Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Birth, Pregnancy, & Obstetrics

C. Anthony Ryan et al.
A letter from George Boole and Victorian attitudes towards pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding

Rachel Baker
Birth trays in the Italian Renaissance

Arpan K. Banerjee
Ian Donald: Ultrasound pioneer

Julius P. Bonello and Ajoke Maryam Iromini
The history of the C-section

Chinmoy K. Bose
The el-Lahun gynecological papyrus

Sara Buck
Forceps: a brief history
Leaders in the development of Western obstetric practice

Nursan Cinar, Sumeyra Topal, and Sinem Yalnizoglu Caka
A history of breastfeeding and wet nurses

Nursan Cinar, Hamide Zengin
Two hearts beating: The history and benefits of “Kangaroo Care”

Stephanie Colello
Cultural warfare: Investigating childbirth practices in Doctor Zhivago

Ian Cooke
Posthumous reproduction

Emily R. W. Davidson
Historical contraception: Birth control before “the pill”

George Dunea
How Gargantua was born
Divine birth: Eve, fashioned from Adam’s rib
Divine birth: Athena, born from her father’s head
Divine birth: birth of John the Baptist
Divine birth: Pegasus, born from Medusa’s blood
Divine birth: Aphrodite born from the foam of the sea
Divine birth: The birth of Moses
Divine birth: The birth of Santa Claus
The colorful birth of Saint Augustine of Hippo
Birth of Bacchus
Birth of Mary
Birth of Adonis
Seventeenth century obstetric illustrations
James Simpson, who made childbirth painless

George Dunea and Einar Perman
A royal pregnancy gone wrong

James Drife
Bob Edwards and the perils of publicity

Andrea Eisenberg
A brief life

Howard Fischer
Dr. Doyen separates conjoined twins in 1902

Lauren Fore
Emotional medicine

Katrina Genuis
The death of Francesca Tornabuoni: Examining childbirth amidst societal rebirth

Frank Gonzalez-Crussi
On a miraculous birth
A birth remembered
The dream of the uterus

Gloria Graham
Breastfeeding

Barbara Hargreaves
An unusual pregnancy: The gestation and delivery of the Nun of Watton

Kelsey Hart
A mother’s voice

Ndembou C. Jean-Louis
Welcome another Earth-dweller

Laura Kaplan
Changes in childbirth in the United States: 1750–1950

Kelly Klein
In the OR

Laura Loertscher
Enough

Erika L. Lundgrin
Broken water

Matko Marusic
Gynecology and obstetrics

Mary Oak
Labor of love

Puja Persaud
Galactagogues in postpartum rituals

Khwan Phusrisom
Traditional obstetrics in Isaan, Thailand

Jayant Radhakrishnan
Surgery, gynecology, obstetrics, and pain

Corey Nason Reese
Mildred Thornton Stahlman, pioneer in neonatology

Paul Rousseau
Miscarriage: a medical student in a rural clinic, Central America, 1977

Sukanya Sam
When did you last let your heart decide?

C. John Scott
Alexander Gordon and puerperal fever

Mary Sommers
Miracle on Kedvale
When angels sing

Terrence Stephenson
The history of fertility preservation in young people with cancer

Katie Taylor
Doctoring while pregnant new

Mariel Tishma
Justine Siegemund, opening doorways to midwifery

Princewill Udom
Infertility in Nigeria and the race for parenthood

Eva-Sabine Zehelein
“Sara, Bill, Kristine, … you’re pregnant!” Gestational surrogacy, biomedicalized bodies and reconceptualizations of motherhood

Vignettes
Why are most babies born at night?
A physician and a pregnant patient
A cesarean section in Uganda in 1879 (Howard Fischer)
Credé’s maneuver (Avi Ohry)
Israel Spach the biographer and the Lithopedion of Sens (Avi Ohry) SUM ’24