I think women’s pain thresholds would have been far higher than they are now. They would not have had pain killers available, not to the standards we have today at least. I didn’t find child birth as horrendous as I imagined personally.

Lavender was possibly used as it’s smell is suppose to have a calming affect. As are hops strangely enough, Willow bark was also chewed to help with the pain, (Willow bark contains Aspirin). Also Calomile is meant to be very relaxing as is Valerian root. Apart from that it was pretty much down to you to cope with the pain as best you could.
Infant Mortality was extremely high as Sharon rightly points out, and it wasn’t uncommon to have 2 or 3 boys with the same name with in one family.
They weren’t very creative when it came to naming their children, girls were usually named after their Mothers or the Queen. Boys usually after their father or Grandfathers and there was always one boy named after the King.
Childbirth these days is a doddle, given the medical science we have today. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to give birth in the natural way of things as I had all of my children by Ceasarion due to medical reasons.
But I’m told the first child can sometimes be a litle difficult for some people but after that it’s a little like riding a bike you never forgot how to do it. My best freind’s last child arrived in little less than half and hour, from the time her waters broke, unfortunatly for her she was shopping in Tesco’s and the baby was born in Tesco’s Car Park, the Ambulance being delayed by Traffic. Although credit where credit’s due the proxy Midwife (Tesco cashier) did a brilliant job despite the fact she’d never assisted in a childbirth before. So the slogan for Tesco’s which is “Every Little Helps” certain rang true that day.
Queen Victoria made the use of Ether become fashionable for woman in Childbirth. Victoria hated being pregnant and even more so when it came to childbirth, she simply hated pain so the doctor used to give her Ether during her labours, which made things go a little easier for her. She must have liked the smell of it or something as she had 9 children.

Boleyn said

Lavender was possibly used as it’s smell is suppose to have a calming affect. As are hops strangely enough, Willow bark was also chewed to help with the pain, (Willow bark contains Aspirin). Also Calomile is meant to be very relaxing as is Valerian root. Apart from that it was pretty much down to you to cope with the pain as best you could.
Infant Mortality was extremely high as Sharon rightly points out, and it wasn’t uncommon to have 2 or 3 boys with the same name with in one family.
They weren’t very creative when it came to naming their children, girls were usually named after their Mothers or the Queen. Boys usually after their father or Grandfathers and there was always one boy named after the King.
Childbirth these days is a doddle, given the medical science we have today. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to give birth in the natural way of things as I had all of my children by Ceasarion due to medical reasons.
But I’m told the first child can sometimes be a litle difficult for some people but after that it’s a little like riding a bike you never forgot how to do it. My best freind’s last child arrived in little less than half and hour, from the time her waters broke, unfortunatly for her she was shopping in Tesco’s and the baby was born in Tesco’s Car Park, the Ambulance being delayed by Traffic. Although credit where credit’s due the proxy Midwife (Tesco cashier) did a brilliant job despite the fact she’d never assisted in a childbirth before. So the slogan for Tesco’s which is “Every Little Helps” certain rang true that day.
Queen Victoria made the use of Ether become fashionable for woman in Childbirth. Victoria hated being pregnant and even more so when it came to childbirth, she simply hated pain so the doctor used to give her Ether during her labours, which made things go a little easier for her. She must have liked the smell of it or something as she had 9 children.

It was Cloraform Queen Victoria used during Labour, not Ether. Mea Culpa… I remembered in the middle of the night Dinosaur thought I’d gone mad when I suddenly sat straight up in bed and said “It was cloraform”

Boleyn said

Boleyn said

Lavender was possibly used as it’s smell is suppose to have a calming affect. As are hops strangely enough, Willow bark was also chewed to help with the pain, (Willow bark contains Aspirin). Also Calomile is meant to be very relaxing as is Valerian root. Apart from that it was pretty much down to you to cope with the pain as best you could.
Infant Mortality was extremely high as Sharon rightly points out, and it wasn’t uncommon to have 2 or 3 boys with the same name with in one family.
They weren’t very creative when it came to naming their children, girls were usually named after their Mothers or the Queen. Boys usually after their father or Grandfathers and there was always one boy named after the King.
Childbirth these days is a doddle, given the medical science we have today. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to give birth in the natural way of things as I had all of my children by Ceasarion due to medical reasons.
But I’m told the first child can sometimes be a litle difficult for some people but after that it’s a little like riding a bike you never forgot how to do it. My best freind’s last child arrived in little less than half and hour, from the time her waters broke, unfortunatly for her she was shopping in Tesco’s and the baby was born in Tesco’s Car Park, the Ambulance being delayed by Traffic. Although credit where credit’s due the proxy Midwife (Tesco cashier) did a brilliant job despite the fact she’d never assisted in a childbirth before. So the slogan for Tesco’s which is “Every Little Helps” certain rang true that day.
Queen Victoria made the use of Ether become fashionable for woman in Childbirth. Victoria hated being pregnant and even more so when it came to childbirth, she simply hated pain so the doctor used to give her Ether during her labours, which made things go a little easier for her. She must have liked the smell of it or something as she had 9 children.

It was Cloraform Queen Victoria used during Labour, not Ether. Mea Culpa… I remembered in the middle of the night Dinosaur thought I’d gone mad when I suddenly sat straight up in bed and said “It was cloraform”

Yes, Boleyn, Queen Victoria’s obstectrician (John Snow) used chloroform on her during labour. Next year sees the 200th anniversary of John Snow’s birth in York (strange, I always thought he was a fast bowler for England).

This post seems to have doubled itself. I keep getting “navigation error” and “unsafe website” messages again. Anyone else getting these problems? I had hoped this had all been sorted, but I think I’ll take the risk and continue to log onto this “unsafe” site.

RosieMay said

Oh, thats so interesting! I heard about lavender being used and other herbs, but some how I think that wouldn’t have helped too much :p. With Jane Seymour, wasn’t Henry asked if they had his permission to perform a caesarean on her? Queen Victoria using chloroform I knew about, isn’t that dangerous though to smell it or am I getting mixed up?

To be honest Rosie I’m not entirely sure, but given how desperate Henry was for a heir, I wouldn’t put it pass him to let the Doctors Butcher Jane to get the child out. Rumour has it that one of the Midwifes told Henry that there was a choice between saving Jane’s life or the Baby’s life and Henry said quite callously “Save the child another wife can easily be found”..
I think too much Chloroform can be dangerous but I think it was probably only a very small amount dabbed on to a rag which Victoria inhaled from time to time during her Labour not on a continue basis. A little like using Enternox during labour today. I would imagine the affects of using Chloroform would again be the same affect as you get with Enternox too. Feels like you had a little too much to drink. I remember when I had my youngest Dinosaur kept taking little puffs of it he loved it, the silly old twit…

Neil Kemp said

This post seems to have doubled itself. I keep getting “navigation error” and “unsafe website” messages again. Anyone else getting these problems? I had hoped this had all been sorted, but I think I’ll take the risk and continue to log onto this “unsafe” site.

That hasn’t happened to me in a while, Neil. However, since this is such a dangerous site, it will probably continue to happen us now and then.

Boleyn,

Boleyn said

RosieMay said

Oh, thats so interesting! I heard about lavender being used and other herbs, but some how I think that wouldn’t have helped too much :p. With Jane Seymour, wasn’t Henry asked if they had his permission to perform a caesarean on her? Queen Victoria using chloroform I knew about, isn’t that dangerous though to smell it or am I getting mixed up?

To be honest Rosie I’m not entirely sure, but given how desperate Henry was for a heir, I wouldn’t put it pass him to let the Doctors Butcher Jane to get the child out. Rumour has it that one of the Midwifes told Henry that there was a choice between saving Jane’s life or the Baby’s life and Henry said quite callously “Save the child another wife can easily be found”..

…

He would probably be perfectly capable of saying such a thing, but the fact that Jane lived for eleven days after the birth proves she did not have a caesarean. Such an operation at that time would be certain, immediate death, and the story is a later invention. Jane was well enough to be taking visitors after the christening and no one remarked that the queen was unwell. She took a downward turn just afterwards.

Yes, I’ve seen that poem before. It’s not exactly a primary source though. Really, six weeks in labour is pretty far fetched. I’m fairly sure it was actually 3 days…still horrifically long. One thing the poem does prove though, is that the public believed Henry to be capable of such a thing. His reputation was pretty black by then.