BECAUSE I have often observ’d _Women_ to be _Costive_ and bound in their _Bellys_ upon this Occasion, which is of dangerous Consequence, I would therefore advise in this _Case_ to adhibite a gentle _Emollient Clyster_; not only that (by the RECTUM being so emptied) there may be the more _Room_ for the necessary _Dilatation_ of the _PARTS_, but also that the unfortunate _Effects_ of COSTIVENESS may be timely prevented: And the same _Means_ I would use, in Case of _Heavy_, _Dull_, or _Languid PAINS_; ordering the _Clyster_ only in this _Case_ to be made a little more _Carminative_; as mentioned in the preceeding _Chapter_.
BUT _this_ however I would have done in the _Beginning_ of the _Travail_, and reiterated (if need so require) before the _CHILD_ be advanced too far _Forwards_.
NOW the _MIDWIFE_ finding all things in a _Natural Posture_, and the CHILD in a _Forward way_, is to advance her _Hand_ skilfully, (which at every individual TOUCH ought to be fresh-anointed with the _Oil_ of white _Lillies_, _Roses_, &c. or _Fresh-Butter_, _Hogs-Lard_, or whatsoever of this Nature is readiest at Hand) entering the _ORIFICE_ with the _Fingers-Ends_, dilating it by opening _them_ gently as the PAINS come on: Thrusting gradually the _Sides_ of the _ORIFICE_ towards the _OCCIPUT_ or Hinder part of the CHILD’S Head, and moistening these _Passages_ also with what she uses for her _Hands_.
WHEN the _VERTEX_, or _Crown of the Head_, appears without the _Privities_, the _MIDWIFE_ most commonly calls out or says the CHILD is in the _Passage_; and the _parturient Woman_ then finding these Parts (as it were) scratch’d or prick’d with PINS, often groundlessly imagines that her _MIDWIFE_ deals roughly by _Her_ with _Nails_ and _Fingers_; whereas that _Pungency_ is only occasioned by a violent _Distension_, or perhaps a _Laceration_, sometimes inevitably made, by the BULK of the _Head_ of the _INFANT_.
HOWEVER that be, and whatever the _Woman_ may think or say, the _MIDWIFE_ is only to mind her own Business, and discharge her Duty faithfully upon this _CRISIS_; in order to which, it is now High Time that she also place herself in a convenient _Posture_ to receive the _BIRTH_: Which (when advanced as far as the _EARS_, or _thereabouts_) she is to take gentle hold of, by _both Sides_ of the _HEAD_ with _both Hands_; so that by this _Means_ she may be ready and able, against the first _Onset_ of the next good PAIN, to draw forth the CHILD. In doing whereof, she must take special _Care_ that the _NAVEL-STRING_ be not entangled about the _Neck_, or any other _Part_, lest the _Secundine_ or the _Womb_ itself thereby suffer Violence, and consequently cause either _Flooding_, or break the _String_, which may render the _Case_ dangerous and the _BIRTH_ difficult.