The Mother--FAQ

1. I have been a mother for over 20 years. I know I'm old, but most days I can still sit up by myself without a posy vest. I still maintain that kids are responsible for all maternal aging. I never had any grey hair before my first pregnancy.

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The Nefarious History of Motherhood

THE NEFARIOUS HISTORY OF MOTHERHOOD is an ongoing series chronicling the wild and wacky history of obstetrics and gynecology. New chapters are posted every Friday. In case you missed one, here they are, in order:

Demons, Caves and Death

The Divine Mother and Child

Mummies and Mommies

Crocodile Dung is (Probably) an Effective Contraceptive

The Whore of Babylon

The One True God v. The Goddess

Pandora’s Legacy

The Pythagoreans Have a Number for That

Hippocrates and the Hodos

Greek Maternity, or Why French Aristocrats Cut Off Their Left Testicle

What Ophelia Was REALLY Saying

Whips and Tomb Paintings

The Glory that was Rome

Patria Potestas

The Apparatus for Facilitating Childbirth by Centrifugal Force

The Great Obstetrician of Antiquity

And Along Came Constantine

Ever Wonder Why Pregnant Women Don’t Fall Over?

The Making of Fornication (Or, It’s All Paul’s Fault)

Medicine Goes Dark

She’s a Witch! May We Burn Her?

Algebra, Alchemy and Albucasis

World War II and the WHO

Madam Trota Tells it All

Why Don’t We Stock Pepper in L&D?

How to Fake Virginity, Medieval Style

No Virginia, There Really Isn’t a Hymen

Trota Says, Make Yourself Beautiful

Hildegard of Bingen

That’ll Teach ‘Em

The Curious Case of the Pig Farmer and His Wife

Anything a Woman Can Do, a Man Can Do Better

Graverobbers R Us (but if we can’t find the right corpses…)

The Virgin’s Disease

The Byrth of Mankynde

Sacerdotal Medicine

Beatrice de Planissoles Tells it All

The Family Business of the Forceps

Whigs, Tories, Forceps and Crisis

In Pain Shall She Bring Forth Children

The Popish Midwife

Are Those Little Beasties on Your Hands?

Monsters in Massachusetts

The Birth of Rabbits; Followed Closely by: The Birth of Skepticism

There’s a Bed for That!

Don’t Ask for a Divorce in Victorian England

Mesmerizing Medicine

You Say Hysteria, I Say…???

It’s Not Sex. No, Really.

At the Salpetriere

Is that Queen Victoria on your Medicine Bottle?

Wanton Whores? Who Says?

Maybe You Can’t Trust a Midwife After All

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