BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH WOMEN'S HEALTH: MODERN ...

wonders how a jieshengpo could have affected any type of labor and delivery given her “’house
hold’ scissor, piece of ‘color silk’ and cotton, pair of iron coal chopsticks, and iron hook.” 574
The newly minted modern midwives from the First National Midwifery School had to
follow a delivery room and labor routine, a common curriculum issued from the National
Midwifery Board and part of the more general regulations controlling midwifery education. As
soon as labor commenced, the patient was to be assigned to a labor room and watched
continuously by the assigned student. When labor pains were strong with a four-centimeter
cervical dilation, the patient was transferred to the delivery room. Depending on whether or not
this was the mother’s first birth (primipara), she may have been able to walk around if certain
conditions were met: “slight pain, membranes intact, head engaged,” and a less than four-
centimeter cervical dilation.. If the primipara or multipara experienced bleeding or membrane
rupture, then she was to lie in bed. In addition, the parturient woman was not allowed any food
after the first stage of labor. After the membranes ruptured, the midwife was to monitor the fetal
heart every hour. The midwife was to perform an internal (rectal) and external exam upon
admission to the labor room and then every two hours until delivery. The midwife or other
deliverer was to soak her hands in a Lysol solution before the internal examination done every
two hours and also every half-hour regardless of her activities. The first stage of labor was
allowed to “go on indefinitely” provided the following conditions were met: “membranes intact,
general condition satisfactory, foetal heart well heard, temperature under 37.4 C.” 575 If no
progress had been made after two hours at the second stage of labor, or if the placenta had not
been delivered a half-hour after delivery, then the attendant was to report the case to her
supervisor or physician. After the baby was born, the midwife was to clean its mouth with gauze
574 Yang, letter to Dr. John B. Grant(?).
575 "Regulations of the First National Midwifery School."
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