Becoming Jane

Chapter 4 - Picture of Harrison

Chapter Four

At the end of November, a letter arrived from the newly married Sabine informing everyone that she was with child. Little J was so happy for her. It seemed that children were being born everywhere. Kitty and Annie both had children, Kitty was expecting and now Sabine.

Truth be told, she felt a little envious. She was now two and twenty and sooner or later she would be considered a spinster. She wanted to be a doctor, but she didn’t want to abandon being a wife and mother fully because of it.

The irony of her thoughts came to be when Harrison informed them of their next subject of learning.

“A caesarean,” Harrison began. “Who can tell me exactly what it is?” he asked, his brown eyes scanning the classroom. “I’m curious.”

Little J had heard of the procedure but she wasn’t sure of the mechanics or even when it was necessary. She knew it was when the doctor removed the infant from the mother by cutting her open, but why? Why would they put the mother through that pain when she could just deliver the child how she was meant to?

A hand went up into the air before Little J had a chance to answer.

“Yes, Mr Francis,” Harrison nodded.

“The child is surgically removed from the mother’s womb by cutting the stomach,” he replied.

“Correct, in a way,” Harrison nodded. “We do not cut the stomach unless we want to kill someone in a very unpleasantly smelling way. I personally have delivered nine babies via a caesarean. The procedure kills as many mothers as it saves,” he said sadly.

Little J frowned, realising he must have lost mothers to it. His shoulders dropped a little as he thought.

“But, even though it can result in death, the child survives,” he said, continuing on. “According to legend, it name was coined after Julius Caesar was surgically removed from his mother, Aurelia. Thus, we have caesarean. Though, in those days, the procedure was performed on mothers who were either dead or dying in order to save the child from suffering the same fate. Today, with proper skill and instruction, both mother and child can be saved by a caesarean.”

“But why is it necessary?” Little J asked, without realising she had spoken. She immediately pursed her lips as Harrison’s eyes flashed to hers.

“Good question,” Harrison smiled at her, nodding. “Mr Alcott’s question is very good indeed. Why is a caesarean necessary?” he asked the classroom. Without waiting for a response he continued. “When an infant it ready to be born, his head is directed downwards, we all know this. But, on rare occasions, the baby does not turn. A baby simply can’t be born naturally any other way then with his head facing downwards. If the birth continued then the mother would die, and in most cases, the child with her.

The first report of a caesarean successfully saving both mother and child that we know of what is 1500. Jacob Nufer performed a caesarean on his wife after she was unable to deliver her child after days of labour. The baby lived to be seven and seventy years old and the mother subsequently gave birth to five more children normally.

The first successful caesarean performed by a British doctor was sometime between 1815 and 1821 – we can’t be certain. This was conducted by James Miranda Stuart Barry.”

“That name sounds feminine,” a man from the other side of the room called out. Several men joined in a light laughter.

Harrison arched one of his eyebrows. “That is because she was feminine,” he quipped back. “James Miranda Stuart Barry was in actual fact, a woman.”