Methods of childbirth preparation: a study of printed matter published in Brazil in the mid-twentieth century. / Métodos de preparação para o parto: um estudo sobre materiais impressos publicados no Brasil em meados do século XX.

The article explores the dissemination of natural childbirth practices through an analysis of the books Parto natural: guia para os futuros pais, written by U.S. obstetrician Frederick Goodrich Jr. in 1950, under the title Natural Childbirth: a manual for expectant parents, and first published in Brazil in 1955, and of Parto natural sem dor, written by Brazilian obstetrician Beutner in 1962. Both books found a place in Brazilian culture and influenced thinking about childbirth and delivery in the field of Brazilian obstetrics and in representations of women. Based on Roger Chartier's contributions and on concepts of medicalization, we conclude that these new practices for childbirth preparation shared the period's prevalent medical views of childbirth and delivery.

Discute-se a difusão das práticas de parto natural por meio da análise dos livros Parto natural: guia para os futuros pais, escrito pelo obstetra americano Frederick Goodrich Jr. em 1950 e publicado no Brasil a partir de 1955, e Parto natural sem dor, escrito pelo obstetra brasileiro George Beutner, em 1962. Ambos tiveram boa entrada na cultura brasileira e influenciaram a forma de pensar o parto e de parir, tanto no âmbito da obstetrícia brasileira como no que concerne às representações das mulheres. A partir das contribuições de Roger Chartier e das concepções sobre medicalização, concluímos que essas novas práticas de preparação do parto compartilhavam as visões médicas sobre o parto e o nascimento predominantes no período.

The influence of the lunar cycle on spontaneous deliveries in historical rural environments.

BACKGROUND: Many societies and their medical practitioners throughout the world have historically linked lunar phases to the frequency of births. During more recent decades, academics have discussed this alleged relationship using modern data, obtaining differing results. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to analyse the relationship between the phases of the moon and the frequency of deliveries in a rural historical context without electricity, and among women of low nutritional status. These characteristics are similar to some current rural areas in certain developing countries. The exceptionality of this case will allow us to test several of the existing theories on how the moon could influence births, particularly those related to lunar light. We will also analyse nulliparous and multiparous differences over the very long term. STUDY DESIGN: This study is a retrospective cohort analysis. In total, 23,689 births have been considered for 1484 lunar cycles between 1810 and 1929. Birth registers have been obtained from the Catholic parish archives of 10 rural Spanish agrarian villages. All the deliveries analysed were natural, without any medical follow-up, within the home and with little medical assistance. RESULTS: Using simple descriptive statistical techniques, we can conclude that there is no pattern with which to link lunar phases with the frequency of births. We can also conclude that neither electricity nor the rural environment affects this alleged relationship; neither have we found any relationship related to either the nulliparous or the multiparous and lunar phases. CONCLUSION: The analysis of a 120-year period has shown that there is no predictable influence of the lunar phases on the frequency of births. The myth of such a lunar influence can claim no scientific evidence from a historical perspective. Neither the arrival of the electric light nor the lower number of deliveries per woman have modified birth patterns. Deliveries by rural women of low nutritional status are not linked to the phases of the moon, and consequently the medical services in developing countries should disregard this belief; they do not need to take account of the phases of the moon with respect to their daily organisation.

Métodos de preparação para o parto: um estudo sobre materiais impressos publicados no Brasil em meados do século XX / Methods of childbirth preparation: a study of printed matter published in Brazil in the mid-twentieth century

Resumo Discute-se a difusão das práticas de parto natural por meio da análise dos livros Parto natural: guia para os futuros pais, escrito pelo obstetra americano Frederick Goodrich Jr. em 1950 e publicado no Brasil a partir de 1955, e Parto natural sem dor, escrito pelo obstetra brasileiro George Beutner, em 1962. Ambos tiveram boa entrada na cultura brasileira e influenciaram a forma de pensar o parto e de parir, tanto no âmbito da obstetrícia brasileira como no que concerne às representações das mulheres. A partir das contribuições de Roger Chartier e das concepções sobre medicalização, concluímos que essas novas práticas de preparação do parto compartilhavam as visões médicas sobre o parto e o nascimento predominantes no período.

Abstract The article explores the dissemination of natural childbirth practices through an analysis of the books Parto natural: guia para os futuros pais, written by U.S. obstetrician Frederick Goodrich Jr. in 1950, under the title Natural Childbirth: a manual for expectant parents, and first published in Brazil in 1955, and of Parto natural sem dor, written by Brazilian obstetrician Beutner in 1962. Both books found a place in Brazilian culture and influenced thinking about childbirth and delivery in the field of Brazilian obstetrics and in representations of women. Based on Roger Chartier's contributions and on concepts of medicalization, we conclude that these new practices for childbirth preparation shared the period's prevalent medical views of childbirth and delivery.

[The cultural representation of "natural childbirth": the outlook on the pregnant body in the mid-twentieth century]. / A representação cultural de um "parto natural": o ordenamento do corpo grávido em meados do século XX.

The scope of this study is to discuss teaching strategies directed towards women to institutionalize the representation of normal birth based on the work "Natural Childbirth: A Guide for Future Parents", published in 1955. The research begins with a historical and cultural analysis of the 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1964 editions of this book. It is aided by materials published, in the same period, which share the same meanings and representations concerning issues surrounding childbirth in the Brazilian context. It is a period marked by retrospectives and the emergence of methods for preparing women for the childbirth process. The results of our analysis, in the light of Roger Chartier's theoretical framework, especially applying the notion of representation of Michel Foucault, indicate that the apparatuses used in the work's registers sought to propose a disciplinary model for childbirth: institutionalization, medical insertion and industrialization of normal childbirth in the Brazilian context of the mid-twentieth century.

O objetivo deste estudo foi discutir as estratégias pedagógicas destinadas às mulheres para institucionalização da representação do parto normal a partir da obra Parto Natural: Guia para os futuros pais, publicada em 1955. Partiu-se de uma análise histórica e cultural desse livro em suas edições publicadas nos anos de 1955, 1957, 1960 e 1964, auxiliada por materiais publicados à época que compartilhavam das mesmas significações e representações referentes às questões do parto no contexto brasileiro. Esse período foi marcado pelo resgate e surgimento de métodos de preparação da mulher para o processo de parir. A análise, à luz do referencial teórico de Roger Chartier, principalmente com a noção de representação, e de Michel Foucault, indica que os dispositivos utilizados na tessitura da obra visaram propor um modelo de parto disciplinar, a institucionalização, medicalização e industrialização do parto normal no contexto brasileiro em meados do século XX.

The Making of Informed Choice in Midwifery: A Feminist Experiment in Care.

This paper is about the clinical principle of informed choice-the hallmark feature of the midwifery model of care in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on ethnographic history interviews with midwives, I trace the origins of the idea of informed choice to its roots in the social movement of midwifery in North America in the late 1960s and 1970s. At that time informed choice was not the distinctive feature of midwifery but was deeply embedded what I call midwifery's feminist experiment in care. But as midwifery in Ontario transitioned from a social movement to a full profession within the formal health care system, informed choice was strategically foregrounded in order to make the midwifery model of care legible and acceptable to a skeptical medical profession, conservative law makers, and a mainstream clientele. As mainstream biomedicine now takes up the rhetoric of patient empowerment and informed choice, this paper is at once a nuanced history of the making of the concept and also a critique of the ascendant 'regime of choice' in contemporary health care, inspired by the reflections of the midwives in my study for whom choice is impossible without care.

A representação cultural de um "parto natural": o ordenamento do corpo grávido em meados do século XX / The cultural representation of "natural childbirth": the outlook on the pregnant body in the mid-twentieth century

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi discutir as estratégias pedagógicas destinadas às mulheres para institucionalização da representação do parto normal a partir da obra Parto Natural: Guia para os futuros pais, publicada em 1955. Partiu-se de uma análise histórica e cultural desse livro em suas edições publicadas nos anos de 1955, 1957, 1960 e 1964, auxiliada por materiais publicados à época que compartilhavam das mesmas significações e representações referentes às questões do parto no contexto brasileiro. Esse período foi marcado pelo resgate e surgimento de métodos de preparação da mulher para o processo de parir. A análise, à luz do referencial teórico de Roger Chartier, principalmente com a noção de representação, e de Michel Foucault, indica que os dispositivos utilizados na tessitura da obra visaram propor um modelo de parto disciplinar, a institucionalização, medicalização e industrialização do parto normal no contexto brasileiro em meados do século XX.

Abstract The scope of this study is to discuss teaching strategies directed towards women to institutionalize the representation of normal birth based on the work "Natural Childbirth: A Guide for Future Parents", published in 1955. The research begins with a historical and cultural analysis of the 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1964 editions of this book. It is aided by materials published, in the same period, which share the same meanings and representations concerning issues surrounding childbirth in the Brazilian context. It is a period marked by retrospectives and the emergence of methods for preparing women for the childbirth process. The results of our analysis, in the light of Roger Chartier's theoretical framework, especially applying the notion of representation of Michel Foucault, indicate that the apparatuses used in the work's registers sought to propose a disciplinary model for childbirth: institutionalization, medical insertion and industrialization of normal childbirth in the Brazilian context of the mid-twentieth century.

A transnacionalização do parto normal no Brasil: um estudo das últimas cinco décadas / The transnationalization of normal childbirth in Brazil: a study of the last five decades

Nos últimos anos têm ocorrido mudanças no sistema obstétrico brasileiro, em função da distância entre o cenário nacional e recomendações da Organização Mundial da Saúde e da atuação de movimentos sociais. Isso evidencia a necessidade de considerar tanto o contexto nacional como o internacional. A fim de compreender a influência da transnacionalização no parto normal no Brasil, conduziu-se uma pesquisa documental para rastrear a evolução do sistema obstétrico no país. Como resultado, observou-se que a trajetória histórica do parto normal não se restringiu às fronteiras nacionais, tendo padrões e recomendações transnacionais impactado localmente, direcionando a criação de novas regulamentações.(AU)

'Drawing aside the curtain': natural childbirth on screen in 1950s Britain.

This article recovers the importance of film, and its relations to other media, in communicating the philosophies and methods of 'natural childbirth' in the post-war period. It focuses on an educational film made in South Africa around 1950 by controversial British physician Grantly Dick-Read, who had achieved international fame with bestselling books arguing that relaxation and education, not drugs, were the keys to freeing women from pain in childbirth. But he soon came to regard the 'vivid' medium of film as a more effective means of disseminating the 'truth of [his] mission' to audiences who might never have read his books. I reconstruct the history of a film that played a vital role in teaching Dick-Read's method to both the medical profession and the first generation of Western women to express their dissatisfaction with highly drugged, hospitalized maternity care. The article explains why advocates of natural childbirth such as Dick-Read became convinced of the value of film as a tool for recruiting supporters and discrediting rivals. Along the way, it offers insight into the British medical film industry and the challenges associated with producing, distributing and screening a depiction of birth considered unusually graphic for the time.

The Historical Development of Obstetric Anesthesia and Its Contributions to Perinatology.

Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson first introduced the use of ether and chloroform anesthesia for labor in 1847, just 1 year after William Morton's first successful public demonstration of ether anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The contemporaneous development of surgical anesthesia and obstetrics enabled obstetric anesthesia to address the pain of childbirth. Shortly after its introduction, obstetricians raised concerns regarding placental transport, or the idea that drugs not only crossed the placenta, but exerted detrimental effects on the neonate. The development of regional anesthesia and clinical work in obstetric anesthesia and perinatology addressed issues of the safety of the neonate, enabling obstetric anesthesia to safely and dramatically reduce the pain of childbirth.

The Psychoprophylactic Method of Painless Childbirth in Socialist Czechoslovakia: from State Propaganda to Activism of Enthusiasts.

This paper explores the history of the 'psychoprophylactic method of painless childbirth' in socialist Czechoslovakia, in particular, in the Czech and Moravian regions of the country, showing that it substantially differs from the course that the method took in other countries. This non-pharmacological method of pain relief originated in the USSR and became well known as the Lamaze method in western English-speaking countries. Use of the method in Czechoslovakia, however, followed a very different path from both the West, where its use was refined mainly outside the biomedical frame, and the USSR, where it ceased to be pursued as a scientific method in the 1950s after Stalin's death. The method was imported to Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s and it was politically promoted as Soviet science's gift to women. In the 1960s the method became widespread in practice but research on it diminished and, in the 1970s, its use declined too. However, in the 1980s, in the last decade of the Communist regime, the method resurfaced in the pages of Czechoslovak medical journals and underwent an exciting renaissance, having been reintroduced by a few enthusiastic individuals, most of them women. This article explores the background to the renewed interest in the method while providing insight into the wider social and political context that shaped socialist maternity and birth care in different periods.

El informe de Pedro Varaez sobre el oficio de comadre y la réplica de Francisco Antonio Díez de Cabrera / O relatório de Pedro Varaez sobre a profissâo de parteira e o resposta de Francisco Antonio Díez de Cabrera / The report of Pedro Varaez about the profession of midwife and the answer of Francisco Antonio Díez de Cabrera

Objetivos: se ha partido del objetivo de aportar información sobre la visión del oficio de comadre en la España de los siglos XVI y XVII. Constatar las posturas diferentes que, con relación a la práctica de esta actividad, existía en dicho periodo histórico. Método: se ha realizado un análisis pormenorizado de la información que incluye sobre esta temática un manuscrito inédito conservado en la Real Biblioteca de Madrid. Un interesante manuscrito inédito conservado en la Real Biblioteca de Madrid proporciona información sobre la profesión de partera. Consta de dos partes diferenciadas. La primera, más extensa, incluye el informe que redactó el licenciado Pedro Varaez para demostrar que los hijos de madres que practicaban este oficio no perdían sus privilegios nobiliarios en caso de poseerlos por nacimiento. En su exposición, recoge citas de los Libros Sagrados, de las obras de autores clásicos y, sobre todo, de expertos canonistas medievales y diferentes juristas de los siglos XVI y XVII. La segunda, escrita por el también licenciado Francisco Antonio Díez de Cabrera, rebate todos los argumentos esgrimidos por Varaez, pero sin mencionar apenas más que unas cuantas referencias. El documento contiene asimismo interesantes noticias para la historia de la profesión de comadre y el reconocimiento que éstas gozaron en diferentes periodos, como personas que velaban por la salud de las parturientas, poniendo en juego toda su práctica, y cuya presencia era relevante a la hora de garantizar los derechos de los primogénitos, en caso de nacimientos múltiples (AU)

Objetive: To provide information on the vision of the office of midwife in the Spain of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To describe the different positions in relation to the practice of this activity in this historical centuries. Method: Detailed analysis of the information on this subject that it’s included in an unpublished manuscript preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid. An interesting unpublished manuscript preserved in the Royal Library in Madrid provides information on the profession of midwife. It has two distinct parts. The first part includes the report that drafted the lawyer Pedro Varaez in order to show that children of mothers who practiced this profession didn’t lose their privileges in case of having by birth. In his presentation, collects quotes from the sacred books, the works of classical authors and, above all, expert medieval canonists and different jurists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The second, written by Antonio Diez also licensed Francisco Cabrera, rejected every argument put forward by Varaez, but without mentioning hardly more than a few references. The document also contains interesting information for the history of the profession of midwife and recognition they enjoyed in different periods, as people who ensured the health of women in labor, staking his entire practice, and whose presence was relevant when to guarantee the rights of the firstborn, in case of multiple birth (AU)

Objetivo: Fornecer informações sobre a visão do escritório de parteira na Espanha dos séculos XVI e XVII. Observe as diferentes posições em relação à prática desta atividade foi nesse período histórico.Método: Análise detalhada das informações sobre este assunto inclui um manuscrito inédito preservado na Biblioteca Real de Madrid. Um manuscrito inédito interessante preservado na Biblioteca Real de Madrid fornece informações sobre a profissão de parteira. É constituída de duas partes distintas. A primeira, maior, inclui o relatório que elaborou o advogado Pedro Varaez para mostrar que filhos de mães que praticaram este ofício não perder seus privilégios nobres devem possuir pelo nascimento. Em sua apresentação, recolhe citações dos livros sagrados, as obras de autores clássicos e, acima de tudo, canonistas medievais especialistas e diferentes juristas dos séculos XVI e XVII. O segundo, escrito por Antonio Diez também licenciado Francisco Cabrera, rejeitou todos os argumentos apresentados pela Varaez, mas sem mencionar pouco mais do que algumas referências. O documento também contém notícias interessantes para a história da profissão de parteira e reconhecimento que se em diferentes períodos, como pessoas que assegurada a saúde das mulheres em trabalho de parto, estacando toda a sua prática, e cuja presença era relevante quando para garantir os direitos do primogênito, em caso de nascimentos múltiplos (AU)

La historia de una "partera" en la España rural de mediados del siglo XX / The story of a midwife in rural Spain in the mid-twentieth Century

La historia que sigue es la de Petrina, una mujer que compaginó sus labores en el campo, costura y hogar con la de partera en su localidad, Alvares de la Ribera, un pequeño pueblo situado en la comarca leonesa del Bierzo. Desarrolló esta actividad durante las décadas de 1960 y 1970, hasta que las embarazadas comenzaron a ir a dar a luz a la Residencia pública de Ponferrada, en la capital de la comarca. Adoptando los enfoques y técnicas metodológicas propios de la historia oral y la historia social, a través de su testimonio hemos alcanzado el objetivo de conocer y reflexionar sobre la atención en el momento del parto en una zona rural en esos años de transición, hasta que se generalizó la asistencia a través de la Seguridad Social. Así mismo, hacer público el trascendental papel que mujeres como ella desempeñaron en ese primer tramo de la vida de muchas personas, y que por razones varias ha permanecido invisible

The story that follows is that of Petrina, a woman who combined her work in the farm, sewing and the housework with that of a midwife in her village, Alvares de la Ribera, a small town located in El Bierzo, in the province of Leon. She worked as a midwife during the 1960s and 1970s, until women started going to give birth to the public hospital in Ponferrada, the capital of the county. With the methodological techniques proper to oral and social history, her testimony has allowed us to understand the attention that expecting women of rural areas received in the period before the National Health Service generalized. Additionally, her story helps us also to raise aware of the important role that those women like her played in the first days of life of many people, a social concerned that has in many cases remained unknown

[Obstetric medical book and women's childbirth in Qing dynasty: the case of the treatise on easy childbirth].

Ye Feng composed what was to become one of the most famous and widely-circulating medical works of the late imperial period, the Treatise on Easy Childbirth. Ye Feng proposed the idea of natural childbirth, When the correct moment for birth had arrived, the child would leave its mother's body as easily as "a ripe melon drops from the stem". He argued attempts to facilitate birth were therefore not only unnecessary, and female midwives artificial intervention was not required. However, this view is to overlook the pangs of childbirth, and women bear responsibility for the failure of delivery. So his views reflect the gender order in male-dominated. Also he constructed the negative image of the midwife and belittle her childbirth techniques. As a result, midwife are excluded from the childbirth field, male doctors grasp guardianship rights of the female body. Ye Feng declared that the key to safe and successful delivery could be summed up in just a few words: "sleep, endure the pain, delay approaching the birthing tub". This view must be consistent with the Confucian norms, women to export to equip the 'patience' and 'self-control'. These norms were exposed desire men want to monitor and control the female body, effect on consolidation of patriarchal family order. In sum, the discourse of "a ripe melon drops from the stem"and "sleep, endure the pain, delay approaching the birthing tub" comprised an important intellectual resource that male doctors drew on to legitimate themselves as superior overseers of women's gestational bodies.