16th c. midwifery as described by a physician

[bunnyjadwiga]

Some notes from the 1513 midwife's manual:
In childbirth, a woodcut

Birthing Chair: Woodcut from Der Swangern Frawen und he bammen roszgarten, by Eucharius Rösslin, 1513.
Apparently a birthing chair was sometimes used, as well as a half-lying position and apparently a hands-and-knees position:

...She should lie down on her back, but she should not lie down completely and yet also she also should not quite be standing, but rather it should be somewhere in the middle . . . And in high German lands, and also in Italian lands the midwives have special chairs for a woman's labor, and these are not high, but carved out and hollow on the inside, as depicted here. And these should be made so the woman can lean back on her back . . . And if she is fat, she should not sit, rather she should lie on her belly, and lay her forehead on the ground and pull her knees to her belly . . .

Rösslin, Eucharius. When Midwifery became the Male Physician's Province: the sixteenth century handbook The Rose Garden for Pregnant Women and Midwives [Der Swangern Frawen und he bammen roszgarten] newly Englished. Translated by Wendy Arons. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994)

NB: Bizarrely, the wife of one of my acquaintances was only able to give birth via natural childbirth when she assumed this position; and she's one of the skinniest women I know!

Comments

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

Ps, are you working on an article about this? Do you mind if I link to this entry? I know lots of people who'd love to read about it. ;)

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Feel free to link to this, or to my Women and Medicine handout:
http://gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/WomenMed.html

I'm working on this on an ongoing basis.