_Of_ SITUATION.
Many in the Country choose to be on their _Legs_ or _Knees_,
supported by a Woman on each Side, or _lean_ on a Chair or Bed, and
pass well enough through the present Scene of their Miseries: But
I would preferably advise a Posture between _lying_ and _sitting_,
on a _Pallet_ or _common_ Bed, the _Head_ and _Shoulders_ being
_rais’d_ by Bolsters or Pillows, the Feathers _beat back_ from the
Bed’s Feet, to support the hollow of the Loins, and prevent the
Pressure of any Thing against the _Bottom_ of the Back Bone, to
obstruct the Passage of the Child.
This _Situation_ is most commodious, during Labour, for a Woman to
_assist_ her Pains with the greater Freedom of Respiration, and the
least Fatigue and Expence of Spirits; especially if the _labouring_
Woman lay hold of a _folded_ Napkin, held stiffly for that Purpose,
drawing her Feet _upwards_ towards her Seat, _separating_ her
Knees, and _fixing_ her Feet against something that will not easily
give Way.
If the Person in Labour will not be in Bed, the End may be
answered by her _sitting_ in _another_’s Lap, with the _Bottom_ of
her Back-Bone situate between the other’s Knees, with her _own_
separated and supported, and Feet fixed as aforesaid, to favour
her bearing down.
’Tis inconsistent with the Design of my Writing to describe all
the _convenient_ Situations, necessary in Cases of Difficulty, yet
when the Operator has rectified all Obstructions to the Birth, the
same Situation of the Body upon a _Slope_, from the Head downwards
is most suitable, even altho’, for Conveniency, she should be
deliver’d lying on one Side.
I shall, on this Occasion, observe, what I have found Advantageous
in my own Experience, as well as consonant to the Advice of the
best Writers on the Subject: That the Delivery on the _Back_, by
the Assistance of one placed on _each Side_, supporting her by
the _Hams_, with her Knees _separated_, and raising her _Back
Bone_ a little from the Bed during the _Activity_ of Pains, and
the _Midwife_’s _Assistance_ of either Sex, is vastly preferable
to the Delivery on _one Side_, to which I impute the Loss of many
Children brought by _Turning_, as well as a more _tedious_ Labour
in other Cases; because this Posture, in some Degree, _contracts_
the _Passage_, and only admits the proper Separation of _one_ Knee.