herb Mercury shread into Veal Broth. Great Noises are very hurtful as sound of Trumpets Bells beating of Drums and shooting of Artillery Also Thunder or the violent roaring of Water for upon any Frights or suddain Starts a Woman may easily Loose her Burthen especially the first Month for then the Embrio is not firmly fastened and tyed to the Womb and though in the succeeding Month it grows faster and bigger yet the weight may so press it on the Neck of the Womb that it may come forth untimely CHAP. VIII Of Purges to be Taken And of the Passions of the Mind A Gentle Purge may be convenient given on any occasion that requires it from the Fourth to the Seventh Month but after that it is neither Practicable nor by many held safe All things that violently provoke Urin and consequently will have an Influence in provoking the Courses are forbidden As also Phlebotomy or Blood Letting unless some great Necessity require it as the Woman being so full of Blood that it is feared it may stifle the Child with the over great quantity or in dangerous Diseases as the Plurisie c. For otherways the Blood being taken away when the Child is grown it causes a Leanness and decay of it for want of a due Nourishment it requiring now much more than when it was very little The Passions of the Mind are in this Case to be considered as either Good or Hurtful therefore the Childing Woman must prevail with herself as much as possibly she can to be Pleasant and Merry avoidding Melancholly Musing Thought or Vexing Grieving Freting falling into a suddain Anger Scolding or Exclaming neither ought she to be too violently Transported with Laughing Coughing Sneezing with suddain Joy at any surprizing News or Accident Or on the contrary Fear she must therefore have a setled and quiet Mind not subject to any Passions or Surprize that may be Injurious to what she carries in her Womb. She must not give Ear to Lamentable Tales sad and frightful Stories c. Nor see Fighting Fencing Bear-Baitings Executions or any Cruel and Unnatural Sights Avoid the Company as much as may be of Deformed Persons Antick Pictures c. Least the Imagination prove Strong and make some Impression or Similitude on the Faetus or Embrio And lastly as to these particulars when a Woman perceives herself with Child she must let out her Lacing and lay aside her Busk not only for her own ease which is proper enough but least the Child being straightened in the Womb become Writhed Crooked or Mis-shapen CHAP. IX How to prevent Diseases and other Griefs in a Childing Woman by Oyles Oyntments Fomentations and Internal Medicaments with the several Receipts to make and apply them HAving layed down Rules how a Childing Woman in sundry respects ought to mannage herself I now come to other particulars of as near a concern requisite to be taken notice of and done in the Ninth Month viz. To preserve Health Beauty and give a safe and easie Delivery In the first place then that her Breasts after her Delivery may not be too much puffed up and hang down like Bags hang during her Childing a little piece of Steel between them by a String or Chain fastened about her Neck and wash them with this Decoction or Fomentation pretty warm and often Take Sage Perriwinkle the herb Ground Ivy of each a handful Hemlock as much as you can hold between your fore-finger and Thumb bruise them and boil them in two quarts of water and one of Whitewine till a fourth part be consumed then put thereto a little Rose Vinegar and wash your Breasts This prevents them from Soreness and breaking after Delivery and from many other ill conveniencies That the Belly when the Child Quickens may be kept in order from Swelling or growing too Unweildy a Swathe is requisit made fit for the purpose to support it and to keep the Skin from Furrowing growing Knottey or full of broken Veins wrinkled Anoint it with this Pomander Take the Suet of a Young Kid and Hog's-Lard each three Ounces Goose-Grease and the Grease of a Capon each an Ounce and a Half melt them in an Earthen Vessel strain them when very hot into fair Water and Temper them in it till they become very White then melt them again adding an Ounce of Stags Marrow or Suet wash them in rose-Rose-water and Anoint the Belly warm with it Or take Oyl of Roses an ounce and a half Oyle of St. John's Wort and sweet Almonds each two ounces May-butter and Oyl of Jessamin each half an ounce Sperma Ceti a quarter of an ounce melt these together and take a soft wash'd Leather Skin either Dog or Sheep made fit for the Belly Anoint it with these Oyntment This is usually required to be begun in the Fourth Month. In the Ninth Month The Woman being Healthy it is convenient that she walk gently before Meals for the first twelve or fifteen Days and after that undertake some moderate Business or convenient Exercise and if any Pains or Weakness happen make the following Bath viz. Take Marshmallows with their Roots and Motherwort each two handfuls white Lilly Roots three ounces Cammomile and Mellilot flowers each a handful Linseed Quince-seed and Fenigreek-seed each an Ounce Boil them in runing Water till a fifth part be consumed and let the Party Pattle in it and being well dryed put into a warm Bed her Belly about an hour after being supled with Oyl of Roses Cammomile and sweet Almonds CHAP. X. Of unreasonable Longings Hicup and Vomitings their Cause and Remedy Also Pains in the Stomach Belly Flanks c. Back Hips and Groin Difficulty of making Vrin Palpitation of the Heart and Swoonings Cough Sore Throat Costiveness and Laxativeness Swellings in the Legs and Thighs c. UNreasonable Longings are allayed frequently by eating Olives or Capers boiled Sallads Meats that are Fat and Sweet with Verjuce Orange Pomgranet Citron or any sharp Juice in their Sauces Some commend much Toasted Cheese and dryed Amillium and hot Spices in Meats or Drinks but no great quantity for then they are hurtful as also is much Drinking And for Drinks a Glass of Wormwood-Wine or Hidromel is very good And for this a gentle Purge may be given of Senna or Rhuebard boiled in White-wine about a quarter of a Pint being drunk warm Fasting The Hickup and distastefulness of Meats are very Incident to Women with Child and prove uneasie to the Child especially by weakening the Mother and thereby it being deprived of sufficient Nourishment causing her either to be Delivered Untimely or produce a Weakly Child Take to Prevent or Remedy these the Yolks of Eggs Veal Broth or Chicken Broth wherein Endive Succory and Lettuce have been shred with Beets and Winter-savory Anointing the Stomach and Belly with Oyl of Sweet Almonds and Oyl of Violets If the cause proceed from a sharp bitter Humour a gentle Purge is requisit to carry it downward that may occasion no
being rather to direct the order of a Woman in Child-bed for her own safety and that of her Child CHAP. XIII Of Natural and Difficult Births And how the Child ought to be Ordered when drawn forth With Receipts for many Cordials and Directions for other things useful on this Imergency IF there be a Natural Birth That is the Child coming with it's Head forward the Arms on the Side and the Throws encreasing there is little Difficulty or Danger Yet she must have great Courage herself and Encourage the Woman giving her Wine wherein Saffron has been infused or such things as Comfort the Heart as occasion requires yet in little Quantity Nothing must be done in Delivery hastily or rashly but Nature must have its course in a good measure it being the greatest helper in these Cases And because the Child doth come Naturally into the World with the Face downward when it is taken forth it must be turned on its Back to prevent Suffocation or drawing the Air too heavily And if the Navel-string as often happens be twisted about its Neck let her take it off gently If it be feeble or faint that it scarce can Breathe spurt a little Canary into the Mouth of it which by its striving will open the Pipes She may do the like into the Nose or Ears but very gently and but a very small quantity When it begins to Cry draw the Navel-string gently that the After-Birth may follow in its due time the Woman Coughing or Straining a little and holding Salt in her Hand fast grasped recollect her Breath and blowing hard the Midwife or her Assistant stroaking her Belly down gently And the Child being separated to prevent Fits give it a little Spoonful of black-cherry-Black-Cherry-Water with two or three drops of the Blood that proceeds from the Navel-string when cut which must be done about two handful from the Belly especially of a Boy making a Knot before the Incision Then dip Linnen cloaths in a warm Bath of Rose-Leaves Penny royal or any Comfortable Herbs or Flowers wrap it up warm and keep it near a Fire but not in a place where a free Air cannot come to it because the Lungs at first are weak and cannot draw strongly Cover the Head however with a thin Linnen Cloath and let it not come too near a great Light suddainly for fear of hurting and weakening the Sight Then Swathe it gently and give it some little Food or let it Suck some Woman whose Milk is of the same Sex but not the Mother because her's is not as yet proper for it for many Reasons which I willingly omit The Woman being thus safely Delivered her Legs must be layed gently straight and a fine Linnen Cloath or Rapper diped in warm Water and applyed all cold Airs excluded And after some Refreshment she may Slumber a little to recover Natures strength Then take Candle Panada Water-Gruel or what is most agreeable to stretch out the Bowells fill in some measure the Vacancy and prevent Windyness which is very offensive to Women new Delivered And if she find herself Faint and Uneasie let her take the following Cordial Drink Take the Syrup of Maid-hair one ounce Pellitory Water Cardus Water each half an ounce mingled in a quarter of a Pint of warm White-Wine And Anoint the parts with Oyl of Almonds drawn without Fire As for the Child when it has well Breathed and taken some refreshing Nourishment give it three scruples of Mithridate or Venice Treacle in a Spoonful of White-Wine or any proper Cordial Water If the Woman be weak in her Parts and Pains continue in her Back Flanks or Groin take a Sheepskin that is newly pulled off clap the Fleshy side about her and wrap her up warm in it and and it will wonderfully strengthen her if it be repeated every two days Or for want of this lay a Hares Skin or Rabits Skin taken off warm on her Belly But in my Opinion the former is a great deal better And to Lenify the distended parts Take Oyle of Hyperion and St. John's-wort each an ounce an ounce of the Oyl of Roses and two whites of Eggs finely beaten together and apply it as a Lineament and Pessary Then let her gently raise up her Thighs that her Knees may lie up to ease her Back When the Skin is taken off chafe her with Oyl of Roses Almonds and St. John's-wort Swathe her with soft Linnen three or four times doubled and beware she takes not Cold suppling het Breasts if given to Chaping Hardness or subject to Knots Tumours or the like with Oyl of Olives and Sweet Almonds And above all things keep the Chamber close and warm that she take not cold in any part for the parts distended by the force of Travel will easily contract Cold Airs And when she is desirous of Sleep before she goes to it let her take a refreshment of some strengthening Broths made of Veal Chickens or if she be more desirous of it a couple of Poached Eggs. Difficult Deliveries require something more than what I have mentioned and the Midwife must be yet more Careful herein because not only her Reputation but the Life of her Patient is mainly concerned in it There are many Births that require great Skill and Labour to bring them forth because they come Preposterously or contrary to the Natural one as lying side-ways in the Womb coming Stradling with the Feet forward or the Arms spread over the Head the Buttocks forward or the like and these must by the Midwifes Skill be reduced to their proper form if it may be and so drawn forth before the Woman be too far spent the Vital Spirits wasted or Nature enfeebled And if a Midwifes strength or Skill prevail not a Skillful Chirurgion must be sent for before it is too Late Some Midwives fancying in doing this their Reputations would suffer have kept their Patients in Pain and Hope till at last finding themselves Constrained to send when the Case was desperate they have been obliged to part with Woman or Child or both to the Grave CHAP. XIV What ought to be done if a Woman come before or after her Time and to bring away dead Children Also to stay the Flux and Remedy divers other Accidents happening to those newly Delivered TRavel may likewise prove Painful or Difficult when the Woman is Delivered Before or After her Time The First of these is when it comes in Six Seven or Eight Months which happens when the Womb is too Weak or Moist which softens the Neck of it and makes it dilate and Emit the Child before the due course of Natures Expired As also the Vessels to the Orifice whereof the After-Burthen is fastened begin to Relax by which means the Infant cannot be supported or remain in it's Natural Situation This Pain and Troublesome times happens when the Child grows so bigg that it stretches or Extends the Womb in every part by a great encrease or over-staying the time some times
in the Tenth or Eleventh Month For the Matrix and Muscles of the upper Belly being extended beyond measure do inlarge the Fibers which cannot be Easily drawn together again having lost their Natural Strength and force To help this defect the cause being rightly understood such Medicines must be used as are proper to Mollifie and Strengthen the parts especially the Membranes that they may further dilate and stretch themselves by being made more supple and Gentle Anointing the Cartilages that Joyn the Os Pubis Sacrum Coceygis and Ilium at the time of Delivery And let the Woman take of pellitory-Pellitory-Water two ounces Oyl of Sweet-Almonds one ounce well mingled together and pretty warm and after this some strengthening Cordials And this likewise much avails where there is any Calosity or hardness in the passage of Nature There are also other Accidents which must be provided against as the Flux of Blood and Convulsions in time of Labour These are very dangerous to the Mother and Child and often destroy both especially the former if of long continuance Because the Blood being the treasure of the Life the Spirits and Heart are carried away with it And again the Convulsions hurt the Brain that it cannot Communicate so much Spirit as is needful in this imergency for the Respiration of the Mother and the Child who Breathes only by the means of the Spirits that are Imparted by the Arteries of the Mother for want of which it is many times suffocated And these happen single or both together Make what haste you can to Deliver the Woman after having fortified her with strengthening Cordials which cannot however be conveniently done but by a Skilful Midwife of Courage and able Body or Chirurgion For if it be not soon done the Child will be brought forth Dead or if Alive hardly it lives long after But it must in this Case be considered whether the Woman be at her full Time and a necessity of Delivery requires it for some have Fluxes of Blood at four or five Months and then it is not practicable but rather to divert it by breaking a Vein or using such Medicines that may turn the course of it But at the full time though some are of Opinion to let Blood in such Cases is requisit yet what I propose always proves much more effectual the Woman being happily Delivered of either the one Birth or the other there yet remains a great deal more to be Considered in order to restore her to an Uprising Dyet in this Case must be prepared that may be suitable to the Weakness of the Womans Constitution For soon after Labour the Stomach cannot suffer or at least well Digest strong Meats and many that unadvisedly Eat such fall into Feavours and from them to the Grave Broths Panada's Jellys Poached Eggs and Gruels are the most proper for the first four or five days Then Barly-broth and so to stronger things by degrees as Gellys Chickens or small Birds And take a Drink between whiles viz. French Barly Corianderseeds and Cinamon boiled in spring Water straind and Sweetned with Sugar And for a Strengthening Liquor or Cordials Take a Capon parboile it then cut it in pieces and take of Baum Borrage and Bugloss each a Handful Put them with the Flesh of the Fowl into a Glass-Alimbec sprinkle them over with a dram of the Powder of Pearl and break in small pieces two or three Leaves of Gold then pour in some of the Water the Capon was sodden in Distil these in a double Glass or Balneo Mariae till there Issues a quart of distilled Water and let the Woman take an ounce of it twice or thrice a day This strengthens the Heart and Brain prevents fainting cold Sweats and much fortifies Nature If she be not Aguish or Feaverish she may Drink a little White-wine or Clarret wherein Borrage and Limon-Peel have been infused mixing with them some Syrup of Maiden-hair or other Astringent Syrups At eight days end the Womb being well Purged and Cleansed she may take stronger Meats But must be kept quiet from great Noises and close from too free an Air avoiding all Sadness and Grief that may afflict or depress the Spirits CHAP. XV. How her Belly c. must be Ordered after Delivery And what Physick and Cordials are proper from her Lying down to her Vprising Which many other things needful to be known and Practiced CAre also must be taken of her Breasts and Belly for the first anoint them with Oyl of Cammomile and Mirtle and Roses well mixed together Swathe or bind them up gently and beside a strengthening Sear-cloath layed to the Back apply to the Navel a Plaister of Galbanum two or three fingers broad And to keep the Milk from Curdling anoint the Stomach and Breasts with Oyl of Roses and Populeum A Bath upon this account is very convenient to strengthen the Delivered Woman which you may make by boiling Mother-wort Penny-Royal Agrimony Rose Leaves Cammomile Mallows and flowers of Mellilot in three parts Water and one of White-wine in which she may Bath herself all over or the Liquor warm applyed with Linnen Cloaths to her Body and before she may take conserve of Roses Bugloss and Candyed Citron Peel finly bruised and mixed in a Glass of Wine Griping Pains are many times troublesome to Women after Delivery To Remedy this let her take an ounce of the Oyl of Walnuts and half an ounce of Sweet Almonds drawn without fire in warm Ale or Wine And foment the Stomach Belly and lower parts with the Decoction of Cammomile Marsh-mallows Melilot Pelitory Linseed and Mugwort boiled in Milk and apply the Herbs warm Poultis-wise If the Matrix fall down Bath and Foment the Parts with the Decoction of Red-Roses Cammomile and Lavender boiled in Milk put it up gently followed by a Pessary dipt in Red Wine wherein Plantain white Muller and red Roses have been concocted If Hurts or Excoriations happen in the lower parts by Child bearing take Oyl of St. John's-wort and Oyl of Roses beat them up with the White of an Egg and apply a Linnen-cloath diped in this mixture to the afflicted part and lay a strengthening Plaister of Mirrh Mastick and white Bees-wax to the lower Region of the Belly If the after Purgings come not away kindly or in over abundance they must be helped or Restrained and by these a Womans Health or Sickness is guessed at during the time of her Lying-in For if they be of the Natural Colour and soon congeal it is in a sign she is in good Health and will continue so to her Uprising But being little in quantity I 'll coloured and do not congeal suddainly then Nature is out of order and proper Remedies must be given to prevent or remove Sickness If the Purgings be excessive then moderate letting Blood is held necessary and taking such astringents as may in some degrees restrain them for there is no means that makes better revulsions and draws the Blood sooner from