Case of spontaneous expulsion of child : with remarks / by Robert Dyce.

  • Dyce, Robert, 1798-1869.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of spontaneous expulsion of child : with remarks / by Robert Dyce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (.Read at the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Aberdeen.) i I was called about midnight on Saturday, 30th December 1848, by I a midwife, to visit Mrs C——, the wife of a tradesman, living in Castle Street. I was informed that labour had commenced in the evening about six hours before,—that the presentation remained long high,—that the membranes ruptured naturally,—that the waters were in great quantity,—and that several strong pains had followed after the discharge of the waters, before any part of the child could be felt,—a limb was at length reached, which was made out by her i to be an arm. When I first saw the patient she had very strong forcing pains, the arm was at the top of the vagina, doubled up, so as to present the elbow. A part of the child, nearly equal in bulk, wras I felt on either side of the presenting limb,—viz. one part near the pubes, and the other near the sacrum, but so high that, unless I had passed my whole hand into the vagina, which I did not at the time deem essential, the individual parts could not be made out. It wTas sufficient for my purpose that the arm presented, and that delivery could not be accomplished without turning the child. In order, therefore, to render the operation easier, by quieting the uterine action, which was very powerful, I gave her, as soon as it could be procured, a tea spoonful of laudanum, determining to ope¬ rate the moment a lull took place. This, however, never happened, for presently the pains forced the elbow lower, the hand came down into the vagina with hardly any assistance, and was ascertained now to be the right one. At this time the proportionate size or bulk of the two parts of the child became remarkably altered. The arm, shoulder, and neck, which formed one part, pressed towards the pubes, and appeared smaller; while the other end of the tumour, which was now distinctly made out to be the back of the child, along with the ribs and spine, which was twisted and bent, now came com¬ pletely to occupy the hollow of the sacrum. It now became very apparent that nature was to complete the delivery herself, by expel¬ ling the child double, or by what is called spontaneous expulsion. At length, after two or three powerful pains, the shoulder was very