A Regency Labor: Are You Prepared to Take a Pain?
Diane Morris | Thursday, June 25th, 2015 | Childbirth | No Comments
Any pregnant woman during the Regency period would have known what a man-midwife meant when he asked: Are you prepared to take a pain? To “take a pain” was a popular expression meaning to submit to an examination per vaginam (“via the vagina”). I found this gem in Dr. Thomas Denman’s book on the practice […]
Read More »When Gossiping Was a Good Thing
Diane Morris | Thursday, May 21st, 2015 | Childbirth | 2 Comments
Strange as it seems to us, the word “gossip” had a friendly meaning during the Regency period and for many centuries before that: a “gossip” was a woman who attended her daughter’s or sister’s or friend’s delivery. In its original sense, the word was a corruption of “god-sib” or “god-sibling,” meaning “sister in the Lord.” During […]
Read More »Man-Midwives Behaving Badly
Diane Morris | Thursday, March 12th, 2015 | Childbirth | No Comments
It was not the case that only midwives could be ignorant and incompetent. Some man-midwives were equally injurious when delivering children, despite being trained under doctors and man-midwives who taught classes and used obstetrical machines or phantoms. Mistaking the Placenta for a Tumor Mr. David Evans, a surgeon and man-midwife, described a case in which he […]
Read More »Forceps Fostered the Rise of Man-Midwifery
Diane Morris | Thursday, February 19th, 2015 | Childbirth | No Comments
For most of human history midwives ruled the roost when it came to delivering children, as you may have read in my previous post on Regency midwives. Man-midwives or accoucheurs, as they were known in France, were called to a delivery only when there was a problem or special situation: for example, when a child […]
Read More »Warm Caudle: A Potion for Regency Women in Childbed
Diane Morris | Thursday, November 6th, 2014 | Childbirth, Medicine | No Comments
During England’s Regency period, women in childbed were advised to sip a caudle—a warm drink made by mixing a thin gruel of oatmeal with wine or ale, spices, and sugar. Although often given to sick people, caudles were enjoyed by women in labor and during their confinement, as well as by their family, friends and […]
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