If she be costive, let her use clysters,
which may also help to dispel colic, at those times very injurious
because attended with useless pains, and because such bear not downward,
and so help not to forward the birth. If she find an obstruction or
stoppage of the urine, by reason of the womb's bearing too much on the
bladder, let her lift up her belly a little with her hands, and try if
by that she receives any benefit; if she finds she does not, it will be
necessary to introduce a catheter into her bladder, and thereby draw
forth her urine. If the difficulty be from the ill posture of the woman,
let her be placed otherwise, in a posture more suitable and convenient
for her; also if it proceeds from indispositions of the womb, as from
its oblique situation, etc., it must be remedied, as well as it can be,
by the placing her body accordingly; or, if it be a vicious
conformation, having the neck too hard, too callous, too straight, it
must be anointed with oil and ointments, as before directed. If the
membranes be so strong that the waters do not break in due time, they
may be broken with the fingers, if the midwife be first well assured
that the child is come forward into the passage, and ready to follow
presently after; or else, by the breaking of the waters too soon, the
child may be in danger of remaining dry a long time; to supply which
defect, you may moisten the parts with fomentations, decoctions, and
emollient oils; which yet is not half so well as when nature does her
work in her own time, with the ordinary slime and waters.
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