700: Scenes from London Life. (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000), 47. Olsen, 269-70. Waller, 50. Olsen, 269-70. Waller, 49. Waller, 52.