CHAP. VI.
Of Difficult BIRTHS proceeding from Causes of the INFANT.
IT sometimes also happens, that the Difficulty in Labour arises from the Infant: And that FIRST when Two or More strive for Priority in BIRTH.
NOW this Condition the Midwife can no otherways distinguish or discover, but by the Touch; and when the one is more forward than the other, ’tis not to be done or known, until she has even touch’d the very Fund of the Womb: Because sometimes it so happens, that One Child has its Hands and Feet so intermix’d, that whatever way She turns her Hand, she finds Legs or Arms, Hands or Feet, which often deceives Midwives, believing there are TWINS. But in this perplex’d Case the most sure and only certain Sign, is, when she feels two Heads or two Backs; for then she cannot be Mistaken, since one Body cannot have two Heads, unless it be a Monster, which may be soon discover’d by feeling if the double Head be fix’d to one and the same Body.
BUT in the Case of TWINS or more Children (as long as they come right) the Delivery is perform’d, as if the Woman had but One, in the Natural Case already Stated; so that I shall repeat or recapitulate Nothing of what I have said, only that the After-Birth, or Births are not to be touch’d, until all the CHILDREN are Born: Upon which drawing gently the Navel Strings (in their Turns) with the One Hand, the Other brings them forth easily and orderly; as is set forth more fully in Sect. IV. Chap. 18.
A SECOND difficult LABOUR may proceed from the Weakness and Debility of the Infant, or from its being too Small-grown; in which Case, both the Woman and the Midwife are to use their best mutual Endeavours to promote the BIRTH, since the CHILD can do little or nothing for itself, and the Less it is, the less it is affected with the THROWS of the Mother, and the less Impression her Impulses make upon it: Whereupon Nature is to be assisted in this weak Condition by all convenient Means, whereof THAT of the Agile or Nimble Hand is the most effectual.
A THIRD difficult BIRTH may proceed from the Infant’s being too Big; In which Place I must previously apprize the READER, that I no ways mean a MONSTER or Hydropical CHILD, but only One full, well, or Big-grown, which is only reckoned too Big in regard of the Maternal Passages, which may be too Small in Proportion.
IN this Case, there is an absolute Necessity for Manual Assistance, since the PAINS (however penetrating or forcible) cannot effect the Work. But and if the INFANT is fallen down (well turn’d) into the Pelvis, the Midwife using her best and most skilful Endeavours to dilate the Passages below near the Os Coccygis, the Child may be easily brought forth (without any dangerous Instrument) by her dextrous Hand only accomplishing the Work. In the mean Time, however, it is to be minded always, that This is still more safely and commodiously done by the Feet, than by the Head, after carefully dilating the Os Coccygis, taking this Opportunity in the beginning of the Labour, before the INFANT is too much press’d down into the Pelvis.
NOW these are, in fine, the most common Causes on the Part of the INFANT, whence I come to touch upon difficult BIRTHS, proceeding from Causes of the Passages; which, because they are various, I subdivide into a Fivefold Diversity; viz. Difficult BIRTHS, proceeding from Causes of the Membranes, from Causes of the Pelvis, from Causes of the Bones of the Pelvis, from Causes of the Bladder and Rectum, and from Causes of the Vagina: And because all these require to be singularly explain’d, and particularly insisted upon, I shall assign them as many respective Chapters. And First——