lower parts
be anointed to mollify the inward orifice, which in such a case being
more hard and callous, does not easily yield to the distention of
labour, which is the true cause why such women are longer in labour, and
also why their children, being forced against the inward orifice of the
womb (which, as I have said, is a little callous) are born with great
bumps and bruises on their heads.

Those women who are very small and mis-shaped, should not be put to bed,
at least until the waters are broken, but rather kept upright and
assisted to walk about the chamber, by being supported under the arms;
for by that means, they will breathe more freely, and mend their pains
better than on the bed, because there they lie all of a heap. As for
those that are very lean, and have hard labour from that cause, let them
moisten the parts with oil and ointments, to make them more smooth and
slippery, that the head of the infant, and the womb be not so compressed
and bruised by the hardness of the mother's bones which form the
passage. If the cause be weakness, she ought to be strengthened, the
better to support her pains, to which end give her good jelly broths,
and a little wine with a toast in it. If she fears her pains, let her be
comforted, assuring her that she will not endure any more, but be
delivered in a little time. But if her pains be slow and small, or none
at all, they must be provoked by frequent and pretty strong clysters;
let her walk about her chamber, so that the weight of the child may help
them forward. If she flood or have strong convulsions she must then be
helped by a speedy delivery; the operation I shall relate in this
section of unnatural labours. If she be costive, let her use clysters,
which may also help to dispel colic, at those times very injurious
because attended with useless pains, and because such bear not downward,
and so help not to forward the birth. If she find an obstruction or
stoppage of the urine, by reason of the womb's bearing too much on the
bladder, let her lift up her belly a little with her hands, and try if
by that she receives any benefit; if she finds she does not, it will be
necessary to introduce a catheter into her bladder, and thereby draw
forth her urine. If the difficulty be from the ill posture of the woman,
let her be placed otherwise, in a posture more suitable and convenient
for her; also if it proceeds from indispositions of the womb, as from
its oblique situation, etc