De practyk der vroed'meesters en vroed'vrouwen, Of de wyse van een vrouw' te helpen in haar kindbaren. Be...

detaining myself there, I shall solely present what I have seen and learned through experience.

To begin with natural Birth. If a Man-midwife or Midwife is summoned to a pregnant Woman who is at her term, and feels the labor pains in the Belly, near the Bladder and Pubic bone, and in the Loins, he must ask her if those pains also settle on the Genitals and on the Foundation i.e., the anus/rectum: If the pains are heavy, so that it seems it will be labor, one must first examine the Woman to know the true state of affairs.

To do such properly, one must, having warm hands and shortened nails, lubricate the forefinger of the right or left hand, according to the convenience of the bed, with fresh Butter, or some other fat that has no odor. One shall insert this finger into the Vagina of the Womb, taking care not to damage the Urethra original: "Pis-leider" (literally: piss-leader), which lies on the upper side, and with the end of this finger one shall easily reach the mouth of the Womb, as the same is very much pushed outward by the labor, which one feels in true and full labor, that the same opens and widens. This is what the

Man-midwife and Midwife must well attend to, in order to distinguish exactly whether a Woman is truly in labor or not, so that they may not make a wrong prognosis.

It happens sometimes that the Womb of a pregnant Woman opens for the discharge of some excessive fluid, and that it closes again afterward. And I have seen cases where the Womb opened to the size of a French thirteen-and-a-half a coin, likely used here as a comparative measurement for the diameter of the opening, and after a while closed itself again, without bringing on any discomfort while still carrying the pregnancy, who afterward delivered happily, why this opening is not enough to judge that there is labor, but the Woman must also feel pains, and such as we have described.

When the Woman is in labor, the mouth of the Womb becomes wider and softer, but one must well attend to how it is turned: either forward toward the Bladder, or backward toward the Rectum.

Being turned forward, the delivery is easier and faster, as the opening of the internal Mouth stands in a straight line with the external; on the contrary, when the Mouth is turned backward, the labor is slower and more difficult, because