Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
The following recent instance is given with full details to illustrate
the difficulties attending the births of quintuplets. Stoker has
reported the case of a healthy woman, thirty-five years old, 5 feet 1
inch high, and of slight build, whom he delivered of 5 fetuses in the
seventh month of pregnancy, none of the children surviving. The
patient's mother had on two occasions given birth to twins. The woman
herself had been married for six years and had borne 4 children at full
term, having no difficulty in labor. When she came under observation
she computed that she had been pregnant for six months, and had had her
attention attracted to the unusually large size of her abdomen. She
complained of fixed pain in the left side of the abdomen on which side
she thought she was larger. Pains set in with regularity and the labor
lasted eight and three-quarter hours. After the rupture of the
membranes the first child presented by the shoulder. Version was
readily performed; the child was dead (recently). Examination after
the birth of the first child disclosed the existence of more than one
remaining fetus. The membranes protruded and became tense with each
contraction. The presentation was a transverse one. In this case also
there was little difficulty in effecting internal version. The child
lived a couple of hours. The third fetus was also enclosed in a
separate sac, which had to be ruptured. The child presented by the
breech and was delivered naturally, and lived for an hour. In the
fourth case the membranes had likewise to be ruptured, and alarming
hemorrhage ensued. Version was at once practised, but the chin became
locked with that of the remaining fetus. There was some difficulty and
considerable delay in freeing the children, though the extent of
locking was not at any time formidable. The child was dead (recently).
The fifth fetus presented by the head and was delivered naturally. It
lived for half an hour. The placenta was delivered about five minutes
after the birth of the last child, and consisted of two portions united
by a narrow isthmus. One, the smaller, had two cords attached centrally
and close together; the other, and larger, had two cords attached in a
similar way and one where it was joined to the isthmus. The organ
appeared to be perfectly healthy. The cord of the fourth child was so
short that it had to be ligated in the vagina. The children were all
females and of about the same size, making a total weight of 8 pounds.
The mother rallied quickly and got on well.
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