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 9: Chapter VII. The Difficulty from the Membranes.

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About This Book

A practical manual for midwives and lay attendants that explains how to recognize and manage common and difficult childbirths while indicating when to summon additional medical help. Chapters present accessible anatomical descriptions, signs of obstructed or hazardous labor, and step-by-step guidance intended for quick reference. The author warns against risky rural practices, recommends anatomical instruction and demonstrations, and corrects frequent procedural errors. Advice balances preserving the mother and child with clear limits of midwifery competence, aiming to equip inexperienced carers and charitable neighbors with safer, more informed responses during delivery.

CHAPTER VII. The Difficulty from the Membranes.

N unforeseen Difficulty may occur, when Appearances are otherwise favourable, from the Strength of the Membranes, obstructing the Birth, and requiring great Caution to prevent; for in this Case, the Operator must break the Membranes, in order to promote the Birth; and as the Waters, they contain, are a Means to open the internal Orifice, lubricate the Passage, and facilitate the Birth; the breaking the Membranes too soon, will render the Labour more tedious; and should it be too long delay’d, the Patient’s Misery would be prolonged; wherefore the Midwife must not break them, before the Orifice is sufficiently open to admit the Head, when she may tear them with her Nails, but by no Means pull them, for as they adhere to the After-birth, she might by that Means separate it, and bring on a Flooding.