Observations in midwifery : as also The country midwifes opusculum or vade mecum / by Percival Willughby (1596-1685); edited from the original MS. by Henry Blenkinsop, 1863.
- Percivall Willughby
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations in midwifery : as also The country midwifes opusculum or vade mecum / by Percival Willughby (1596-1685); edited from the original MS. by Henry Blenkinsop, 1863. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
48/372 (page 26)
![And then, and ever, let the midwife forbeare to use violence, which hindereth the birth, tlu-ough much halmg, or ])ulhng, or stretch- ing those tender pai-ts. Such doings create paines, with swellings and sorenes, and make the labouring woman unwiUing to endm-e her laboui-, and the putting down of her tlirowes; and, severaU times, tliis too much officiousnes causeth evil accidents to foUow, as tearing the body, sores, and ulcers, or lloudiug and scouring. All wliicli, in cluldbed, bee found too oft dangerous, and they may prove fataU. Let the laboming woman herself, or some assisting woman, (as occasion urgetli) gently presse dowmvard, with the palm of her hand, tlic upper pai'ts of the woman's beUy; streaking, and putting the cliild downward by little and little; and let every one encourage the woman with good hopes, that her suffeiings will quickly bee at an end, and that such paines bee incident to all women in their travaile. This pressure hastens the delivery, and quickeneth the tlu'owes, and maketh the labour more easy to bee endured. Wlien the child's head doth offer itself, the midwife must gently receive it with both her hands; afterward, when the woman's tlu'owes increase, or, without them, shee may draw forth the child's shoulders, by shding up her fingers under the child's^ armepit, and easily nudging tlie cliild's body toward the other side, shghtly drawing with her fingers; so wiU the rest of the body quickly foUow, which must not bee pulled forth hastily, or raslily from the woman's body. So soon as the child is born, let the midwife fetch the after-birth, the navel-string will guide her to it, by wliich shee may gently move the after-bu'th from side to side, to make it separate from the M'omb thi'ough](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24751212_0048.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
