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ok ladies,
im currently in a child-development class at a community college. I was reading ahead inmy text book to the birth section and found this (and i quote) in reference to birth before the 20th century.
- the midwife who presided over the event had no formal training; she offered "advice, massages, potions, irrigations, and talismans." Salves made of fat of viper, gall of eel, powdered hoof of donkey. tongue of chameleon, or skin of snake or hare might be rubbed on the prospective mother's abdomen to ease her pain or hasten her labor; but "the cries of the mother during labor were considered to be as natural as those of the baby at birth" (Fontanel &d'Harcourt, 1997)
Given the lack of accurate knowledge about female anatomy and the birth process, the midwives' ministrations sometimes did more harm than good. A 16th centurery textbook instructed midwives to stretch and dialate the membranes of teh genital parts and cut or break them with her fingernails, to urge the patient to go up and down the stairs screaming at the top of her lungs, to help her bear down by pressing on her belly, and to pull out the placenta immediately after birth. (Fontanel &d'Harcourt, 1997)-
and then later, when talking about how we have reduced the risks of childbirth it says
" The development of the science of obstetrics early in the 19th century professionalized childbirth, especially in urban settings. Most deliveries still occurred at home and women were on hand to help and offer emotional support, but a male physician was usually in charge. with surgical instruments ready in case of trouble. Midwives were now given training and obstetric manuals were widely disseminated"
As a doula and an aspiring midwife (just waiting for an apprenticeship) and also just a general informed person, this sounds ludicrous. But it is in my textbook, my last edition 2006 text book. And i am just not sure how exactly to go about that. I did print off a copy of "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses- A History of Women Healers" by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English (http://tmh.floonet.net/articles<wbr>/witches.html) But really. Come on.
First, try and find their source for the info (the Fontanel & Harcourt book) and see if you can find a copy of it to see if the current text interpreted it correctly.
It seems like a pretty poor text. If I were grading those excerpts, they'd lose some points big time for quoting "a 16th century text" without naming the book or author. It's pretty obvious that the writers of this text didn't do in-depth research for this book.
They're off on when male physicians became popular, too. In urban areas, among the wealthy, physicians became popular in the mid to late 19th century, and it wasn't until the 20th century that physicians attended more births than midwives in the US.
You can write to the publisher and/or author with a well documented and researched rebuttal, but I don't know that it would get you anywhere. You could speak with your instructor and offer to present on the topic of birth in class, and bring in a different viewpoint on the history of midwifery if the instructor is open to it.
By the way, Witches, Midwives and Nurses is NOT a good source. It is about the most biased, slanted history out there, and the authors completely ignore any historical evidence that contradicts their premise that midwives are innocent and the church is evil.
Some much better reading:
Birth Chairs, Midwives and Medicine by Banks
Women Healers by Elisabeth Brooks
Lying-In: A History of Childbearing in America by Wertz and Wertz
Last edited by UtahDoula; 09-12-2007 at 04:57 PM.
Reason: adding recommended books
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Given the lack of accurate knowledge about female anatomy and the birth process, the midwives' ministrations sometimes did more harm than good. A 16th centurery textbook instructed midwives to stretch and dialate the membranes of teh genital parts and cut or break them with her fingernails, to urge the patient to go up and down the stairs screaming at the top of her lungs, to help her bear down by pressing on her belly, and to pull out the placenta immediately after birth. (Fontanel &d'Harcourt, 1997)-
You might also write and tell them that until recently, OB-GYNS also would pull the placenta out immediately after birth, push on the abdomen to get the baby out, and still today REGULARLY assault their patients by stretching and dialating the membranes (stripping membranes) of moms that aren't even in labor...moms that havent even reached their due date!!...and that Dr's today continue to mutilate womens genitals with episiotomies....and midwives of today...DO NOT.
I really am speechless, and I disagree about Witches, Nurses, and Midwives...there is a ton of evidence that supports that books premise. Babara Ehrienreich is a highly respected researcher and writer.
It's interesting... one of my hobbies/interests is historical midwifery before 1700. There are good books out there about midwifery prior to that time. One of the best is The Midwives of Seventeenth Century London, which is fabulous! Another book I adore is The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy. Both cost a pretty penny, but were worth it for me. I've also read a few of those listed above. The ones listed by UtahDoula are also fabulous as well.
Those midwifery texts referred to in your text were all written by men, whom up until mid-17th century didn't usually attend childbirth, so their knowledge was based on texts by Galen and other physicians written about 2000 years ago! The first midwifery text written by a midwife and woman in English was by Jane Sharp in the 1670's. She had some good ideas, but some others were just as faulty as the ones written by men.
When it says that midwives had no formal education, it's stating that they didn't go to school to learn. For those midwives though, apprenticeship was pretty much formal training! There were schools in Italy and France for midwives as early as the 1500's, but largely it was apprenticeship. English midwifery was way behind the times in the 1600's. They did offer superstition, potions, advice and salves. Sometimes they did do more harm than good. So did the formally trained physicians, because that was how medicine worked at the time. They actually thought the uterus wandered around the body! There were good midwives and bad, just as there are now. The good ones were very busy and sought after. The bad ones were driven out of the villages and didn't work much.
And, just as an aside, the formal postpartum doula goes back to Renaissance Italy! There were women whose job it was, to live in with the new mother and care for her during the early weeks after birth. She was paid on average about 10% of what the midwife received for the birth. She was called
a Guardadonna (a "woman-watcher").
All of the information in the first two paragraphs you quoted is essentially accurate. It's sad, but mostly accurate.
About 'Witches, Nurses and Midwives'... this is a hugely debatable booklet. Personally, I feel that most of the information is not accurate, it's highly biased, and I wouldn't take anything in it as source material. Sorry. And I'm exceedingly feminist and pagan to boot. I do think it's an interesting read, however.
Anyhow... just my two cents... okay, maybe $1 worth.
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