Childbirth and Puerperal Fever
Necklace pendant with illustration from J.P. Maygrier’s Nouvelles Demonstrations D'Accouchemens, avec des planches en taille-douce, accompagnees d'un texte raisonne
Hundreds of years ago, when men calling themselves doctors decided to rob childbirth from the midwives and bring it into hospitals, the maternal mortality rate skyrocketed due to something called puerperal (or childbed) fever, a bacterial infection of the female reproductive tract following childbirth.
“From the 1600s through the mid-to-late 1800s, the majority of childbed fever cases were caused by the doctors themselves. With no knowledge of germs, doctors did not believe hand washing was needed.”
“Hospitals for childbirth became common in the 17th century in many European cities. These ‘lying-in’ hospitals were established at a time when there was no knowledge of antisepsis or epidemiology, and women were subjected to crowding, frequent vaginal examinations, and the use of contaminated instruments, dressings, and bedding. It was common for a doctor to deliver one baby after another, without washing his hands or changing clothes between patients.” And when evidence that women who were giving birth at home had a much lower incidence of this bacterial infection was presented to them, these doctors refused to listen since “the idea conflicted both with the existing medical concepts and with the image doctors had of themselves.”* (Beware, this kinda thing still happens today; much easier to fool people than convince them they’ve been fooled.)
The image used in this necklace is from a French book printed in 1822-at the height of this tragic practice-called Nouvelles Demonstrations D'Accouchemens, avec des planches en taille-douce, accompagnees d'un texte raisonne by J.P. Maygrier. It shows a hand reaching through the pelvis to retrieve the baby. There is a first edition of this book for sale online for $11.5k right now. The illustrations really are breathtaking even if the realities of this time in history were so tragic & maddening. The hubris & dearth of humility is just astounding.
*Wikipedia (although I learned about puerperal fever from a book I read earlier this year; I was a previously unaware of this dark time in history.)
