UPON this Occasion, the _MIDWIFE_ ought, in the _first place_, carefully to observe the CONTENTS of the foregoing _Chapter_; and, _Secondly_, To follow this general RULE, which I lay down out of absolute _Necessity_: viz. _That the Woman be delivered, and the Child brought forth into the World as soon as possible after_ FLOODING; and _that_ because the WOMB immediately, after _This_ is over, falls, shrinks, and contracts itself again, and of Consequence compresses the _BIRTH_ very closely. BUT in order to effect _this_ Matter, as much depends upon the right _Situation_ or _Placing_ of the WOMAN; so I advise, in the first place, that, as soon as the WATERS begin to flow, _She_ be commodiously _placed_ either in a BED, CHAIR, or STOOL, properly adapted for that Purpose, and _laid_ with great Skill and Judgment, not too _Supine_, nor altogether _Upright_; but (as it were) between a _standing_ and _lying Posture_: having her _Back_ a little erected for the freer _Respiration_, and the better LABOUR; with her _Thighs_ at a due Liberty and Distance, only separated as much as possibly they may; her _Knees_ a little elevated; her _Feet_ stayed against something _Firm_, and her _Heels_ bending _Backwards_. HOWEVER I must farther observe in this place, that the _POSITIONS_ of _parturient Women_ are very various and different; _some_ doing this _Work_ (as above) in a _Bed_, _others_ in a _Stool_, and _some_ again I have seen deliver’d _standing_, and _leaning_ only a little _Forwards_ upon the _Bed-stead_. Hence, I say, that the _POSTURES_ in time of LABOUR, differ not only according to the _Necessity_, but also sometimes (in _Natural Easy Cases_) according to the _Custom_ of the WOMAN. BE that as it will, I would advise all _Labouring Women_, FIRST to make _Choice_ of a dextrous and ingenious _MIDWIFE_ to attend them at that _critical Juncture_, since the poetical _Proverb_ (_Accidit in puncto, quod non speratur in Anno_) holds as True in _BIRTH_ as in any _Case_ I know; for _some Women_ after having sundry repeated Natural easy _BIRTHS_, come at last to suffer by some difficult or _preternatural Accident_, which may happen in a _Moment of Time_.