BUT in the _Case_ of _TWINS_ or _more Children_ (as long as they come right) the DELIVERY is perform’d, as if the _Woman_ had but ONE, in the _Natural Case_ already Stated; so that I shall repeat or recapitulate Nothing of what I have said, only that the AFTER-BIRTH, or BIRTHS are not to be _touch’d_, until all the _CHILDREN_ are Born: Upon which drawing gently the _Navel Strings_ (in their Turns) with the _One Hand_, the _Other_ brings them forth easily and orderly; as is set forth more fully in SECT. IV. _Chap._ 18.
A SECOND _difficult LABOUR_ may proceed from the _Weakness_ and _Debility_ of the INFANT, or from its being too _Small-grown_; in which _Case_, both the WOMAN and the MIDWIFE are to use their best mutual _Endeavours_ to promote the _BIRTH_, since the _CHILD_ can do little or nothing for itself, and the _Less_ it is, the less it is affected with the _THROWS_ of the _Mother_, and the less _Impression_ her Impulses make upon it: Whereupon _Nature_ is to be assisted in this weak _Condition_ by all convenient _Means_, whereof _THAT_ of the _Agile_ or _Nimble Hand_ is the most effectual.
A THIRD _difficult BIRTH_ may proceed from the INFANT’s being too _Big_; In which Place I must previously apprize the _READER_, that I no ways mean a _MONSTER_ or _Hydropical CHILD_, but only _One full_, _well_, or _Big-grown_, which is only reckoned too _Big_ in regard of the _Maternal Passages_, which may be too _Small_ in Proportion.
IN this _Case_, there is an absolute Necessity for _Manual Assistance_, since the PAINS (however penetrating or forcible) cannot effect the _Work_. But and if the _INFANT_ is fallen down (well turn’d) into the PELVIS, the MIDWIFE using her best and most skilful Endeavours to _dilate_ the _Passages_ below near the OS COCCYGIS, the CHILD may be easily brought forth (without any dangerous _Instrument_) by her dextrous _Hand_ only accomplishing the _Work_. In the mean Time, however, it is to be minded always, that _This_ is still more safely and commodiously done by the FEET, than by the HEAD, after carefully dilating the OS COCCYGIS, taking this Opportunity in the beginning of the LABOUR, before the _INFANT_ is too much press’d down into the PELVIS.