Physicians were male prior to 1700, and were either reluctant or prohibited by law to aid in delivery. Midwives stepped in to help until the specialty of obstetrics came into being in the eighteenth century.

Jacob Rueff wrote The Expert Midwife in 1637. Here he described the role of the midwife during delivery.

Rueff designed and illustrated the forceps to the right in his seventeenth century book. It remains unclear whether these forceps were to be used to deliver a post mortem fetus or a live child, or both.

This mid seventeenth century set of obstetric forceps ("longa et tersa") designed by Jacob Rueff is the earliest known instrument of its kind and actually predated the famous Chamberlen forceps.

Peter (the elder) Chamberlen and later family members regrettably hid his extremely important discovery from the medical profession and from the public. Chamberlen's original set of forceps was discovered over a century later hidden under the floorboards in the attic of his previous home, Woodham Mortimer Hall in Essex

The set includes delivery forceps, scalpel, blunt hook and crochet, perforator, and craniotomy forceps.

This set had all the necessary instruments and would accompany the physician to the home for delivery.

illustrated application of the forceps

This instrument and the ones that follow aided the obstetrician in prolonged labor.

a small instrument that was available to most obstetricians in the nineteeth century to aid in dielvery

an instrument for creating traction in order to aid in delivery

another instrument for creating traction

This traction pulley could be added to the Tarnier forceps for very difficult deliveries.

another pulley device for prolonged labor

It was not until 1500 that the first documented cesarean section took place, though in legend the Greek god Apollo performed the first cesarean section when he delivered his son Asklepios, the eventual god of medicine. Images of this procedure appeared in many ancient cultures, including those of the Egyptians, Chinese, and Greeks. The term has been attributed to the birth of Julius Caesar though this origin is likely erroneous since Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, was apparently alive during her son’s invasion of Great Britain years later and at that time the cesarean section was reserved for the rescue of the child after the death of the mother.

nineteenth century birthing chairs