Tag: Birth Pregnancy and Obstetrics
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The history of fertility preservation in young people with cancer
Terrence Stephenson London, England Professor Hamish Wallace. Portrait by Harriet Selka, a former patient and childhood cancer survivor, 2022. Private collection. A whole cohort of cancer survivors owe both their lives and the conception of their children to a group of pediatric oncologists and colleagues from many disciplines spanning medicine, science, and the humanities.…
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A cesarean section in Uganda in 1879
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Successful Cesarean section performed by indigenous healers in Kahura, Uganda as observed by R.W. Felkin. 1879. Via Wikimedia. “A strange story indeed, almost too good to be true.”1 Until the end of the nineteenth century, a cesarean section to deliver an infant was considered to be an operation with…
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Galactagogues in postpartum rituals
Puja Persaud True Blue, Grenada, West Indies Moder ammer sit barn (A mother breastfeeding her child). Painting by Joakim Skovgaard, 1883. Via Wikimedia. Having a baby demands drastic changes in lifestyle, eating habits, and sleeping patterns. Many cultures across the world practice postpartum rituals that “allow the mother to be ‘mothered’,” and help to…
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Posthumous reproduction
Ian Cooke Sheffield, England Cryopreserved sperm being removed from liquid nitrogen for thawing prior to use. Photo courtesy of Dr. M.J. Tomlinson. Family structures ensure that one’s genes are passed down through generations, but that does not always go according to plan. The opportunity may not arise because childhood or adolescent disease, notably cancer…
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Dr. Doyen separates conjoined twins in 1902
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Xiphopagus sisters “Radica” and “Doodica” of India before surgical intervention by Eugène Doyen, February 9, 1902. Filmed by Clément-Maurice. From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle. Via French Wikipedia. Public domain. “They were so close to each other that they preferred death to…
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Miscarriage: a medical student in a rural clinic, Central America, 1977
Paul Rousseau Charleston, South Carolina, United States A small town in Honduras. Photo by kristin klein on Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Elena sits perched on a gurney with claret-stained thighs. She has just miscarried in the clinic’s lavatory. She inquires of the gender of the fetus, and hands twitching and heart flapping, I blurt,…
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Justine Siegemund, opening doorways to midwifery
Mariel Tishma Chicago, Illinois, United States Portrait of Justine Siegemund by Georg Paul Busch. 1690-1756 (circa). © The Trustees of the British Museum CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In the mid-1600s, midwife Justine Siegemund was a household name for mothers in Silesia, part of modern-day Poland. She served patients of every class in Legnica, in Berlin, and…
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A brief life
Andrea Eisenberg Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States Photo by Luis Galvez on Unsplash I felt his legs wiggling in the sac of warm fluid surrounding him. His body was so tiny, his kicks were like a feather passing across my fingers. But his warm, dark world was about to slip away. Did he already sense it? Or…
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Traditional obstetrics in Isaan, Thailand
Khwan Phusrisom Durham, United Kingdom Fig 1. The house in which I was born. Births were in a living room, far left. The natal hearth was under the roofed veranda. Sketch by author, ©. May be reproduced for non-commercial purpose Traditional midwifery and the culture of birth in Isaan, Northeast Thailand, may hold lessons for the prevention…
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The dream of the uterus
F. Gonzalez-Crussi Chicago, Illinois, United States Front page of the book that started the debate on “the thinking uterus” at the University of Bologna: Genial days of the dialectic of women, reduced to its true principle, etc. Naples, 1763. More than one-half century ago, it was my duty to examine and describe, day in…