The end of all that we have been treating of is, the bringing forth a child into the world with safety both to the mother and infant, as the whole time of a woman’s pregnancy may very well be termed a kind of labour; for, from the time of her conception to the time of her delivery, she labours under many difficulties, is subject to many distempers, and in continual danger, from one effect or other, till the time of birth comes; and when that comes, the great labour and travail come along with it, insomuch that then all the other labours are forgotten, and that only is called the time of her labour; and to deliver her safely is the principal business of the midwife; and to assist her therein, shall be the chief design of this chapter. The time of the child’s being ready for its birth, when nature endeavours to ease it forth, is that which is properly the time of a woman’s labour; nature then labouring to be eased of its burden. And since many child-bearing women (especially the first child) are often mistaken in their reckoning, and so, when they draw near their time, take every pain they meet with for their labour, which often proves prejudicial and troublesome to them, when it is not so; I will in the first section of this chapter, set down some signs, by which a woman may know when the true time of her labour is come. SECT. I. _The Signs of the true Time of a Woman’s Labour._ When pregnant women, especially of their first, perceive any extraordinary pain in the abdomen, they immediately send for their midwife, as taking it for their labour; and then if the midwife be not a skilful and experienced woman, to know the time of labour, but takes it for granted without further inquiry (for some such there are), and so goes about to put her into labour before nature is prepared for it, she may endanger the lives of both mother and child by breaking the amnios and chorion. These pains, which are often mistaken for labour, are removed by warm cloths laid to the abdomen, and the application of a clyster or two, by which those pains which precede a true labour are rather furthered than hindered. There are also other pains incident to a woman in that condition from a flux of the abdomen, which are easily known by the frequent stools that follow them.