Care of the Pregnant Woman Through the Ages

With this article ends the engaging scientific series presented by Dr. Mustafa Khalidi on "Care of the Pregnant Woman Through the Ages." In it he passed through the various ages, among the various nations. The readers of The Woman's Voice have seen the efforts expended in this cause by a great professor among the professors of obstetric medicine in the Arab world.

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The first book published in modern times on the art of obstetrics appeared in 1808, written by Samuel Bard of New York; then came the book of "Lideus" in 1835, then another by "Meigs" in 1838. Many books appeared after that time, among them the book of Professor "Hirst" in 1883, which was the most precise book of its age; and after it important works were published by "Edgar," "Williams," "Joseph DeLee," and other giants of women's medicine, some of whom are alive and flourishing to this day. Important books also appeared treating of women's diseases and their operations, by many physicians, among them "McDowell," "Marion Sims," "Lawson Tait," and others.

The first special dispensary for the examination of pregnant women was founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1858. The reason was that the maternity hospitals had filled with women, and the doctors were obliged to examine expectant mothers in a special place, on the understanding that they would give birth in their homes. These examinations then developed, until the pregnant woman came to have a special scientific care and an independent place of her own.

In 1870 doctors began to use antiseptics in their obstetrical operations, to prevent infection and puerperal fever.

In 1888 "Hirst" claimed that outward sights inevitably affect the fetus, and "Dickinson" followed him in 1903, saying that this might happen; but "Mall" and "Streeter," after studying the formation of the fetus, proved that this is a fable.

The world inherited this belief from the Greeks and the early Christians, who claimed that unsightly scenes affect the fetus: if a woman bore an ugly child, it was because of ugly sights she had seen; and if she bore a beautiful baby, it was because she had looked upon beautiful scenes during her pregnancy, and that beauty had been stamped upon her child's face. It is regrettable that these idle tales and claims still hold sway in our society to this day.

By way of amusement we may mention a curious story told by "Swammerdam" in 1672: a pregnant woman caught sight of a black slave and trembled, and bathed at once, for fear her child would be born black like him. When she gave birth, her child came out white except between the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet; and the poor woman believed that when she had washed, the water had not reached between her fingers and toes.

And just as superstitions crept into every quarter of the ancients' lives, their sciences, and their beliefs, so the superstitions of pregnancy were also many. Among them:
— It is evil spirits that cause miscarriage or the death of the fetus in the womb.
— Yawning is dangerous, because the demons then enter the pregnant woman's belly through her mouth and kill the fetus.
— Walking in the light of the moon is dangerous, because [...]

the devils surround the woman then.

In some savage tribes the pregnant woman lived in special houses and hung bells on her legs when she walked, to drive off the jinn and the evil spirits. In South America the pregnant woman was forbidden to eat the meat of sheep, for fear her child be born with a huge, coarse nose; her people likewise forbade her salty and fatty foods, so that she made do with coconut milk!

The advance of science has done away with these absurdities, and progress has spread through the life of nations, so that every day we hear of a new discovery and a useful invention.

In 1884 Dr. Sänger occupied himself with the cesarean operation, and the year 1888 had scarcely drawn near when the instrument for measuring blood pressure appeared. Its appearance increased the care given the pregnant woman, for it became clear to doctors that blood pressure mounts when convulsions or eclampsia occur in the expectant mother.

Yet the care of the pregnant woman made no real advance until the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1911 rules for the care of the pregnant woman were laid down in most hospitals of the civilized world, the duties of midwives were defined, and special hospitals for expectant mothers were founded.

After the Great War many congresses were held in all parts of the world to study this important subject, and the care of the pregnant woman became almost a science standing by itself.

In 1937 the number of maternity hospitals in England alone reached 600; today all the civilized nations have special hospitals for the pregnant woman, in which expectant mothers receive the most careful attention.

The renaissance of medicine in the care and delivery of the pregnant woman has been a renaissance of swift advance. Obstetrics and women's diseases have become two connected branches, studied together; and childbirth has been made easy by the means and methods that modern science has devised. And no wonder — for the nations that concern themselves with expectant mothers, their delivery, and their care are the living nations that preserve their offspring, since humanity can hope for no good from feeble offspring: upon strong, gifted offspring the march of human civilization depends...