Pregnancy and childbirth have never been easy. Before modern medicine, this situation was worse. Even finding out whether pregnancy exists or not, was not an easy task. There were many methods but none was credible. In 1873 one doctor wrote, “From all The only credible way is to wait nine months. And it wasn't mandatory for medical students to read maternity until 1886 in the British curriculum.
The child birth stage was dangerous too.
Mother and infant mortality rates were higher.
The biggest fear for two and a half hundred years was puerperal fever. And it appeared out of nowhere. It was first found in Germany in 1652, and then it spread throughout Europe. It used to affect suddenly after birth.
A lot of women suffered and led to death. It had a nine percent mortality rate in several epidemics.
It was in 1847 when Ignaz Simlovis, a medical instructor in Vienna, figured out that it could be related to hand hygiene. If doctors washed their hands thoroughly before medical examination, it would not happen. He wrote that it was all about hygiene. Unfortunately, no one listened to him. Samlois possessed some unconventional personality too. He eventually had to lose his job. Ultimately, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Samlois was right about his idea and he kept insisting on it.
Doctors in hospitals continued to take mothers' lives due to lack of proper hand hygiene. It took time but the importance of hygiene made its way. Maternity fever lasted for too long. In 1932 it would have accounted for forty percent of childbirth deaths. At that time, one in 238 mothers died of childbirth in Europe and the United States. Now the number is one of 9000.
This is good news that motherhood worldwide is now much safer than ever.
The baby connects to its mother through the placenta. The baby gets nutrition and oxygen through it and it also excretes waste material through it.
For years, the focus of medical research has been on the child. Placenta was considered just an accessory. It's not too old when researchers have discovered that it does more than just delivering oxygen and removing waste. It prevents transfer of any toxic object or germs etc. from mother to the baby. And it also distributes hormones. And relieves mother's deficiencies. For example, if the mother smokes or does not get enough sleep, it protects the child from the harmful effects on the body. Placenta plays a kind of semi-mother role. It may not do the magic to save mom from every move but it makes a difference.
We now know that the placenta problem is the major cause of miscarriage. And here is little we know.
It acts as a barrier against germs but not against all. For example, the Zika virus crosses it and causes birth defects. Whereas, the dengue virus which is very close similar to this virus cannot do so. No one knows that how it prevents one virus from crossing it while can't resist other virus from going through it.