Giving birth in late 1800s

[Annie65115]

Home births were the norm ,with a woman neighbour or mother to be’s own mother there.
Some unqualified but very experienced women women acted as midwives.
Childbirth was not seen as very important ,in fact in hospitals where some women but not the majority gave birth ,when the Drs did their rounds the newly delivered women were the last to be seen.
Prior to them being seen the Drs and Surgeons had often visited the mortuary and maybe done a post mortem!
In the same garments - no scrubs- they then visited the maternity wards and some examinations took place ,the Drs had not scrubbed their hands and the death rate from puerperal fever ( a raging infection after childbirth ) was so high amongst women in hospital as compared to home births it aroused suspicions ,and the Drs were causing it .
But it shows you how low down the priority list women were when they came after cadavers!
A very gory but true story.
Viktoria.

But that was before the late 1800s. Hospitals started using methods to try to clean and sterilise  wounds, and surgeons hands, largely on the 1860s (Florence Nightingale’s work had a lot to do with this). Carbolic was initially the chemical of choice but is quite toxic.

[Viktoria]

We can’t begin to imagine.
Women were kept in bed quite a long time if possible,not always a good idea as they could get circulatory problems .
However to get up a couple of days after giving birth had its own problems ,
especially when there were quite a few children already ,no washing machines,coal in the outside shed and outdoor toilet facilities,no hot water in many homes indeed in the late 1880’s homes without even cold water were not rare, .The babies were breast fed and so an added strain on the mother’s health , but better for her in one way, ,gave a bit of contraception for a while.
Better for the babies too.
My Grandmother had twelve babies ,over 25 years, fed her own last baby and her eldest daughter’s ( she was born 1885) first,twins, that meant her daughter could work .
Sadly all three babies died, measles,over three weeks one after another .
This was 1910,.
A rather critical neighbour commented once when grandma was pregnant again, calmly grandma replied “ all my children are born out of love and everyone is welcome “.
So put that in your pipe and smoke it!
We do not know we are born!
Viktoria.
P.S.
It was later that the actual bacteria was identified by Pasteur ,so you are correct in that the cause was discovered much earlier but not the actual microbe .
Florence Nightingale was a mixed blessing, the wounded were clean ,warm ,cared for
but the numbers in the field  hospitals caused many deaths and a paper  was  produced showing fewer men died out on the battlefield unattended than in
the hospitals!
Hard to believe and not impossible thst there was an element of resentment that a woman was there anyway, the “ Nurses” prior to that time were sadly of ill repute, I mean no decent woman would tend a man not her husband!
That impression died hard.
But yes Prior to the late 1880’s some hygiene was practised, numbers fell but some years before the identity of the causal “ microbe” was identified.
Viktoria.

[Maiden Stone]

But that was before the late 1800s. Hospitals started using methods to try to clean and sterilise  wounds, and surgeons hands, largely on the 1860s (Florence Nightingale’s work had a lot to do with this). Carbolic was initially the chemical of choice but is quite toxic.

Some important studies on puerperal fever were published mid-19th century.
"The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever", Oliver Wendell Holmes (1843)
"Puerperal Fever as a Private Pestilence", Oliver Wendell Holmes (1855)
"A Dictionary of Practical Medicine", James Copeland of Queen Charlotte's Lying-in Hospital (1852)
Work of Doctor Ignaz Semmelweis, Vienna General Hospital, (1847 - 1860s)
An earlier study was "A Treatise on the Epidemic Puerperal Fever of Aberdeen" by Alexander Gordon  (1795).

[Viktoria]

Pasteur identified the Streptoccal bacteria as the cause in 1879 I think.
The lack of hygiene was identified as the cause ,but not the actual part of that
lack of hygiene that caused the raging infection.

The man who realised what was happening died in an asylum,,after an attack ,his wounds became infected.
How sad and ironic!
But my point was how little regard was given to those mothers in hospital , that  no one had realised what filth was on the hands and clothes of the Drs.
Not even the courtesy of basic cleanliness was afforded those women
The wards where the midwives tended the mothers were free of the disease,
because they did not do Post Mortems or examine cadavers.
You can imagine the chagrin of the Drs!
Lots of denial I imagine.
You wonder about women today ,in arid areas ,no water ,no asepsis  practised and tetanus a real threat .
Thanks for the info ..
Viktoria.