But as soon as the head is born, if there be need, she may
slide her fingers under the armpits, and the rest of the body will
follow without any difficulty.
As soon as the midwife hath in this manner drawn forth the child, let
her put it on one side, lest the blood and water which follows
immediately, should do it any injury by running into its mouth and nose,
as they would do, if it lay on its back; and so endanger the choking of
it. The child being thus born, the next thing requisite is, to bring
away the after-burden, but before that let the midwife be very careful
to examine whether there be more children in the womb; for sometimes a
woman may have twins that expected it not; which the midwife may easily
know by the continuance of the pains after the child is born, and the
bigness of the mother's belly. But the midwife may be sure of it, if she
puts her hand up to the entry of the womb, and finds there another
watery gathering, and the child in it presenting to the passage, and if
she find it so, she must have a care of going to fetch the after-birth,
till the woman be delivered of all the children she is pregnant with.
Wherefore the first string must be cut, being first tied with a thread
three or four times double, and fasten the other end with string to the
woman's thighs, to prevent the inconvenience it may cause by hanging
between the thighs; and then removing the child already born, she must
take care to deliver her of the rest, observing all the circumstances as
with the first; after which, it will be necessary to fetch away the
after-birth, or births.
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